Elliot Dorff, Ph.D.

Elliot Dorff is a prominent interfaith leader in the Jewish community and a past President of the Academy for Judaic, Christian, and Islamic Studies (2015 – 2017). Dr. Dorff is the Rector and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at American Jewish University where he has been directing the rabbinical and Masters programs since 1971.

He was ordained to the Rabbinate by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University. He serves as the Chair of the Conservative Movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, and has also chaired several scholarly organizations.

In addition, Dr. Dorff has served on many boards and commissions related to medical ethics, including the Ethics committee at UCLA Medical Center, the Ethics Advisory Committee for the State of California on stem cell research, and the broader Social Impacts Committee for the Smithsonian Museum of Natural Science. He has published over 200 articles on Jewish thought, law, and ethics, as well as 14 books that he wrote and another 14 that he edited or co-edited.

Read an article by Dr. Dorff on how Jews, based on their own tradition, are to relate to members of other religious traditions: The Historical, Philosophical, and Theological Groundwork for Jews’ Relations to Other Religions opens in a new tab