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Biography 

Rabbi Dr. Marc Gellman is the Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth Torah in Melville, New York where he served since 1981 as senior rabbi.  He helped build the synagogue membership from 200 families to eight hundred families. Rabbi Gellman was the youngest rabbi ever ordained by Hebrew Union College in 1972 and the only student ever to complete the six-year rabbinical program in two years of residence. Rabbi Gellman holds an earned doctorate in Philosophy from Northwestern University (1981).  He is the CEO and founder of The Marc Gellman Institute, Inc.  a 501.c3 charitable institution that produces a weekly podcast, The God Squad: a podcast you can believe in. 
 
In 1987, with his friend Monsignor Thomas Hartman, Rabbi Gellman formed the media team called, The God Squad. They reported religious news for ABC’s Good Morning America. They were the first clergymen to be hired by a national network since Bishop Fulton J. Sheen in 1956. They were also regulars on the Imus in the Morning program and lectured widely for over twenty years. Their daily television program, The God Squad, produced by Telecare, the television station of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, was nationally syndicated and reached over 10 million homes. For Tribune Media Content, they published The God Squad, a weekly nationally syndicated newspaper column. Rabbi Gellman has continued to write the column following Father Tom’s death in 2016. For almost a decade he wrote a column for Newsweek.com entitled The Spiritual State.  
 
The readers of Newsday voted Rabbi Gellman and Father Hartman the most important leaders and activists of the last century on Long Island. Rabbi Gellman was also chosen as one of the fifty best rabbis in America by Newsweek and their HBO special, How Do You Spell God?  based upon their book about God for children of all faiths that received the Peabody Award in 1996.  
 
Rabbi Gellman has written ten books for children and adults including, “Does God Have a Big Toe?: Stories about stories in the Bible.”   This book opened the field of modern midrashim for children and was selected by the New York Times as one of the ten best illustrated children's books of 1991. Professor Isa Aron called Big Toe, “The greatest Jewish children’s book ever written.” He has also co-authored with Monsignor Thomas Hartman several books including, Religion for Dummies. Their book Where Does God Live, won the Christopher Award.
 
Rabbi Gellman is the author of ten books for adults and children and pioneered the field of modern midrash for adults and children in his capacity as contributing editor of Moment Magazine
 
Rabbi Gellman has served as adjunct faculty at Antioch College, Northwestern University, and Hebrew Union College, and has delivered invited academic lectures at many colleges and universities including Princeton, Amherst College, Duke University, Jewish Theological Seminary, and Lehigh University. He has contributed academic papers to the Annual of the American Psychiatric Association, The Journal of the US Commission on Civil Rights, First Things, and other academic and opinion journals.  He was invited to contribute to the collection of essays on The State of Jewish Belief by Commentary Magazine. Rabbi Gellman was an invited participant at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2007.
 
Rabbi Gellman was appointed by Rabbi Moshe Tendler of Yeshiva University to succeed him as Chairman of The Medical Ethics Committee of UJA-Federation where he edited their Compendium of Medical Ethics.  He served as Chairman of the Protection of Human Subjects Committee of Evanston Hospital. He also lectured at the Boston Fertility Institute and lectured at Grand Rounds of Beth Israel Hospital of the Harvard Medical School on The Ethics of Assisted Reproductive Technologies.  
 
Rabbi Gellman served as president of The New York Board of Rabbis during the 9/11 attack on New York and delivered one of the keynote speeches at the Memorial Service in Yankee Stadium on September 23, 2001 (see attached). His synagogue, Temple Beth Torah is the largest synagogue in Suffolk County, Long Island.
 
He has been included for both years in the list of the 50 best rabbis in America. 
 
Rabbi Gellman is also a member of the Golf Writers of America and is on the ranking panel of Golf Digest Magazine. He is the recipient of the Winnie Palmer Award from the Metropolitan Golf Writers of New York.
 
Rabbi Gellman has been married to Betty Schulson of Chicago since 1968. They have two children, Mara, and Max. They have two grandchildren, Zeke and Daisy.  They raise guide dogs for the blind. 
 
 

Lectures 

Do Jews Believe in Heaven? 

God Squad

Tue, March 19 2024 9 Adar II 5784