One of Jewish theology’s most foundational claims is that all human beings—without exception—are created in the image of God. But evocative as this idea is, what does it really mean, and what implications does it have for the ways we approach ethics and politics? In this presentation we’ll explore some of the surprising implications that scholars have found in the idea that people are created in God’s image (and in Genesis 1 more broadly, from which this notion comes), and focus especially on the theological approaches to human dignity and universal solidarity that it implies.
Rabbi Shai Held, one of the most influential Jewish thinkers and leaders in America, is President and Dean of the Hadar Institute in New York City. Rabbi Held received the prestigious Covenant Award for Excellence in Jewish Education, and has been named multiple times to Newsweek’s list of the most influential rabbis in America and to the Forward’s list of the most prominent Jews in the world. He is the author of Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence (2013) and The Heart of Torah: Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion (2017). His most recent book, Judaism is About Love, was published by Farrar, Straus, & Giroux in March 2024.
Part of our fall 2025 lecture series, "The Future of Citizenship." Co-sponsored by the Richard L. Evans Chair of Religious Understanding.