M uch of the rest of Heller's "spare"time (he never sleeps, says Held) in college givento music. As a first year student he was one ofthe original members of the undergraduate singinggroup The Noteables. He also sang with theHarvard-Radcliffe chorus and Mizmor Shir, Hillel'ssinging group, before making his "singing group,before making his "stage debut" in this semester'sstudent rock opera, The Prophet and theJanitor.
Heller will say little about the Hasty Puddingscript, which he and Dauber have been working onsince last year. This is their second run at thePudding script "comp" and they are taking nochances.
"Let's just say it's what you'd expect from aPudding show written by one person who has read abit too much Kierkegaard and one person who, whenthe script was first written, had not seen aPudding play." Heller pauses and then says. "onthe other hand, I think it's funny."
H eller's friends repeatedly drawattention to the way that Josh brings togetherdifferent ways of thinking.
"He is a religious spirit who reallyunderstands science and a scientific mind whoreally appreciates religion," says Held. "Hecombines things that seem so difficult to combineand so brilliantly. It's part of what makes himsuch an interesting person--that and all the lewdjokes," adds Held.
"Josh combines a profoundly analytical andscientific mind [with] a Torah mind...which isplayful and profound," observes Bernard Steinberg,director of Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel.
"He can be very incisive and at the same timehe can be very wise about life," says Steinberg."And, of course, the bridge is his sense ofhumor...because it's ironic and it kind ofdistances himself from the subject...[this kindof] warm irony is one which one associates withJewish piety, the piety of the rabbis."
"Josh is relentless in his insistence thatreligious ideas be about human beings and berooted in lives," says Held. "After I'm finishedphilosophizing, Josh's next question is always,'yeah, but how do you make that work, how do youbuild that?''''
When Held is asked to predict his friend'sfuture, he pauses. The thing is, Held says, "Joshis already one of the most successfulliberal American Jewish spiritual leaders."
"There are an awful lot of professional Jewishrabbis out there who would do anything to have thekind of congregation which on some level he'salready had for several years," says Held.
"Obviously the Egal minyan is not just JoshHeller," Held says, "but it's hard to overestimatehis contribution to [Egal] and to Hillel ingeneral...I try to articulate visions for acommunity; he builds them, "Held acknowledgesruefully.
P erhaps the best way of thinking aboutJosh Heller is the one offered by Steinberg at thecelebration of his completion of the Mishnah lastmonth.
Saying that Heller had "a good heart,"Steinberg explained that the term came from adiscussion in the Mishnah that debates differentdesirable human traits. "A good heart" is givenhighest priority "because it leads to" all theother traits, said Steinberg.
Last month at the Hillel senior dinner, Jody D.Hoffman '94 told a story that is sure to becomepart of the permanent Josh Heller lore.
"I was hysterically crying and I couldn't thinkwho to call," Hoffman remembers. She called Hellerand asked him if he would come over. He said sure.As he was about to hang up the phone, Hoffmansays, Josh said, "Um, could you please tell me whois this?"