Rabbi Shai Held, philosopher, theologian, and Bible scholar– is President and Dean at the Hadar Institute. He received the prestigious Covenant Award for Excellence in Jewish Education and has been named multiple times by Newsweek as one of the fifty most influential rabbis in America and by the Jewish Daily Forward as one of the fifty most prominent Jews in the world. Rabbi Held is the author of Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence (2013), The Heart of Torah (2017), and Judaism is About Love (2024) and he is the host of Hadar’s newest podcast, Answers WithHeld.

Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro z”l served Holy Blossom Temple from 1977-1982. He is remembered by many with admiration and warm friendship. https://holyblossom.org/remembering-rabbi-mark-dov-shapiro-zl/. The majority of his rabbinate was in Springfield, Massachusetts, but he and his wife, Marsha, both native Torontonians, always maintained close ties here. Rabbi Shapiro was especially devoted to interfaith relations, social justice, pastoral care, and lifelong learning. He strengthened the Reform Movement by serving on many committees and writing publications for the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Union of Reform Judaism. Most of all, Rabbi Shapiro is forever cherished for his constant warmth and kindness. Family and friends, colleagues and congregants have given generously to establish an annual lecture in Rabbi Shapiro’s name. We dedicate this learning to his memory.

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