Chani Haran Smith

Chani Haran Smith, born in Israel (1952), is a composer, musician, lecturer and researcher of Hasidism and Kabbalah. She began studying piano at a young age and also plays the accordion and flute. In addition, she had singing lessons and served as a singer in a military band.

Haran Smith is a graduate of the Hebrew University in the fields of musicology as well as Jewish philosophy and Kabbalah. Her music teachers in Israel include Hanoch Tel Oren (flute), Yitzhak Sadai (harmony), Stanley Sperber (choir conducting) and Yossi Mar Chaim (composition). She has participated in theatre productions, including the play “Tcherly Katcherly” at the Khan Theatre as an actress, singer and instrumentalist.

During her studies in London, Haran Smith studied harmony and choir conducting at the Guildhall School of Music, as well as flute with William Bennett and gained a diploma in flute playing. She performed in theatre and with various ensembles and continues to compose and teach music. Alongside her musical activity, she completed a doctorate in the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College London.

In 2016, she published her book “Shir Shel Chesed: Music as a Spiritual Process in the Teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav”, published by the Bialik Institute. The book explores the role of music in religious experience. An English version, “Tuning the Soul”, was published by Brill in 2010. In addition to her research, Chani lectures at the Leo Baeck Rabbinical College in London and continues to research and publish in the fields of Hasidism and commentary based on the biblical cantillation accents.