Eliyahu Schleifer received his training in hazanut with Hazan Shlomo Zalman Rivlin at the Shirat Yisrael Institute in Jerusalem. He graduated from the Rubin Academy of Music, Jerusalem (1964) and served as research assistant of Dr. Edith Gerson-Kiwi, recording and analyzing the music of various Jewish communities. He continued his studies at the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. in musicology (1976). Returning to Israel, Schleifer served as teacher of music history at the Rubin Academy of Music, Jerusalem and then as lecturer of musicology at Tel Aviv University. Dr. Schleifer is associate professor of sacred music and director of the cantorial studies program at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Jerusalem. He is a member of the research team of the Jewish Music Research Centre of the Hebrew University.