Reb Simcha Raphael, Ph.D.

Originally from Montreal, Canada, Simcha Paull Raphael, Ph.D., is Founding Director of the DA’AT Institute for Death Awareness, Advocacy and Training. He received a Master of Arts in History and Philosophy of Religion from Concordia University, a doctorate in Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and was ordained as a Rabbinic Chaplain by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. He has served as Adjunct Professor at LaSalle University, Temple University and in the Aleph Ordination Program. Currently, he works as a psychotherapist and spiritual director in the Philadelphia area, and is on Faculty of the Art of Dying Institute of the School of American Thanatology. He has published eight books on death and Judaism, including the groundbreaking Jewish Views of the Afterlife and the forthcoming, Spirits, Ghosts, and Dybbuk: Afterlife Journeys in Yiddish Lore (Albion-Andalus, 2025).