James Michaels, D.Min.

James Michaels is Professor of Jewish Studies. Rabbi Michaels has had a distinguished career as a pulpit rabbi and health care chaplain with roots in the academic community. Born in Auburn, NY, he received his BA from Cornell University in 1968, and was ordained and received his MA from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 1974. Immediately after ordination, he pursued graduate education in Jewish history at Yeshiva University in New York, and then entered the pulpit rabbinate. Rabbi Michaels has served in pulpits in Whitestone, NY, Wilkes-Barre, PA, and Flint, MI; throughout those years, he also worked as a health care chaplain at Bronx Psychiatric Center and with the Veterans Administration. He received his Doctor of Ministry in pastoral counseling from the Graduate Theological Foundation in 2006, with a specialization in bereavement counseling. In 2003, Rabbi Michaels was appointed Director of Pastoral Care at the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington in Rockville, MD. He became a board certified chaplain in 2005 and was certified as a CPE supervisor in 2007. He has co-edited Flourishing in the Later Years: Jewish Perspectives on Long-Term Pastoral Care (The Victoria Press, 2009), an anthology of 23 new articles. He has also published articles in various professional journals and on-line publications

Religious Affiliation

Jewish (Rabbi, Conservative)

General Areas of Interests

Pastoral Care and counseling
Judaic Studies
- History
- Liturgy

Specialized Areas

Pastoral Care and counseling
Judaic Studies
History and Liturgy

Areas of Service

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