Rabbi Zev Schostak
Director of Pastoral Care, Gurwin Jewish Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Commack, New York
Dec 19, 2011
Rabbi Zev Schostak is the Director of Pastoral Care at the Gurwin Jewish Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Commack, Long Island. He is the founder and Chair of Gurwin's Ethics Panel
Rabbi Schostak speaks and writes extensively on end-of-life bioethics and the issues of aging in halacha.His articles have appeared in academic journals and popular publications in England, Israel and the United States. He served as a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Medicine in Contemporary Society at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and is the founder of The Maimonides Fellowship, an interdisciplinary think tank on the interface of medicine, law, bioethics, and halacha , under the leadership of Dr. Fred Rosner.
Rabbi Schostak has been intensely involved in developing and promoting professional chaplaincy. He is a founder and past President of the Association for Orthodox Jewish Chaplains in Long-Term Care, and served as Secretary and Vice President of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains. In May,2012, he was honored for his leadership and contributions to professional chaplaincy and Jewish medical ethics as the RCA Healthcare Chaplain of the Year.
Chaplaincy has been a change of life career for Rabbi Schostak. Before becoming a chaplain in the fall of 1989, he had a distinguished career of over 25 years as a yeshiva teacher and principal. His tribute to teachers, a poem entitled In the World of Tomorrow , received national acclaim after its publication in Phi Deltan Kappan, a leading educational journal, and American Educator, the quarterly of the AFT.
Rabbi Schostak is the author of a haggadah, Why Is This Night Different? and The Concise Guide to Jewish Family Laws, bearing the approbation of Rav Moshe Feinstein and the endorsements of Rav Hershel Schachter and Rav Moshe Heinemann. Rabbi Schostak is an Associate Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel .
Rabbi Schostak was ordained in Jerusalem, where he received Yoreh Yoreh Yadin Yadin from Rav Yechezkel Sarna, Rosh Yeshiva of Hevron, and Rav Ovadia Yosef. He holds an MA from the University of Detroit and has permanent certification as a New York State School Administrator and Supervisor.
