Identity/Crisis
In a frenzied media cycle, Identity/Crisis creates better conversations about the issues facing contemporary Jewish life. Host Yehuda Kurtzer, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute, talks with leading thinkers to unpack current events affecting Jewish communities in North America, Israel, and around the world, revealing the core Jewish values underlying the issues that matter most to you.JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS
Latest episodes
Jun 22, 2021 • 41min
#60: To Fight Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism, Look at the Data
Eitan Hersh (Tufts University) recently published two sociological papers on antisemitism and sentiment about Israel in America's young adults. He joins Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss what the data says, the pitfalls of analyzing communal problems with anecdotal evidence, and the way individuals can actually effect political change.
Referenced in this episode: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/political-hobbyists-are-ruining-politics/605212/
Jun 14, 2021 • 43min
#59: The Canadian Jewish Difference
Yehuda Kurtzer and David Koffman (York University) chart out the unique questions that face Canadian Jews as citizens of a binational, bilingual, self-described settler state, and the way those questions inform their communal Zionism, continuity, and scholarship.
Jun 8, 2021 • 48min
#58: How to Lose Without Violence
Joel Braunold (S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace) joins Yehuda Kurtzer to talk about peace-making in the Middle East: its preconditions, the person-to-person work that might enable it, and the uncomfortable truth that "peace" might mean - for everyone - " to agree to lose non-violently."
Jun 2, 2021 • 54min
#57: Learning How to Listen
Yona Shem-Tov and Leah Solomon of Encounter join Yehuda Kurtzer to talk about what Israeli and American Jews aren't seeing, what is simple and what is complicated about the ongoing conflict, and how to listen and speak more courageously.
May 24, 2021 • 54min
#56: American Zionism is at a Crossroads
In this episode, Ethan Tucker (Hadar Institute) joins host Yehuda Kurtzer to reflect on American Zionism’s long-term development and generational differences in the response to this moment of crisis. What are they grounded in? What has changed? And, what is the way forward for the American Jewish community?
May 5, 2021 • 36min
#55: The Scandals and the Journalist
Hannah Dreyfus is a freelance reporter with an unusual but essential beat: reporting allegations of sexual misconduct in Jewish organizations. In this episode of Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer speaks with Dreyfus about her recent story on a former senior rabbi at Central Synagogue and the process of reporting out allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior in Jewish communal settings.
Apr 27, 2021 • 48min
#54: White Supremacy, Policing, and the Jews
In the wake of the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, Hartman Research Fellows Ginna Green (political strategist and writer) and Rivka Press Schwartz (SAR) join host Yehuda Kurtzer to reflect on the impact of the moment and to take a broader view at the American Jewish community's relationship to white supremacy and policing.
Apr 20, 2021 • 51min
#53: The Archvillain of the American Jewish Experience
Bernie Madoff died in prison last week. In this week’s episode, Yehuda Kurtzer speaks with Felix Salmon (Axios, Slate Money) and Ben Sales (JTA) about his crimes and victims, and with Alicia Jo Rabins about her recent film, A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff.
Apr 15, 2021 • 1h 6min
#52: The Israeli Jewish Music Episode
Shayna Weiss (Brandeis University) and Joe Schwartz (Asif) join Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss Israeli music for this special Yom Ha'atzmaut episode, charting the 20th century greats, the journey of Mizrahi artists from margins to mainstream, and the great piyyut revival in popular music.
Apr 8, 2021 • 45min
#51: Genocide, Antisemitism, and the Nomenclature of Hatred
James Loeffler joins host Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss the development of the term "genocide," and the nuances of three newly-articulated, potentially competing, definitions of antisemitism.
IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism: https://www.state.gov/defining-anti-semitism/
The Nexus Document: https://israelandantisemitism.com/the-nexus-document/
The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism: https://jerusalemdeclaration.org/
