Elliot Dorff was ordained a Conservative rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1970 and earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University in 1971 with a dissertation in moral theory. Since then he has directed the rabbinical and Masters programs at the University of Judaism (now called the American Jewish University), where he currently is Rector and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy. For thirty years he also has taught a course on Jewish law at UCLA School of Law as a Visiting Professor. He was awarded the Journal of Law and Religion's Lifetime Achievement Award, and he holds three honorary doctoral degrees.

Rabbi Dorff is Chair of the Conservative Movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards and served on the editorial committee of Etz Hayim, the new Torah commentary for the Conservative Movement. He has chaired three scholarly organizations: the Academy of Jewish Philosophy, the Jewish Law Association, and the Society of Jewish Ethics. In Spring, 1993, he served on the Ethics Committee of Hillary Rodham Clinton's Health Care Task Force. In March, 1997 and May, 1999, he testified on behalf of the Jewish tradition on the subjects of human cloning and stem cell research before the President's National Bioethics Advisory Commission. In 1999 and 2000 he was part of the Surgeon General's commission to draft a Call to Action for Responsible Sexual Behavior; and from 2000 to 2002 he served on the National Human Resources Protections Advisory Commission, charged with reviewing and revising the federal guidelines for protecting human subjects in research projects. He is currently working on a project on Judaism and genetics for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he is a member of that organization's Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion Advisory Committee. He is also a member of the Ethics Advisory Committee for the $3 billion California Stem Cell Project.

In Los Angeles, he is Immediate Past President of Jewish Family Service, and he is a member of the Ethics committee at U.C.L.A. Medical Center. He serves as Co-Chair of the Priest-Rabbi Dialogue of the Los Angeles Archdiocese and the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, and he is a Vice-President of the Academy for Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Studies.

Rabbi Dorffs publications include over 200 articles on Jewish thought, law, and ethics, together with twelve books:

1. Jewish Law and Modern Ideology (1970).
2. Conservative Judaism: Our Ancestors to Our Descendants (1977; 1996).
3. A Living Tree: The Roots and Growth of Jewish Law (1988) (with Arthur Rosett).
4. Mitzvah Means Commandment (1989).
5. Knowing God: Jewish Journeys to the Unknowable (1992).
6. Contemporary Jewish Ethics and Morality: A Reader (1995) (edited with Louis E. Newman).
7. Matters of Life and Death: A Jewish Approach to Modern Medical Ethics (1998), national Jewish Book Award finalist.
8. Contemporary Jewish Theology: A Reader (1999) (edited with Louis E. Newman).
9. To Do the Right and the Good: A Jewish Approach to Modern Social Ethics (2002), winner of the National Jewish Book Award in Contemporary Jewish Life for 2003.
10. Love Your Neighbor and Yourself A Jewish Approach to Modern Personal Ethics (2003).
11. The Way Into Tikkun Olam (Fixing the World) (2005), National Jewish Book Award Finalist.
12. The Unfolding Tradition: Jewish Law After Sinai (2005).
13. For the Love of God and People: A Philosophy of Jewish Law (2007)

Rabbi Dorff is married to Marlynn, and their four children have so far produced six grandchildren -- may their number increase!