Adam Mintz

Mintz was born in Washington, D.C. to Rabbi Benjamin Mintz and Harriet Ashinsky.{{Cite web |title=Washington Jewish News: Benjamin Mintz|url=https://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/benjamin-mintz-the-humble-loyal-learned-liberal-and-laughing-pioneer/ |access-date=2024-09-19}} He attended the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Greater Washington before transferring to Manhattan Hebrew High School in Riverdale, New York. Mintz graduated from Yeshiva College in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in Jewish History and a master's degree in Medieval Jewish History.{{Cite web |title= Torah In Motion: Rabbi Adam Mintz|url= https://torahinmotion.org/speakers/rabbi-adam-mintz |access-date=2024-07-31}}

In 1985, Mintz received Yoreh Yoreh Semikhah (rabbinical ordination) from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University and in 1988 Yadin Yadin Semikhah, qualifying him to serve as a rabbinical judge.

In 2011, he earned a Ph.D. in Modern Jewish History from New York University, with his doctoral thesis focusing on the history of the eruv in North America.{{Cite news |last=Goodstein |first=Laurie |date=1998-02-06 |title=Unusual, but Not Unorthodox; Causing a Stir, 2 Synagogues Hire Women to Assist Rabbis |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/06/nyregion/unusual-but-not-unorthodox-causing-stir-2-synagogues-hire-women-assist-rabbis.html |access-date=2024-07-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

Mintz was the Associate Rabbi for Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side from 1992 to 1996, and then Senior Rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue on the Upper West Side from 1996 to 2004. While at Lincoln Square Synagogue, Mintz hired Julie Stern Joseph, the first woman congregational intern in an Orthodox synagogue in America. In 2004, he founded Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim, a Modern Orthodox synagogue on the Upper East Side.

In 2020, Mintz founded Project Ruth,[https://projectruth.net/ Project Ruth Homepage] an organization dedicated to facilitating accessible Orthodox conversions to Judaism.[https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-748859 Jerusalem Post: Converting to Judaism: Is it good for the Jews?] Following the October 7 events, there was a significant increase in Jewish conversions in America, with Project Ruth playing a pivotal role in this movement as one of the largest of its kind in the U.S.[https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2024-06-02/ty-article-magazine/.premium/time-to-take-the-plunge-how-oct-7-sparked-a-huge-wave-of-jewish-conversions-in-america/0000018f-d964-d5bc-a1bf-df7408700000 Haaretz: Time to Take the Plunge][https://www.timesofisrael.com/i-just-felt-this-urgency-for-some-oct-7-fuels-dedication-to-becoming-jewish/ Times of Israel: For Some, Oct. 7 Fuels Dedication to Becoming Jewish] [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/12/09/converting-to-judaism-in-the-wake-of-october-7th] The New Yorker: Converting to Judaism in the Wake of October 7th

Mintz teaches Talmud and Practical Rabbinics at Yeshivat Maharat in New York.{{Cite web |title=Rabbi Adam Mintz |url=https://www.yeshivatmaharat.org/scholar/mintz/adam |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=Yeshivat Maharat |language=en}} Additionally, he is the founder and director of 929 English, an online platform dedicated to promoting the daily study of the Hebrew Bible.{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://www.929.org.il/pages/aboutEN.html |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=www.929.org.il}} As co-president of the Manhattan Eruv, Mintz expanded the eruv to include most of Manhattan from 146th Street to the southern tip of Manhattan.{{Cite news |last=Freedman |first=Samuel G. |date=2010-03-05 |title=A Jewish Ritual Collides With Mother Nature |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/us/06religion.html |access-date=2024-07-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |date=2015-05-24 |title=High wire strewn through city lets Jews keep the faith |url=https://nypost.com/2015/05/24/high-wire-strewn-through-city-lets-jews-keep-the-faith/ |access-date=2024-07-03 |language=en-US}}{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-Nly9EthjQ |title=Thank you Rabbi Adam Mintz for the Manhattan Eruv! |date=2023-01-25 |last=Rabbi Elchanan Poupko |access-date=2024-07-03 |via=YouTube}}{{Cite news |title=The Ins and Outs of New York's Eruv |url= https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-ins-and-outs-of-new-yorks-eruv-1494542233 |access-date=2024-09-19|work=The Wall Street Journal}}

Mintz was President of the New York Board of Rabbis, a nondenominational association comprising over 800 rabbis, from 2004 to 2006. He also served as the Liaison to the Jewish Community for William C. Thompson, the Comptroller of New York City. Mintz was a member of the Orthodox Roundtable, a Modern Orthodox rabbinic think tank focused on promoting halakhic discussion and practical responses to contemporary issues.{{Cite web |last=Yumpu.com |title=The New York Board of Rabbis |url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/15961285/the-new-york-board-of-rabbis |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=yumpu.com |language=en}}

