Register to attend

In ancient Israel-- and in Judaism, more broadly-- the exodus wields enormous power. It is nothing less than the "orienting event" of Jewish life; Jews remember the exodus constantly, and more than that, they reenact it and make it present on a regular basis. But less often considered is that exodus memory also has another, much more painful side: amidst suffering and devastation, Jews remember the exodus and wonder why, if God redeemed them then, God does not do so now.

In this lecture, we'll explore the double-edge of memory: we'll see how it can sustain worshippers in hope and how, sometimes, it can deepen their despair. We'll engage the full complexity of living with memories that are sometimes only that: memories rather than lived experiences.

Lunch will be provided to those who register.

Speaker

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.