The Heart of Torah, Volume 1

Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion: Genesis and Exodus

Shai Held

• Publisher: The Jewish Publication Society
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780827612716
• eBook ISBN: 9780827613331
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

In The Heart of Torah, Rabbi Shai Held's Torah essays—two for each weekly portion—open new horizons in Jewish biblical commentary. Held probes the portions in bold, original, and provocative ways. He mines Talmud and midrashim, great writers of world literature, and astute commentators of other religious backgrounds to ponder fundamental questions about God, human nature, and what it means to be a religious person in the modern world. Along the wayhe illuminates the centrality of empathy in Jewish ethics, the predominance of divine love in Jewish theology, the primacy of gratitude and generosity, and God's summoning of each of us—with all our limitations—into the dignity of a covenantal relationship.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Donor Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• A Note on Translations
• Introduction
• Genesis
• Bere’shit No. 1. What Can Human Beings Do, and What Can’t They?
• Bere’shit No. 2. Created in God’s Image
• Noaḥ No. 1. Before and After the Flood
• Noaḥ No. 2. People Have Names
• Lekh Lekha No. 1. Are Jews Always the Victims?
• Lekh Lekha No. 2. Between Abram and Lot
• Va-yera’ No. 1. The Face of Guests as the Face of God
• Va-yera’ No. 2. In Praise of Protest
• Ḥayyei Sarah No. 1. Isaac’s Search
• Ḥayyei Sarah No. 2. People Are Complicated
• Toledot No. 1. In Praise of Isaac
• Toledot No. 2. Between God and Torah
• Va-yetse’ No. 1. Can We Be Grateful and Disappointed at the Same Time?
• Va-yetse’ No. 2. No Excuses
• Va-yishlaḥ No. 1. The Fear of Killing
• Va-yishlaḥ No. 2. The Power of Compassion
• Va-yeshev No. 1. Against Halfheartedness
• Va-yeshev No. 2. Election and Service
• Mikkets No. 1. His Brother’s Brother
• Mikkets No. 2. Reuben’s Recklessness
• Va-yiggash No. 1. Humiliation
• Va-yiggash No. 2. Saving and Enslaving
• Va-yeḥi No. 1. The Majesty of Restraint
• Va-yeḥi No. 2. Underreacting and Overreacting
• Exodus
• Shemot No. 1. Why Moses?
• Shemot No. 2. Gratitude and Liberation
• Va-’era’ No. 1. The Journey and the (Elusive) Destination
• Va-’era’ No. 2. Cultivating Freedom
• Bo’ No. 1. Pharaoh
• Bo’ No. 2. Receiving Gifts (and Learning to Love?)
• Be-shallaḥ No. 1. Leaving Slavery Behind
• Be-shallaḥ No. 2. Bread from the Sky
• Yitro No. 1. Does Everyone Hate the Jews?
• Yitro No. 2. Honoring Parents
• Mishpatim No. 1. Turning Memory into Empathy
• Mishpatim No. 2. Hearing the Cries of the Defenseless
• Terumah No. 1. Being Present While Making Space
• Terumah No. 2. Returning to Eden?
• Tetsavveh No. 1. God in the Mishkan
• Tetsavveh No. 2. Between Ecstasy and Constancy
• Ki Tissa’ No. 1. The Importance of Character
• Ki Tissa’ No. 2. God’s Expansive Mercy
• Va-yak’hel No. 1. Whom Do We Serve?
• Va-yak’hel No. 2, Pekudei No. 1. (A) Building with Heart
• Pekudei No. 2. Building a Home for God
• Notes to the Introduction
• A Note on Bible Commentaries
• Bibliography
• Subject Index
• List of Classical Sources
• About Rabbi Shai Held
• About Rabbi Yitz Greenberg