Qabbalat Shabbat e arvit - Elia Richetti, Verona

Rav Elia Enrico Richetti was born in Milan on June 6, 1950. After completing classical high school at the Schools of the Jewish Community of Milan, he enrolled in the Faculty of Languages and Foreign Literatures at the University of Milan (which he did not complete). While working as a worship assistant at the Central Synagogue of Milan and as an official in the Rabbinical Office, he privately prepared for the fourth-year exam at the Italian Rabbinical College (Rome) within two years and passed it with an average score of 9.5/10.

In 1974, after marrying Enrica Orvieto, he moved with her to Jerusalem. There, he studied for two years at the "Beth Midrash la-Torà" (a Talmudic academy of the World Zionist Organization) and an additional two years at the Rabbinical School "Midrashà Ghevohà la-Torà" of the Harry Fischèl Foundation, directed by Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen. He obtained his rabbinical degree and specialization as a scribe in 1978. During those years, he served as a worship assistant at the Italian rite Synagogue in Jerusalem, where his first child was born in 1978, currently with a family of his own.

After moving to Haifa and spending some months overseeing kosher dietary regulations in various factories, he became the Rabbi of Rambam Hospital and the Rabbi of the Carmel Hospital Synagogue. Meanwhile, he specialized as a ritual circumciser.

In September 1979, he moved to Trieste, where he had been appointed Chief Rabbi and remained for ten years. During this period, his daughter was born, currently a teacher of Jewish subjects. In 1980, he was co-opted into the Council of the Assembly of Italian Rabbis, serving as its Secretary and Treasurer for twenty-seven years. Since 2010, he has been the President of the Assembly. From 1983 to 1991, he was also elected a member of the Italian Rabbinical Consultation and the Council of the Union of Jewish Communities in Italy.

From 1989 to 2001, he served as the Vice Chief Rabbi of Milan, member, secretary, and scribe of the Rabbinical Court of Milan, lecturer at the Rabbinical College of Milan, teacher of Jewish subjects at the Schools of the Jewish Community of Milan, supervisor of kosher rules in stores and banquets for the Milanese Rabbinical Office, manager of the funeral office of the Jewish Community of Milan, and responsible for the Central Synagogue of Milan.

From 2001 to 2010, he was the Chief Rabbi of Venice. However, he maintained the position as a member of the Rabbinical Court of Milan until 2005; from 2004 to the present, he has been a member and scribe of the Rabbinical Court of Central-Northern Italy.

An acknowledged hazan/singer of Jewish liturgy, he was widely considered one of the most important experts in the rituals of various Jewish communities in Italy.

He passed away in April 4, 2021.