About

Lev Leibman

Lev Leibman is a musician, rabbi, author, and independent researcher devoted to uncovering the wisdom of music found in Torah sources — from the music of the Holy Temple to Kabbalah, Chassidic thought, and the musical traditions of Chabad.

His musical education began in Moscow at the age of five. At six, he was admitted to the Gnessin music school, and after immigrating to Israel, he continued his studies at the Tel Aviv Conservatory, where he received scholarships for excellence in flute performance. At sixteen, in 1999, he participated in an international recorder competition, representing Israel.

Alongside his musical training, Leibman pursued intensive Torah studies at the Tomchei Temimim Yeshiva in Kfar Chabad, Israel, and later at 770 Eastern Parkway in New York, the world center of Chabad-Lubavitch. During those years, he wrote extensively on Chassidic thought and published annotated studies of major works of Chabad thought. He later received advanced rabbinic ordination at the level of city rabbi from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

Since 2006, Leibman has pioneered the field of Torah Musicology — the systematic study of musical concepts, structures, and meanings found throughout the Jewish textual tradition. His research places particular emphasis on Chassidic and Chabad thought, where some of the Jewish tradition’s most extensive teachings on music and the spiritual meaning of melody are found. His work brings the close study of Torah sources into dialogue with contemporary musical knowledge and musicology.

Over the years, Leibman has authored a series of Hebrew works exploring music through the lens of Torah and Chassidic thought. A major result of this research is Shirat HaLeviim, a study devoted to the music of the Levites in the Holy Temple and to the musical knowledge preserved in Jewish sources.

His research also comes to life on stage. In his live performance The Lost Music, Leibman combines five flutes, narrative, and video art to take audiences on a journey through the musical world of the Temple and its echoes throughout Jewish tradition. The performance has inspired and moved thousands of people in Israel and around the world.

Torah Musicology is the online home of this ongoing research — exploring the meeting point between Torah, music, history, and Chassidic thought.

Artist Profile: America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF)

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