David Bashevkin (or Dovid Bashevkin, born February 15, 1985) is an American
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
rabbi, writer, adjunct professor, and
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...
host. He serves as Director of Education at
NCSY
NCSY (formerly known as the National Conference of Synagogue Youth) is a Jewish youth group under the auspices of the Orthodox Union. Its operations include Jewish-inspired after-school programs; summer programs in Israel, Europe, and the United ...
Lawrence
Lawrence may refer to:
Education Colleges and universities
* Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States
* Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States
Preparator ...
, New York to parents who came from traditional Jewish backgrounds. He described his
oncologist
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...
father and writer mother as being right-wing
Modern Orthodox
Modern may refer to:
History
*Modern history
** Early Modern period
** Late Modern period
*** 18th century
*** 19th century
*** 20th century
** Contemporary history
* Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century
Philosoph ...
Yeshivat Sha'alvim
Yeshivat Sha'alvim is a hesder yeshiva, a kollel and a yeshiva high school for boys, located in Kibbutz Sha'alvim .
History
Yeshivat Sha'alvim was founded in 1961 by Meir Schlesinger, the rabbi of Kibbutz Sha'alvim. The yeshiva, like the kibb ...
, later attending
Ner Israel Rabbinical College
Ner Israel Rabbinical College (ישיבת נר ישראל), also known as NIRC and Ner Yisroel, is a Haredi yeshiva (Jewish educational institution) in Pikesville (Baltimore County), Maryland. It was founded in 1933 by Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ru ...
in Baltimore, where he earned his bachelor's degree in
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
ic Studies at in 2006. After receiving his
rabbinic ordination
Semikhah ( he, סמיכה) is the traditional Jewish name for rabbinic ordination.
The original ''semikhah'' was the formal "transmission of authority" from Moses through the generations. This form of ''semikhah'' ceased between 360 and 425 C ...
at
Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU on the Yeshiva Universi ...
's (YU)
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS ) is the rabbinical seminary of Yeshiva University (YU). It is located along Amsterdam Avenue in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.
Named after Yitzchak Elchanan ...
, Bashevkin graduated with a Master of Arts (MA) degree in Polish Hasidut under
Yaakov Elman
Yaakov Elman (1943 – July 29, 2018) was an American professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University's Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies where he held the Herbert S. and Naomi Denenberg Chair in Talmudic Studies. He was the founder of the ...
at YU's
Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies The Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies was Yeshiva University’s first graduate school. Founded in 1937, it was named for Yeshiva University's first president, Bernard Revel. Its curriculum prepares highly trained teachers, researchers ...
in 2010. From 2013 to 2022, he studied for a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management at
The New School
The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...
Bashevkin began his academic career as an associate director of education at
NCSY
NCSY (formerly known as the National Conference of Synagogue Youth) is a Jewish youth group under the auspices of the Orthodox Union. Its operations include Jewish-inspired after-school programs; summer programs in Israel, Europe, and the United ...
, the youth division of the Orthodox Union, from 2010 to 2013 before becoming the group's director of education. As the leader of NCSY, he has directed many youth seminars and programs and has also developed curricula for staff and teens.
Academia
Bashevkin served as an adjunct professor at Long Island University from 2010 to 2011. He currently teaches courses on public policy, religious crisis, and rabbinic thought at YU in the Isaac Breuer College of Hebraic Studies as well the
Sy Syms School of Business
Syms School of Business (formerly the Syms School of Business) is Yeshiva University business school. It offers both undergraduate and graduate business programs at the Wilf Campus in New York Washington Heights neighborhood, and at the Beren Ca ...
Daf Yomi
''Daf Yomi'' ( he, דף יומי, ''Daf Yomi'', "page of the day" or "daily folio") is a daily regimen of learning the Oral Torah and its commentaries (also known as the Gemara), in which each of the 2,711 pages of the Babylonian Talmud is covere ...
podcast called ''Take One'' with
Liel Leibovitz
Liel Leibovitz (born 1976) is an Israeli journalist, author, media critic and video game scholar. Leibovitz was born in Tel Aviv, immigrated to the United States in 1999, and earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2007. In 2014, he was Visiti ...
. In 2020, Bashevkin launched the ''18Forty'' podcast to treat traditional Jewish issues in a modern context. The podcasts are organized by monthly topics, with each topic featuring 2-4 guests. Past topics included Biblical criticism, "
Off the derech
Off the ''derech'' ( he, דֶּרֶךְ, pronounced: , meaning: path) (OTD) is a Yeshiva-English expression used to describe a Jew who has left an Orthodox Jewish community. Despite its negative connotation in insinuating that the exiter has left ...
Joshua Berman
Joshua Berman (born February 29, 1964) is an Orthodox rabbi and professor of bible at Bar-Ilan University. He is known for his views on the history of Jewish belief, and on biblical source criticism, arguing that "knowledge of the cultural contex ...
Gil Student
Gil Ofer Student (born August 8, 1972) is the Book Editor of the Orthodox Union's Jewish Action magazine; former Managing Editor of OU Press, and an Orthodox Jewish blogger who writes about the interface between different facets of Judaism, speci ...
.
Publications
Books
Bashevkin believes in the study of
Jewish thought
Jewish thought ( he, מחשבת ישראל, ''Machshevet Yisrael'', or ''machshavah''), also known as Judaic thought or Hebraic thought, is a field of Jewish studies that deals with the products of Jewish thought and culture throughout the ages, an ...
as a mechanism to find spiritual fulfillment through
Torah study
Torah study is the study of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature, and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts. According to Rabbinic Judaism, the study is done for the purpose of the '' mitzvah'' ("com ...
and everyday activities. His published books in this genre include the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
work - ''B'Rogez Rahem Tizkor'', ''Sin•a•gogue: Sin and Failure in Jewish Thoughts'', and ''Top 5: Lists of Jewish Character and Characters.'' He authored the NCSY
Haggadah
The Haggadah ( he, הַגָּדָה, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the mitzvah to each J ...
entitled ''Just One''. Many of Bashevkin's ideas draw extensively on the works of
Zadok HaKohen
Rabbi Zadok ha-Kohen Rabinowitz of Lublin (in Hebrew: צדוק הכהן מלובלין) (Kreisburg, 1823 – Lublin, Poland, 1900), or Tzadok Hakohen or Tzadok of Lublin, was a significant Jewish thinker and Hasidic leader.
Biography
He was bor ...
Rabinowitz, a 19th-century Hasidic rabbi, especially the latter's thoughts on
sin
In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
.
Bashevkin has written humorously about
Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...
culture, which he referred to as "airplane food and not home-baked." One humor column in ''
Mishpacha
''Mishpacha'' ( he, משפחה, : Family) - Jewish Family Weekly is a Haredi weekly magazine package produced by The Mishpacha Group in both English and Hebrew.
History
The Mishpacha Publishing Group was founded in 1984 with the publication ...
'' magazine cataloged the idiosyncrasies and nuances of Jewish life. Bashevkin has written extensively on Jewish theology, publishing articles on sin, failure, and Jewish doctrine and tradition, including the application of
Teaneck, New Jersey
Teaneck () is a township in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 39,776, reflecting an increase of 516 (+1.3%) f ...