Identity/Crisis Live at JFN: What Ails American Judaism? - with Franklin Foer and Sarah Hurwitz (Re-Release)
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Aug 26, 2025 Franklin Foer, a journalist and author known for his insights on Jewish issues, joins Sarah Hurwitz, a former White House speechwriter and author of a self-discovery memoir. Together, they delve into the pressing anxieties facing American Judaism today. They examine the fears surrounding its future, the metaphors of illness reflecting the community's state, and the importance of adapting traditions in a changing world. Their engaging conversation touches on the balance between cultural assimilation and preserving Jewish identity amid rising anti-Semitism.
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Anxiety As A Jewish Cultural Pattern
- Jewish communal anxiety about crisis is recurrent and culturally embedded.
- This anxiety mixes real threats with a historical habit of seeing each generation as potentially the last.
From Four Holidays To Textual Discovery
- Sarah Hurwitz describes growing up with a minimal, holiday-centered Judaism.
- She only discovered Jewish texts and deeper practice in her thirties, which transformed her sense of Jewish life.
Modernity's Tradeoffs For Jewish Life
- Modernity forced Jewish adaptation that privileged civic assimilation over certain traditional practices.
- Reform and Protestant-shaped accommodations allowed Jewish survival but also produced cultural losses.
