Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin was born and raised in Arlington, Virginia. He earned a BA in Jewish History and two teaching certificates from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He received an MA in Rabbinics and a PhD in Talmud from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he was also ordained as a rabbi.

Rabbi Prof. Golinkin is President of the Schechter Institutes, Inc., and President Emeritus of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. The Schechter Institutes provide pluralistic Jewish education to over 100,000 children and adults every year. At Schechter, he also serves as Founding Director of the Institute of Applied Halakhah, the Center for Women in Jewish Law, and the Midrash Project. For twenty years he served as Chair of the Va’ad Halakhah (Law Committee) of the Rabbinical Assembly, which writes responsa for the Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel.

In June 2014, Rabbi Prof. Golinkin was named by The Jerusalem Post as one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world. In May 2019, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Rabbi Prof. Golinkin is the author or editor of 60 books and over 200 articles, and his current columns, Responsa in a Moment and Aseh Lekha Rav, are published via the Schechter websites. Rabbi Prof. Golinkin is married to Dr. Dory Rotnemer Golinkin, and they have seven children and twenty grandchildren.

Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin made Aliyah from Virginia in 1972.