Joel Roth is Louis Finkelstein Professor of Talmud and Jewish Law at The Jewish Theological Seminary. Rabbi Roth also serves as the chair of the Department of Hebrew Language and as Rosh Yeshiva of the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. The Yeshiva, founded and maintained by the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, is under the academic auspices of JTS.

In addition to his teaching post at JTS, Rabbi Roth has held four key administrative positions, serving as dean of students of List College (then called Seminary College), director of the Melton Research Center for Jewish Education, and both associate dean and dean of The Rabbinical School.

An expert in halakhah, Dr. Roth was appointed to the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards in 1978 and served on it until December 2006, including a period of eight years as chairman. In addition to articles and responsa for the committee, Rabbi Roth has written The Halakhic Process: A Systemic Analysis and Sefer ha-Mordecai: Tractate Kiddushin.

Dr. Roth received a BA from Wayne State University in his hometown of Detroit. He also participated in the Herbert H. Lehman Institute of Talmudic Ethics, a special-studies program. He received his master's degree at JTS, where he was ordained in 1968. That same year, Rabbi Roth was appointed to the faculty of JTS, as he continued his studies toward a PhD in Talmud, which he received in 1973.

February 2009