Mintz was a Tikvah Scholar-at-Large at the Tikvah Center for Law and Jewish Civilization at New York University School of Law from 2012 to 2013.{{Cite web |title= Research Gate: Adam Mintz |url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adam-Mintz-2}} He has also served as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Jewish History at City College and has been a visiting lecturer at Queens College, Brooklyn College, City College and Rutgers University.{{Cite web |date=2007-03-13 |title=Adam Mintz – The Seforim Blog |url=https://seforimblog.com/tag/adam-mintz/ |access-date=2024-07-03 |language=en-US}}

Mintz's works encompass a wide range of topics related to Judaism and Jewish life:

• Building Communities: A History of the Eruv in America{{Cite journal |last=Fishman |first=Philip |date=2023-06-01 |title=Adam Mintz, Building Communities: A History of the Eruv in America (Academic Studies Press, 2023), pp. 186 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s12397-023-09504-y |journal=Contemporary Jewry |language=en |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=497–500 |doi=10.1007/s12397-023-09504-y |issn=1876-5165|url-access=subscription }}
• “The Community Eruv and the American Public Square,” Diné Israel{{Cite web |title= Dine Israel Volume 31|url=https://en-law.tau.ac.il/Volume_31_3298}}
• “A Chapter in American Orthodoxy: The Eruvin in Brooklyn,” Hakirah{{Cite web |title=Hakirah.org |url=https://hakirah.org/ |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=hakirah.org}}
• “Variable, Vital, and Frequently Chaotic: American Jewry,” Jewish Quarterly Review{{Cite journal |title=Variable, Vital, and Frequently Chaotic: American Jewry |journal=Jewish Quarterly Review |volume=100 |issue=3 (Summer, 2010)}}
• “Is Coca-Cola Kosher? Rabbi Tobias Geffen and the History of American Orthodoxy,” in Rav Chesed: Essays in Honor of Rabbi Dr. Haskel Lookstein{{Cite book |last=Lookstein |first=Haskel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BKU3cAAACAAJ |title=Rav Chesed: Essays in Honor of Rabbi Dr. Haskel Lookstein |date=2009 |publisher=KTAV Publishing House |isbn=978-1-60280-115-8 |language=en}}
• The Talmud in Translation, in Printing the Talmud: From Bomberg to Schottenstein{{Cite web |title=Printing the Talmud: From Bomberg to Schottenstein (Softcover) - Publications - Yeshiva University Museum |url=https://www.yumuseum.org/publications/printing-the-talmud-from-bomberg-to-schottenstein-softcover |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=www.yumuseum.org}}
• Conversion, Intermarriage, and Jewish Identity (editor){{Cite web |title=Urim Publications: CONVERSION, INTERMARRIAGE, AND JEWISH IDENTITY (The Orthodox Forum) |url=https://www.urimpublications.com/conversion-intermarriage-and-jewish-identity-the-orthodox-forum.html |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=www.urimpublications.com}}
• It’s A Thin Line: Eruv From Talmudic to Modern Culture (editor){{Cite book |title=It's a Thin Line |publisher=Ktav Pub & Distributors |year=2014 |isbn=978-1602802766}}
• The Relationship of Orthodox Jews with Believing Jews of Other Religious Ideologies and Non-Believing Jews (editor){{Cite book |title=The Relationship of Orthodox Jews with Believing Jews of Other Religious Ideologies and Non-Believing Jews |publisher=Yeshiva University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-60280-140-0}}
• Jewish Spirituality and Divine Law (editor){{Cite book |title=Jewish Spirituality And Divine Law |publisher=Ktav |year=2005 |isbn=0881258652}}

Mintz is married to Sharon Liberman who is the Curator of Jewish Art at The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary Library (JTS) in New York{{Cite web |date=2016-04-06 |title=Library Exhibits - Jewish Theological Seminary |url=https://www.jtsa.edu/library-exhibits/ |access-date=2024-07-02 |language=en-US}} and serves as the Judaica International Senior Specialist, for Sotheby's,{{Cite web |title=Judaica |url=https://www.sothebys.com/en/departments/judaica |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=Sothebys.com |language=en}} where she was responsible for the sale of Codex Sassoon, the world's most expensive book.{{Cite web |title=Codex Sassoon. Circa 900, Land of Israel or Syria {{!}} Codex Sassoon: The Earliest Most Complete Hebrew Bible {{!}} 2023 |url=https://www.sothebys.com/buy/a72368ef-2555-40c2-8ed5-2e75ea5ae6b0/lots/91f21f00-c6bf-422b-bdac-91b93ffca37c |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=Sotheby's |language=en}} The couple resides on the Upper West Side and have three children and three grandchildren.

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Category:1961 births

Category:Living people

Category:American Jews

Category:New York University alumni

Category:Yeshiva University alumni

Category:Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary semikhah recipients

Category:American Orthodox rabbis

Category:Rabbis from New York City

Category:20th-century American rabbis

Category:21st-century American rabbis