Rabbi Claudio Kupchik was born in Argentina and later immigrated to the United States. He earned a medical degree from the University of Buenos Aires, rabbinic ordination from the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano, and a master’s in Rabbinics and Talmudic Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), which also awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity in 2017. Rabbi Kupchik serves as the Senior Rabbi of the Shelter Rock Jewish Center and has been active in interfaith dialogue for over three decades. In 2023, he joined a scholars’ program at the Vatican Library to study medieval Hebrew manuscripts, where he met the late Pope Francis. Passionate about welcoming people to Judaism, he has also participated in group conversions in the Peruvian Amazon and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.