Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum is Dean of LSJS where he holds the Rabbi Sacks Chair in Modern Jewish Thought. He is a rabbinic leader, lecturer and author with a passion for teaching traditional Jewish texts and innovative educational programming for young and old. 

He gained a PhD in Theoretical Physics from King's College London, leading to the publication of a number of papers on Quantum Chaos Theory. He also completed an MA in Adult Education, with distinction, at the Institute of Education in London. 

As well as Dean of LSJS, Rabbi Dr Zarum currently serves as the Scholar-in-Residence at the Central Square Minyan in Hampstead Garden Suburb. He studied at Yeshivat Hakotel in Jerusalem and the Kollel of the Judith Lady Montefiore College in London, where he received rabbinic ordination. The semicha was given by, amongst others, Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks; Dayan Ezra Basri; the former Av Bet Din of Jerusalem; and Rabbi Dr Abraham Levy, then Spiritual Leader of the Spanish and Portuguese Community. 

Rabbi Dr Zarum is a graduate of the prestigious Jerusalem Fellows programme at the Madel Leadership Institute in Israel. He was the first Head of faculty of the Florence Melton Adult Mini School UK and was Director of Text-Based Jewish Education at the UJIA Centre for Informal Jewish Education. He created the Torah L'Am Crash Course as well as the Jampacked Bible and Torat Hadracha educational study guides, all of which have been used across the Jewish world. 

Rabbi Dr Zarum is a regular contributor to the UK Jewish Press and has written articles for a number of journals and book collections. He is a highly sought after lecturer and teaches at conferences and seminars, synagogues and Jewish community centres across the globe, both in-person and online. 

His first book, Questioning Belief: Torah and tradition in an Age of Doubt, published by Maggid Books, responds to twelve challenging questions that confront Judaism today. It was a finalist in Yeshiva University's annual Rabbi Sacks Book Prize and became an Amazon bestseller. The book was reprinted in March 2025 in response to demand. Rabbi Dr Zarum also hosts the popular Big Questions of Jewish Belief podcast, available wherever you listen to your podcasts.