David M. Gordis is president of Hebrew College and professor emeritus of Rabbinics. He is the founding director of the National Center for Jewish Policy Studies and the initiator of the Interreligious Center on Public Life. An ordained rabbi, he is widely regarded for his classic Jewish scholarship, his communal leadership, and his extensive writings on Jewish life in America and Israel. Prior to assuming the presidency of Hebrew College in 1993, he served as vice president of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles (now renamed the American Jewish University) and as executive vice president of the American Jewish Committee.