Show Notes
What does it mean to embody God’s love in a world where God sometimes feels absent? In this episode, Rabbi Shai Held is joined by Christian biblical scholars Dr. Judy Fentress-Williams and Dr. Ellen Davis to explore what the Book of Ruth reveals—not just about loyalty and love, but about God’s subtle presence in human lives. Together, they ask: What does it mean for God to work through ordinary people? Can human faithfulness reveal divine faithfulness?
More from Answers WithHeld
For many of us, confronting death raises urgent questions of faith, doubt, and the meaning and purpose of our lives. Yet we live in a culture that avoids talking about death, let alone the existential challenges it raises. Physician and ethicist Lydia Dugdale, author of The Lost Art of Dying, joins Rabbi Shai Held to draw on ancient and contemporary wisdom about mortality and meaning. Recorded in Fall 2025. This conversation is part of the Faith WithHeld series, generously sponsored by ...
When the unthinkable happens, what remains of faith? Journalist Sarah Wildman, who lost her young daughter, joins Rabbi Shai Held in a searching conversation about grief, love, and the struggle to go on. They will probe how mourning collides with meaning-making, and how faith might fracture, endure, or be remade in the wake of devastating loss. Recorded in Fall 2025. This conversation is part of the Faith WithHeld series, generously sponsored by the Schiller family. Want the full Q&...
Was Rabbi Kook a mystic, a radical, or a realist? And what did he really believe about redemption? In this season finale, Rabbi Shai Held is joined by Professor Yehudah Mirsky to unpack the bold and complex messianic vision of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and the ways in which this vision still reverberates today. Together, they explore Kook’s hopes for a transformed humanity, his belief in the spiritual potential of the Jewish people, and how his messianism shaped (and was shaped by) the politic...
Is studying Torah really the most important thing a Jew can do? Or is that just something rabbis say—because they're the ones doing the studying? In this episode, Rabbi Shai Held talks with Rabbanit Devorah Zlochower about the value and limits of Talmud Torah. Together, they wrestle with classic rabbinic sources, the meaning of learning as a spiritual practice, and how Torah study connects (or sometimes disconnects) from justice, action, and everyday life. If you’ve ever wondered what makes l...
Is lighting candles, giving tzedakah, or saying a prayer enough if your heart’s not in it? Rabbis Shai Held and Josh Feigelson sit down to explore what it means to live a heart-centered Jewish life—and why it matters more than we often think. Together, they reflect on the perceived split between "the duties of the limbs" and "the duties of the heart," wrestle with the legacies of thinkers like Yeshayahu Leibowitz, and examine how cultivating the heart can help us live less reactive, more comp...