He attended Yeshiva of Flatbush, where he met his friend and future co-author for two books, Dennis Prager, in tenth grade.

He is an associate of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership and a former director of education at the non-denominational Brandeis-Bardin Institute.

His book Words That Hurt, Words That Heal inspired Senators Joseph Lieberman’s and Connie Mack’s Senate Resolution #151 to establish a National Speak No Evil Day in the US, a day for which Americans would go for twenty-four hours without saying anything unkind or unfair about, or to, anyone.

More than two decades after its publication, the book remains a foundation text for Jews, non-Jews, and prospective converts alike.

In 2013, Telushkin was invited by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, to speak before the commission in Geneva.