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Hadar.org Torah Online Shai Held's Divrei Torah
Shai Held's Divrei Torah
resources
Created In God's Image
Parashat Bereishit
Shai Held
What Can Human Beings Do, and What Can’t They?
Parashat Bereishit
Shai Held
People Have Names
Parashat Noach
Shai Held
Before and After the Flood
Parashat Noach
Shai Held
Between Abram and Lot
Parashat Lekh Lekha
Shai Held
Are Jews Always the Victims?
Parashat Lekh Lekha
Shai Held
In Praise of Protest
Parashat VaYera
Shai Held
The Face of Guests as the Face of God
Parashat VaYera
Shai Held
People Are Complicated
Parashat Chayyei Sarah
Shai Held
Isaac’s Search
Parashat Chayyei Sarah
Shai Held
Between God and Torah
Parashat Toldot
Shai Held
In Praise of Isaac
Parashat Toldot
Shai Held
No Excuses
Parashat VaYeitzei
Shai Held
Can We Be Grateful and Disappointed at the Same Time?
Parashat VaYeitzei
Shai Held
The Power of Compassion
Parashat VaYishlach
Shai Held
The Fear of Killing
Parashat VaYishlach
Shai Held
Election and Service
Parashat VaYeishev
Shai Held
Against Half-Heartedness
Parashat VaYeshev
Shai Held
Lighting Up the Dark
Divrei Torah on Hanukkah 5774
Shai Held and Dena Weiss and James Jacobson-Maisels and Miriam Simma-Walfish
Reuben's Recklessness
Parashat Mikeitz
Shai Held
His Brother’s Brother
Parashat Mikeitz
Shai Held
Saving and Enslaving
Parashat VaYigash
Shai Held
Humiliation, Judaism's Fourth Cardinal Sin
Parashat VaYigash
Shai Held
Underreacting and Overreacting
Parashat VaYechi
Shai Held
The Majesty of Restraint
Parashat VaYechi
Shai Held
Gratitude and Liberation
Parashat Shemot
Shai Held
Why Moses?
Parashat Shemot
Shai Held
Cultivating Freedom
Parashat Va'Era
Shai Held
The Journey and the (Elusive) Destination
Parashat Va'Era
Shai Held
Receiving Gifts (and Learning to Love?)
Parashat Bo
Shai Held
Pharaoh, Consumed by the Chaos He Sows
Parashat Bo
Shai Held
Bread From the Sky
Parashat BeShallach
Shai Held
Leaving Slavery Behind
Parashat BeShallach
Shai Held
Honoring Parents
Parashat Yitro
Shai Held
Does Everyone Hate the Jews?
Parashat Yitro
Shai Held
Hearing the Cries of the Defenseless
Parashat Mishpatim
Shai Held
Turning Memory Into Empathy
Parashat Mishpatim
Shai Held
Returning to Eden?
Parashat Terumah
Shai Held
Being Present While Making Space
Parashat Terumah
Shai Held
Between Ecstasy and Constancy
Parashat Tetzaveh
Shai Held
God in the Mishkan
Parashat Tetzaveh
Shai Held
God's Expansive Mercy
Parashat Ki Tissa
Shai Held
The Importance of Character
Parashat Ki Tissa
Shai Held
(A) Building with Heart
Parashat VaYakhel-Pekudei
Shai Held
Whom Do We Serve?
Parashat VaYakhel
Shai Held
Building a Home for God
Parashat Pekudei
Shai Held
The Fall and Rise of Great Leaders
Parashat VaYikra
Shai Held
Order Amidst Chaos
Parashat VaYikra
Shai Held
Buying God Off
Parashat Tzav
Shai Held
No Leftovers
Parashat Tzav
Shai Held
Of Grief Public and Private
Parashat Shemini
Shai Held
Is Vegetarianism a Biblical Ideal?
Parashat Shemini
Shai Held
Struggling With Stigma
Parashat Tazria-Metzora
Shai Held
Living on the Boundary
Parashat Tazria
Shai Held
Life-Giving, Death-Dealing Words
Parashat Metzora
Shai Held
The Holiness of Israel and the Dignity of the Disabled
Parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim
Shai Held
Yom Kippur, Purifying the Tabernacle and Ourselves
Parashat Acharei-Mot
Shai Held
Loving Our Neighbor
Parashat Kedoshim
Shai Held
Between Grief and Anticipation
Parashat Emor
Shai Held
Covenantal Joy
Parashat Emor
Shai Held
God's Unfathomable Love
Parashat Behar-Bechukotai
Shai Held
Another World to Live In
Parashat BeHar
Shai Held
Standing Tall
Parashat BeChukotai
Shai Held
A Torah for All?
Parashat BeMidbar
Shai Held
Divine Love and Human Uniqueness
Parashat BeMidbar
Shai Held
The Risk of Relationality
Parashat Naso
Shai Held
On Channeling and Receiving Blessing
Parashat Naso
Shai Held
After Pain, Prayer
Parashat BeHa'alotkha
Shai Held
It's Not About You
Parashat Beha'alotkha
Shai Held
(Don’t) Follow Your Heart and Your Eyes
Parashat Shelach
Shai Held
The Tragedy (and Hope) of the Book of Numbers
Parashat Shelach
Shai Held
Giving, Taking, and the Temptations of Leadership
Parashat Korach
Shai Held
Every Jew a High Priest?
Parashat Korach
Shai Held
Putting Down Ancient Grudges (and Learning Kindness)
Parashat Chukkat
Shai Held
When Everything Looks the Same
Parashat Chukkat
Shai Held
Not There Yet
Parashat Balak
Shai Held
The Lampooned Prophet
Parashat Balak
Shai Held
Between Zealotry and Self-Righteousness
Parashat Pinchas
Shai Held
When Zealotry Metastasizes
Parashat Pinchas
Shai Held
Serving God in All We Do
Parashat Matot-Mas'ei
Shai Held
Cattle, Cattle Everywhere
Parashat Matot
Shai Held
Do Not Murder!
Parashat Mas'ei
Shai Held
A Bolt from the Blue
Parashat Devarim
Shai Held
"Do Not Be Afraid of Anyone"
Parashat Devarim
Shai Held
A God So Close, and Laws So Righteous
Parashat VaEtchanan
Shai Held
Coveting, Craving... and Being Free
Parashat VaEtchanan
Shai Held
Always Looking Heavenward
Parashat Eikev
Shai Held
Will and Grace
Parashat Eikev
Shai Held
Women in Deuteronomy—And Beyond
Parashat Re'eih
Shai Held
Opening Our Hearts and Our Hands
Parashat Re'eih
Shai Held
Give the People (Only Some of) What They Want
Parashat Shoftim
Shai Held
The Future is Wide Open
Parashat Shoftim
Shai Held
Combating Cruelty
Parashat Ki Teitzei
Shai Held
Let Him Live Wherever He Chooses
Parashat Ki Teitziei
Shai Held
Between Fear and Awe
Parashat Ki Tavo
Shai Held
Against Entitlement
Parashat Ki Tavo
Shai Held
Going in Deep
Parashat Nitzavim
Shai Held
Why Joshua?
Parashat Va-Yelekh
Shai Held
Returning to Sinai Every Seventh Year
Parashat Nitzavim-VaYelekh
Shai Held
Hearing the Whisper
Parashat Ha'azinu
Shai Held
I May Not Get There With You
Parashat Ha'azinu
Shai Held
The Beginning and End of Torah
Parashat VeZot HaBerakhah
Shai Held
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Curated by: Shai Held

