Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi, president’s scholar and national director of recruitment and admissions at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, will present the Rabbi Max A. Shapiro Lecture at Monday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. at Temple Israel, 2323 Fremont Ave. S., Minneapolis.
The lecture, titled “The Oneness of God and the Diversity of Religions,” is sponsored by the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at the University of St. Thomas in collaboration with Temple Israel. It is free and open to the public.
“Deeply committed to the affirmation of God’s oneness, many Jews also share the belief of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) that diversity of religions is the will of God,” said Sabath Beit-Halachmi. In this lecture, she will explain why she considers this belief not only compatible with the affirmation of God’s oneness but also demanded by it.
Before assuming her current positions at Hebrew Union College, Sabath Beit-Halachmi taught at HUC’s Jerusalem campus. She also served as vice president and a faculty member of the Shalom Hartman Institute, also in Jerusalem, and directed the Hartman programs for lay leadership, rabbinic leadership and Christian leadership.
Sabath Beit-Halachmi earned a doctoral degree in philosophy from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York and is the co-author of two books, Striving toward Virtue: A Contemporary Guide to Jewish Ethical Behavior and Preparing Your Heart for the High Holy Days. She has written numerous published articles, writes a monthly column in the Jerusalem Post, and lectures throughout North America on theology, gender and leadership.
Both the Jay Phillips Center and Temple Israel have endowed lectureships in honor of Max A. Shapiro, who was senior rabbi at Temple Israel from 1963-85 and director of the Center for Jewish-Christian Learning at the University of St. Thomas from 1985-96.
The Center for Jewish-Christian Learning became the Jay Phillips Center for Jewish-Christian Learning in 1996 and then the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning in 2009.
Sabath Beit-Halachmi grew up in Temple Israel’s congregation during Shapiro’s tenure there.
