Elliot Dorff, Rabbi, PhD | Faculty Directory | Academics AJULA American Jewish University formerly University of Judaism

Name:	Elliot Dorff, Rabbi, PhD
Title :	Rector, Sol & Anne Dorff Distinguished Service Professor in Philosophy
E-mail:	edorff@ajula.edu
Phone:	Ext. 255

Fax:	310-471-1278

Jewish Theological Seminary: Ordained 1970
Columbia University, Ph.D. (Philosophy) 1971

Elliot Dorff was ordained a Conservative rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1970 and earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University in 1971 with a dissertation in moral theory. Since then he has directed the rabbinical and Masters programs at the American Jewish University (formerly, the University of Judaism), where he currently is Rector and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy. For over thirty years he also has taught a course on Jewish law at UCLA School of Law as a Visiting Professor. He was awarded the Journal of Law and Religion’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and he holds three honorary doctoral degrees.

Rabbi Dorff is Chair of the Conservative Movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards and served on the editorial committee of Etz Hayim, the new Torah commentary for the Conservative Movement. He has chaired three scholarly organizations: the Academy of Jewish Philosophy, the Jewish Law Association, and the Society of Jewish Ethics. In spring, 1993, he served on the Ethics Committee of Hillary Rodham Clinton's Health Care Task Force. In March, 1997 and May, 1999, he testified on behalf of the Jewish tradition on the subjects of human cloning and stem cell research before the President's National Bioethics Advisory Commission. In 1999 and 2000 he was part of the Surgeon General’s commission to draft a Call to Action for Responsible Sexual Behavior; and from 2000 to 2002 he served on the National Human Resources Protections Advisory Commission, charged with reviewing and revising the federal guidelines for protecting human subjects in research projects. He is currently working on a project on Judaism and genetics for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he is a member of that organization’s Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion Advisory Committee. He is an officer of the FaithTrust Institute, a national organization that produces seminars and educational materials to help people avoid or extricate themselves from domestic violence, and he is also a member of the Ethics Advisory Committee for the state of California on stem cell research.

In Los Angeles, he is a Past President of Jewish Family Service, and he is a member of the Ethics committee at U.C.L.A. Medical Center. He serves as Co-Chair of the Priest-Rabbi Dialogue of the Los Angeles Archdiocese and the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, and he is President of the Academy for Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Studies centered at UCLA. He is also a member of the Board of the Jewish Federation Council and Co-Chair of its initiative to serve the vulnerable.

Rabbi Dorff's publications include over 200 articles on Jewish thought, law, and ethics, together with seventeen books:
1) Jewish Law and Modern Ideology (1970).
2) Conservative Judaism: Our Ancestors to Our Descendants (1977; second, revised edition: 1996).
3) A Living Tree: The Roots and Growth of Jewish Law (1988) (with Arthur Rosett).
4) Mitzvah Means Commandment (1989).
5) Knowing God: Jewish Journeys to the Unknowable (1992).
6) Contemporary Jewish Ethics and Morality: A Reader (1995) (edited with Louis E. Newman).
7) Matters of Life and Death: A Jewish Approach to Modern Medical Ethics (1998), finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in Jewish Thought.
8) Contemporary Jewish Theology: A Reader (1999) (edited with Louis E. Newman).
9) To Do the Right and the Good: A Jewish Approach to Modern Social Ethics (2002), winner of the National Jewish Book Award in Contemporary Jewish Life for 2002.
10) Love Your Neighbor and Yourself: A Jewish Approach to Modern Personal Ethics (2003).
11) The Way Into Tikkun Olam (Fixing the World) (2005), National Jewish Book Award finalist.
12) The Unfolding Tradition: Jewish Law After Sinai (2005).
13) For the Love of God and People: A Philosophy of Jewish Law (2007)
14) Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices: Body (edited with Louis E. Newman, 2008).
15) Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices: Money (edited with Louis E. Newman, 2008).
16) The Jewish Approach to Repairing the World (Tikkun Olam): A Brief Introduction for Christians (with Cory Willson) (2008).
17) Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices: Power (edited with Louis E. Newman, 2009).

Rabbi Dorff is married to Marlynn, and their four children have so far produced seven grandchildren -- may their number increase!