Archive

Want to catch up on the previous divrei Torah? The complete archive—to listen to and to read—is to the left of this panel.

Browse Mechon Hadar's weekly divrei Torah archive by parashah:

Bereishit Shemot VaYikra
Noah Va'Era Tzav
Lekh Lekha Bo Shemini
VaYera BeShallah Tazria
Hayyei Sarah Yitro Metzora
Toldot Mishpatim Tazria-Metzora
VaYeitzei Terumah Acharei Mot
VaYishlah Tetzaveh Kedoshim
VaYeshev Ki Tissa Acharei Mot-Kedoshim
Miketz VaYak'hel Emor
VaYigash Pekudei BeHar
VaYehi VaYak'hel-Pekudei BeChukotai
    BeHar-BeChukotai

 

BeMidbar Devarim
Naso Va'Ethanan
BeHa'alotekha Eikev
Shelah Re'eih
Korah Shoftim
Hukat Ki Teitzei
Balak Ki Tavo
Hukat-Balak Nitzavim
Pinhas VaYelekh
Matot Nitzavim-VaYelekh
Mas'ei Ha'azinu
Matot-Mas'ei V'Zot HaBerakhah

 

Praise for R. Shai Held's Divrei Torah

Shai Held's weekly reflections on the Torah are, with amazing consistency, insightful, illuminating, fresh, ethically powerful and inspiring, humane, and psychologically rich.  He helps you see brilliant facets of life wisdom and existential purpose in sacred texts which you have long since slipped into reading in cliched or routine fashion. This is spiritual manna.
–Rabbi Yitz Greenberg

Shai Held is an extraordinary figure in the world of Torah. Combining deep knowledge of classical Judaica, wide and insightful reading from the religiously diverse world of biblical and theological scholarship, and a keen sense of the human heart, he produces divrei Torah that people from a wide range of affiliations will find well worth reading and pondering every week.
–Professor Jon Levenson, Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies, Harvard University

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