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- Date
- time Eastern Time
- location Zoom
- cost Free; registration required
- organizer Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership of Hebrew College
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Join us on Thursday, May 8 at 7:00 pm to celebrate the release of Rabbi Or Rose’s new book My Legs Were Praying: A Biography of Abraham Joshua Heschel. Dr. Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College and daughter of Rabbi Heschel, will offer opening remarks. Dr. Irvin Scott, Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Dr. Celene Ibrahim, who teaches for the Groton School’s Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, will offer responses. Dr. Esther Stern-Bloom of Temple Beth Hillel in Wynnewood, PA will offer a personal reminiscence of her time with the Heschel family in New York City. The program will be moderated by Hebrew College Vice President Dr. Susie Tanchel. This event will take place on Zoom.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) was a gifted Jewish theologian and scholar, as well as an impassioned social activist. His reputation has grown significantly since his death over fifty years ago. What can we learn from the unflagging efforts of this revered twentieth century figure today? How can we share key elements of his call for “moral grandeur and spiritual audacity” with younger people seeking to engage in spirituality grounded activism? What might Heschel have to say to the next generation?
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Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972)
On March 21, 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights organizers led 8,000 protesters on a 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery. They invited a distinguished group of national religious figures to join them in the front lines. One of these was Abraham Joshua Heschel — a gifted Jewish scholar, teacher, and speaker, whose recent book, The Prophets (1962) — a detailed study of the ancient biblical champions of justice and mercy — was a source of great inspiration to Dr. King and others.
As Heschel walked arm-in-arm with his colleagues, he was easy to spot in the crowd: He was a short, stocky man with flowing white hair, a bushy beard, who wore a dark yarmulke (Jewish head covering). Like the prophets of old, Heschel believed that standing up for others — particularly the most vulnerable members of society — is a sacred obligation. He later wrote, the religious person must seek to hold God and humankind “in one thought at one time,” suffering “harm done to others,” making “compassion” one’s “greatest passion.”
Heschel first learned these essential values as a child in Eastern Europe. This little book, “My Legs Were Praying: A Biography of Abraham Joshua Heschel” by Rabbi Or Rose, is his story.
About the Author: Rabbi Or Rose
Rabbi Or N. Rose is the founding Director of the Betty Ann Greenbaum Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership of Hebrew College. Before assuming this position in 2016, he worked at Hebrew College for over a decade, including serving as a founding faculty member and Associate Dean for Informal Education of the Rabbinical School. Rabbi Rose was also one of the creators of CIRCLE, The Center for Interreligious & Community Leadership Education, cosponsored by Hebrew College and Andover Newton Theological School (2007-2017).
Rabbi Rose is the senior publisher of The Journal of Interreligious Studies, as well as co-editor of the award-winning anthology, My Neighbor’s Faith: Stories of Interreligious Encounter, Growth, and Transformation (Orbis, 2012). In 2020, he co-edited the volume Rabbi Zalman Schachter: Essential Teachings (Orbis), and recently published With the Best of Intentions: Interreligious Missteps & Mistakes (Orbis, 2023).
Featured Speakers
Dr. Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, introduction
Dr. Irvin Scott, Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, respondent
Dr. Celene Ibrahim, faculty in the Groton School’s Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, respondent
Adult Learning Opportunity with Rabbi Rose
Rabbi Rose also will be teaching a Tamid of Hebrew College adult learning online course this spring entitled “Moral Grandeur & Spiritual Audacity”: Heschel’s Legacy Today.“
Course Description: In a famous telegram from 1963, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel called on religious and political leaders to exercise “moral grandeur & spiritual audacity.” The telegram was addressed to President John F. Kennedy and the context was the Civil Rights Movement. Since that time, Heschel’s legacy as an inspiring theologian and moral gadfly has grown tremendously. But what was the substance of his teachings? What Jewish and other sources did he draw on? How did he apply these teachings to the great social challenges of his day? Most importantly, what might we learn from Heschel’s extraordinary efforts as we attempt to participate in the healing of our world.
Instructor: Rabbi Or Rose
Dates & Time: 3 Thursdays: 5/15, 5/29 & 6/5 from 7-8:30 p.m. EST
Location: Zoom
Cost: $150, financial aid is available
Sponsors: Tamid of Hebrew College & the Miller Center
Sign up: Register here