The Heart of Torah is the acclaimed two-volume set of Torah essays from Hadar's president and dean, and Limmud NY presenter, Rabbi Shai Held. The books, which contain two essays 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 way, he 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.

The winning bidder will receive signed paperback copies of both volumes: Volume I (Genesis and Exodus) and Volume II (Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy).