Author Profile

Joshua Halberstam grew up in Boro Park where he went to yeshiva from elementary school through high school and continued his Talmudic studies in rabbinical school. He also managed (sometimes surreptitiously) to attend Brooklyn College and later New York University where he received his PHD. in philosophy.

 Halberstam taught philosophy in several academic institutions including NYU and Teachers College, Columbia and presently teaches at Bronx Community College of City University where courses include communication and public speaking.

Along with his academic career, Dr. Halberstam worked as a marketing consultant and as a (not very successful) entrepreneur. He’s also had a prolific writing career –in addition to his professional writing in philosophy, he’s authored a half dozen books and dozens of articles in a broad array of areas from ethics and social issues to education and Judaica.
Unlike many writers and academics, Halberstam is at ease in front of the microphone and is a frequent guest on national television and radio. His stints include four-time appearances on Oprah and several appearances on NPR’s All things Considered and Talk of the Nation. He has lectured at leading universities including Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and is a frequent speaker for organizations in both the private and public sector.

The background for Halberstam’s most recent book, a novel about Chassidim in Brooklyn circa 1970, is a world familiar to him.  He is a scion of the leading Chassidic dynasties; his family traces unbroken generations of illustrious rabbis on both his father and mother's side back to the sixteenth century, and he is  the grandson of the first Chassidic Rebbe in Boro Park, Brooklyn.  His family weddings sometimes include more than 20,000 people -- check one out on YouTube by searching

“Halberstam wedding.”