In his much anticipated release, Judaism Is About Love, Shai Held explores the ways that love plays out in Jewish philosophy and theology. As the rabbi explains in his introduction, the centrality of love often feels to many Jews like a Christian concept. However, this cannot be further from the truth. With erudition and sensitivity, Held unpacks the many manifestations of love in Judaism, from God’s love for us, to humanity’s attitude toward God, to the importance of loving our neighbor and the stranger.
Throughout the Jewish world, Held is known for his ability to approach a given topic and seamlessly navigate between the head and the heart. Judaism Is About Love is a master class in negotiating these two aims. Readers will leave the book with both an appreciation for the place of love in Judaism and a yearning to grow as a Jew.
Held conveys a true command of his source material. He is as at home with the Jewish bookshelf — the Bible and its accompanying scholarship, rabbinic literature, and Hasidic commentaries — as he is with secular philosophers and psychologists old and new. Yet despite the book’s erudition, it remains eminently readable and accessible. Held accomplishes this by including many pages of endnotes, which demonstrate his scholarly prowess without overwhelming readers with his abundance of research.
Of course, Held is no detached scholar. On every page, he conveys a deep, personal religiosity. He doesn’t just write about God, for whom his love is palpable. He also expresses his love for the Jewish people and humanity. Held understands his readers — their yearnings, fears, hangups, and questions. Those who have studied with him will note that he brings the same authenticity and humanity he shows in the classroom to every sentence.
Held doesn’t shy away from hard topics. The book has a lengthy section on the nuances of chosenness, on comparing Jewish conceptions of love to Christian ones, and on the complicated need to love our enemies. For Held, Judaism’s many interactions with and discussions of love are anything but simple. He believes love straddles both the emotional and the actionable; and thus, love is less a feeling than a worldview, an attitude for living.
In a book about love, perhaps the deepest love of all is Held’s passion for his subject matter. He has no qualms about calling a text “breathtaking” or “audacious.” And the reader will feel the same way about Held’s work as a whole. Few recent books of theology will leave readers feeling as knowledgeable, inspired, or moved as Judaism Is About Love.
Rabbi Marc Katz is the Rabbi at Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, NJ. He is author of the book The Heart of Loneliness: How Jewish Wisdom Can Help You Cope and Find Comfort (Turner Publishing), which was chosen as a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award.