Rabbi Justin Pines serves as the Director of Lay Leadership for the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. He shapes the educational vision for lay leaders seeking to deepen the Institute’s impact as well as their own.

Previously at Hartman, he served as Director of Youth and Young Adult Initiatives, leading all programming for day school and camping leaders, as well as teens.

Prior to joining Hartman, he served as the Senior Fellow at the JJ Greenberg Institute for the Advancement of Jewish Life, where he worked closely with Rabbi Dr. Irving ‘Yitz’ Greenberg on a variety of writing and programming projects, including a translation of and commentary on Rabbi Yisrael Salanter’s Ohr Yisrael (Koren Publishers, forthcoming).

He also served as Director of Character Development (Mashgiach Ruchani) at the Ramaz Middle School, where he developed and implemented character development (Mussar)  programming for parents, faculty, students and leadership.

The grandchild of four Holocaust Survivors, he received his BA in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania and his JD from Harvard Law School. He is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, the AIPAC Lefell Fellowship, the JJGI Fellowship for Rabbis and Senior Educators, and the Encounter: Davar Acher Leadership Program Fellowship, and serves on the board of the Penn Hillel.

Before receiving rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, he practiced corporate law at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, LLP.

Justin and his family live in Englewood, New Jersey, where he serves on the executive board of the Moriah School.