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Rabbi Dr. Shai Held on Judaism and Love
For centuries, the Western world has cast Judaism as a “religion of law” in contrast to Christianity as a “religion of love.” Rabbi Shai Held argues powerfully in his new book that this designation is a serious misrepresentation of Jewish tradition and offers the radical and moving argument that love belongs as much to Judaism as it does to Christianity.
Join us as Rabbi Held —one of the most important Jewish thinkers in America today—discusses how love is foundational to the Jewish faith, animating the singular Jewish perspective on injustice and protest, grace, family life, responsibilities to our neighbors and even our enemies, and chosenness. He will present his ideas in conversation with cultural journalist and long-time SAJ member Diane Cole.
Rabbi Shai Held— philosopher, theologian, and Bible scholar– is President and Dean at the Hadar Institute. He received the prestigious Covenant Award for Excellence in Jewish Education, and has been named multiple times by Newsweek as one of the fifty most influential rabbis in America and by the Jewish Daily Forward as one of the fifty most prominent Jews in the world. Rabbi Held is the author of Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence (2013), The Heart of Torah (2017), and Judaism is About Love (2024) and he is the host of Hadar’s newest podcast, Answers WithHeld.
Diane Cole is a widely published author, journalist, and long-time SAJ member. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, The Washington Post, NPR online The Forward, The American Scholar, US News and World Report (where she was a contributing editor), among others. Her memoir, After Great Pain: A New Life Emerges, was included as a New York Times notable book of the year and named by USA Today as one of the ten best non-fiction books of the year.