Scholar-in-Residence – Arnold Eisen

Scholar in Residence – Arnold Eisen

Seeking the Hiding God
Shabbat Weekend
Dec.5-6, 2025

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.

Thank you to Mickey Feldberg for her sponsorship of this Scholar-in-Residence weekend in memory of her beloved husband, Charlie.