Boris Romanovich Rotenberg the Soviet Union. In 1992, he became a professional judo trainer in Helsinki. In 1998, he returned to St. Petersburg. In 2001, he and his brother founded the SMP bank, which operates in 40 Russian cities with over 100 branches, more than half of them in the Moscow area. SMP oversees the operation of more than 900 ATM-machines. Based on his friendship with Vladimir Putin, his company became closely aligned with Gazprom. Mr. Rotenberg is a member of the St. Petersburg Connection, a powerful energy lobby under the leadership of Mr. Putin. He was involved in 20 construction projects for
Abie Rotenberg and Shlomo Carlebach as strong influences. While his folk-inspired sound and inspirational lyrics are strongly reminiscent of Carlebach, Rotenberg's soft and sometimes melancholic voice, however, contrast with Carlebach's ecstatic style. Rotenberg has collaborated with other Jewish musicians including Mordechai ben David, Avraham Fried, Yehuda Schechter, Yaakov Shwekey, Moshe Yess and Shlomo Simcha with whom he co-starred in Israel National Radio's Miracles 18 concert. Rotenberg has also been a main fixture of the annual HASC "A Time for Music" concerts. He has produced a children's audio series called the "Marvelous Midos Machine" composed of 4 volumes, with all original material. Rotenberg