On January 21, IIJS hosted the inaugural Cytron Family Lecture, welcoming Arnold Eisen, Professor of Jewish Thought and Chancellor Emeritus at the Jewish Theological Seminary, for a lecture drawn from his recent book and personal essay Seeking the Hiding God.
In his talk, Eisen explored the motivations behind writing Seeking the Hiding God and the choices that shaped the essay, giving particular attention to the question of God’s role in history. Long a source of division and debate among Jewish thinkers in Israel and the United States, this question has taken on renewed importance in modern Jewish life.
IIJS was honored to be joined by Rabbi Barry and Phyllis Cytron, whose generous support made this new lecture series possible. The Cytron Family Lecture invites reflection on the social, cultural, and spiritual questions shaping Jewish life in America and Israel—and how these communities might engage them in building a sustaining, creative future.
Arnold Eisen, one of the world’s foremost authorities on American Judaism, is Professor of Jewish Thought and Chancellor Emeritus at the Jewish Theological Seminary. During his tenure as Chancellor, Eisen oversaw curricular and programmatic innovations designed to give rabbinic, cantorial, and educational leaders the skills needed to cope with the unprecedented societal and spiritual challenges confronting Jews today. A popular and charismatic lecturer, Eisen has conducted frank discussions of faith, commandment, and community with hundreds of audiences at synagogues, universities, summer camps, and other venues throughout North America. Those conversations form the basis of Seeking the Hiding God.
Eisen is the author of a widely-read volume of personal reflection, Taking Hold of Torah: Jewish Commitment and Community in America. His scholarly publications include many dozens of articles on the contemporary Jewish situation as well as The Chosen People in America: A Study in Jewish Religious Ideology; Galut: Modern Jewish Reflection on Homelessness and Homecoming; Rethinking Modern Judaism: Ritual, Commandment, Community; and (with sociologist Steven M. Cohen) The Jew Within: Self, Family and Community in America. Eisen’s op-eds and blog posts have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, Time Magazine, and the Times of Israel, among other publications. His blog series, “On My Mind,” has reached many thousands of readers.
Seeking the Hiding God is his first published work of theology.
The lecture is available to view in full below.
Supported by the generosity of the Cytron family.
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