Michael Balinsky

Rabbi Michael Balinsky is the Executive Vice President of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, an organization representing two hundred rabbis of all denominations. Previously he was Director of Faculty Development for the Florence Melton Adult Mini-Schools and was a Hillel director for twenty- two years, over nineteen of those as the director of the Louis and Saerree Fiedler Hillel Center at Northwestern University, after two and a half years as the Associate Director of Hillel at the University of Michigan. He is a long time member of the Jewish Catholic Scholars Dialogue in Chicago and is an executive member of the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago. Rabbi Balinsky is a graduate of Yeshiva University where he also received his ordination. He is married to Dr. Myra Rapoport and they are the parents of three daughters.


Articles by Michael Balinsky

On Becoming Empty Nesters

This morning my wife and I drove our youngest daughter to the airport as she left for a year of ...

Why Neither the Pope nor Moses Will be at My Seder

One should not be surprised the Pope is not coming to my seder. Truth is, we do not know each ...

Please Interrupt Me

A professor friend of mine has been thinking about moments of interruption. How do we cope when they intrude upon ...

Excuse Me, Do You Know What Time It Is?

 There is an old joke about the Israeli fellow who would always ask people for the time. People would get irritated, ...

Do You Have a Green Card?

This question is part of the larger issue of immigration reform that will have to be faced by the Congress ...

Rights and Submission

 Each year when I read the Joseph narratives in Genesis I discover something new. It is one of the joys for ...

Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow

We all know people who at some point in their lives may be suffering or depressed and give up hope ...

Wake Up Already!

A Small Thought on V’Yeitze Jacob, fleeing from his brother Esau, stops on the way, falls asleep for the night ...

Make My Day

The legacy of Abraham is complex and varied, both within and between religious traditions. What does it mean to be ...

Mr. Prime Minister, Tear Down This Wall!

In June 1975, I was getting ready to leave Israel after a year of study. I bumped into a friend ...