Credit: CIL
The Jewish Community of Lisbon has announced the appointment of Rabbi Pierpaolo Pinchas Punturello as its new rabbi. Born in Naples in 1977, Punturello combined his university studies at the Oriental University Institute with rabbinical training under Prof. Rabbi Giuseppe Laras z"l and at prestigious Israeli institutions, including Bet Midrash Sefardi in Jerusalem, Machon Amiel headed by Rabbi Eliahu Birnbaum, and Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat, where he studied under the guidance of Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, one of the leading figures of modern Orthodox Judaism.
Throughout his career, he served as rabbi of the Jewish Community of Naples and worked as an educator and director of Jewish studies at the Ibn Gabirol Center in Madrid. He has also maintained an active academic profile, collaborating with several universities as a lecturer. At the same time, he has been engaged in interfaith dialogue, advocating cooperation among different communities without compromising Jewish identity, as a path toward building a more just and pluralistic society.
In addition to his communal and academic work, the rabbi publishes weekly reflections on Torah, history, philosophy, and Jewish education through the bilingual (Spanish and Italian) podcast Boker Tov - Boker Or.
