March 22, 2025
Author(s):
Parshat Vayakhel
Theology, Community & the Search for the Hiding God
March 22, 2025 – 22 Adar 5785
Temple Emanuel, Newton, MA
In the Torah God tells us that from time to time God will hide God’s face. This would seem to be such a time. How do we find God in our troubled world together?
About Arnold Eisen
After nearly half a century of studying and teaching major works of modern Jewish religious thought, Arnold Eisen – one of the world’s leading scholars on American Judaism – has written a personal theological essay remarkable for its honesty, accessibility, and insight.
Like many Jewish theologians before him, Eisen is resigned to the fact that there is little mere mortals can know about God’s nature. His focus is rather the search for the “hiding God,” the meaning of fleeting encounters with the Creator, and the acts of justice and compassion that human beings are called to perform as God’s partners, in God’s name.
Seeking the Hiding God is a rich, original, and moving work. It invites readers of all persuasions to join the author in asking – perhaps for the first time – what they actually believe about ultimate matters of faith and doubt, and rewards fellow- searchers for ultimate Meaning with reassurance that the search itself can be a source of personal fulfilment, vibrant Community and great joy.