A Conversation with Rabbi Shai Held, American philosopher, theologian, author, and Bible scholar, co-founder, President, and Dean of the Hadar Institute.

Rabbi Ari Averbach hosts Rabbi Shai Held for a candid conversation on God, suffering, prayer, and love in Jewish life. Held shares how theology “chose him” through a childhood of cognitive dissonance (secular home, yeshiva schooling), why he teaches text-first, and how opening honest, adult conversations about faith can revive American Jewish spirituality. He contrasts predicate theology (“God as verb”) with a more traditional theism (“God in our response”) and explores what that means for prayer, action, and pastoral care.Diving into Psalms of lament—especially Psalm 77 and Psalm 44—Held shows how remembering the Exodus can both comfort and intensify pain, legitimizing protest as authentic piety. He discusses hospital rooms and funerals where humility matters: sometimes people need presence, sometimes theology. The aim is a richer Jewish vocabulary that invites curiosity across differences, whether between denominations or in interfaith dialogue.Major Publications & MediaJudaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life (2024): His widely discussed book exploring the central role of divine and human love within Jewish theology and ethics.The Heart of Torah (2017): A two-volume collection of deep, ethically driven essays focused on the weekly Torah portions.Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence (2013): A critical study of the renowned 20th-century theologian's religious philosophy.Answers WithHeld: He hosts a podcast produced by the Hadar Institute, engaging with various theological and text-based topics. AccoladesCovenant Award: Recipient of the prestigious Covenant Foundation award for excellence in Jewish education.National Recognition: Repeatedly named one of America's 50 most influential rabbis by Newsweek and one of the world's 50 most prominent Jewish figures by the Jewish Daily Forward.