David Golinkin

David Golinkin is a rabbi, author and President and Rector of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, Israel. He is a major halachic authority in the Masorti (Conservative) movement in Israel.

Golinkin is a Conservative rabbi, and a member of the Rabbinical Assembly. He is the editor or author of eighteen books, and over 150 responsa, articles, and sermons.

He is a professor of Jewish law at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, and was the chair of the Va'ad Halakha, the law committee of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel. The Va'ad has not been functioning for the last few years due to a dispute between Golinkin and the Israeli Rabbinical Assembly.

He is responsible for uncovering and re-publishing dozens of responsa of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly, making them available to the general public in a three-volume set. In this set he wrote:

As has been pointed out on numerous occasions, the Conservative rabbis of North America have written hundreds of teshuvot but have not succeeded in publishing them. In recent years we have begun to remedy this situation by publishing indices, monographs and complete volumes of Conservative responsa.

Proceedings of the CJLS of the Conservative Movement 1927-1970, iii, 1997, Jerusalem

Since that time, the Conservative movement and the Masorti movement have addressed this issue in a serious way. Many volumes of Conservative and Masorti teshuvot and halakhic studies are now available, and more are being edited. In 2005 the Rabbinical Assembly made most of its recent responsa available on its official website.

He is director of the Center for Women in Jewish Law at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies.

Bibliography

• Responsa in a Moment: Halakhic Responses to Contemporary Issues, The Institute of Applied Halakha at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, 2000
• An Index of Conservative Responsa and Practical Halakhic Studies 1917-1990
• Responsa of the Vaad Halakha Volumes 1 to 6.
• The Responsa of Professor Louis Ginzberg JTS Press
• Rediscovering the Art of Jewish Prayer
• Proceedings of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards 1927-1970, Editor. Three volumes. The Institute of Applied Halakha at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, 1997

Links

• Responsa For Today a website containing teshuvot and other writings related to Conservative/Masorti Halacha edited by Rabbi Golinkin.