Do Jews Believe in Heaven?

A virtual session led by Rabbi Marc Gellman.

EVENT CO-HOSTED BY:

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

In 1972, Rabbi Marc Gellman was the youngest rabbi ever ordained by the Hebrew Union College.  He is presently the Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth Torah in Melville, New York, where he was elected to the pulpit in 1981.  Rabbi Gellman was the president of the New York Board of Rabbis during the attacks of 9/11 and delivered one of the three principal speeches at the 9/11 memorial service September 24, 2001.

He was selected several times as one of the 50 best rabbis in America by Newsweek and wrote a weekly column, The Spiritual State, for Newsweek.com.  Rabbi Gellman presently writes, The God Squad, a nationally syndicated weekly newspaper column of advice on faith and ethics for Tribune Media Content.  He has lectured at the World Economic Forum at Davos, presented at Grand Rounds at the Brigham and Woman’s Hospital of the Harvard Medical School, has lectured at Princeton and Duke and many other academic institutions, and has served as adjunct faculty at Hebrew Union College, Northwestern University, and Antioch College and has lectured widely.

Along with his friend, Monsignor Tom Hartman, Rabbi Gellman formed the “God Squad” in 1987.  They served as religion correspondents for ABC’s Good Morning America.  They were also regular guests on the Imus in the Morning program.  Rabbi Gellman and Father Hartman were voted by the readers of Newsday as the most important activists and leaders on Long Island of the last century. They wrote several award-winning books for children and also wrote, Religion for Dummies.  The HBO special based on their book, How Do You Spell God? was awarded the George Foster Peabody Award.  The Disney movie, Keeping the Faith, is loosely based on their friendship.

Rabbi Gellman holds an earned Ph.D. in Philosophy from Northwestern University and has published many academic articles and lectured widely.  He was the chairman of the Jewish Medical Ethics Committee of the UJA-Federation of New York and was an editor of its Compendium of Jewish Medical Ethics.  He is the author or co-author with Father Hartman of 11 books for adults and children including the award-winning book of modern midrashim for children, Does God Have a Big Toe? which Isa Aron, former professor of education at Hebrew Union College has called, “The greatest Jewish children’s book ever written.”  His modern midrashim first appeared in Moment Magazine where he served as a contributing editor and opened up the field of modern midrash for adults and for children.

Despite his many and varied accomplishments, Rabbi Gellman has never been the best rabbi nor has he been the best golfer, but for many years Rabbi Marc Gellman was definitely the best rabbi/golfer in America.  He writes for Golf Digest and is on their ranking panel.