Rabbi David A. Nelson, originally from Bridgeport, Connecticut, is a Conservative movement rabbi and chaplain in the United States active in Michigan. A graduate of Brandeis University, he was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1967. He served two years in a pulpit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and three years as an assistant rabbi at Chizuk Amuno in Baltimore before ariving in Detroit in 1972. For over three decades, Rabbi Nelson served as rabbi for Congregation Beth Shalom (Oak Park, Michigan).
During this time he served as President of the Conservative Rabbis of Metropolitan Detroit, President of Michigan Branch of Rabbis, President of the Michigan Region of the Rabbinical Assembly, and Chairman of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Member Committee. He directed the Michigan region’s United Synagogue of America and was an active member of the Detroit Round Table of the National Conference of Christians, Muslims and Jews.