Neve Shalom, 250 Grove Ave., Metuchen, announces Rabbi Shai Held of Mechon Hadar in New York will be the guest teacher at the annual Israel Segal Memorial Lecture at 10 a.m. May 15. Dr. Held’s talk is “From Gratitude to Generosity: Judaism’s Vision of the Good Life.” There is no charge for admission and refreshments will be served. The event is open to the community.
Rabbi Shai Held, renowned theologian, scholar and educator, is co-founder, dean and chair in Jewish Thought at Mechon Hadar, where he also directs the Center for Jewish Leadership and Ideas. Previously, he served for six years as Scholar-in-Residence at Kehilat Hadar in New York City, and taught both theology and Halakha at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
He also served as Director of Education at Harvard Hillel. A 2011 recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, Rabbi Held has been named multiple times to Newsweek’s list of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. He holds a doctorate in religion from Harvard; his main academic interests are in modern Jewish and Christian thought, in biblical theology, and in the history of Zionism. Rabbi Held’s first book, Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence, was published by Indiana University Press in 2013; his next book, The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes, is due out next year.
