Identity/Crisis

In addition to their responsibilities as leaders and shapers of local Jewish communities, rabbis are responsible for leading the Jewish people forward into the future. The weight of this work is heavy, but the number of people who choose the rabbinic profession is dwindling.In the third and final episode of Rabbinic Identities/Rabbinic Crises, our guests discuss the boundaries of the Jewish tent, the importance of interfaith relationship-building, and the future of the rabbinic profession.You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS 

North American Jews are seeking different types of belonging, marked by a steady decline in synagogue membership over the last several decades. What are people searching for in their Jewish communal lives, and how are rabbis adjusting their work to accommodate these new communal needs?In this second episode of Rabbinic Identities/Rabbinic Crises, our guests discuss the considerations in finding the perfect shidduch between a rabbi and a community, and how they approach drawing the boundaries that define their communities while shaping warm and welcoming environments.You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS 

For rabbis, the line between the personal and the professional is not always clear cut. As leaders of communities, they are in the public eye and trusted as models of Jewish living, while also living in and among the community.In this first episode of Rabbinic Identities/Rabbinic Crises, Yehuda Kurtzer explores our guests’ paths to the rabbinate and the challenges and blessings of working in and leading a community as both a professional and a private individual.You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS 

In the hours following October 7, 2023, Yehuda Kurtzer reached out to friends and colleaguesin Israel, both expressing his concern and support and asking them to share their personal experiences following Hamas’ deadly attack. He gathered their responses in A Nation That Can’t Sleep, released on October 11. This year, Yehuda reconnected with those same friends and colleagues, inviting them to reflect on the unimaginable year that has since passed. Their interwoven stories reveal the profound struggle to extract meaning from memory as time relentlessly marches forward and history unfolds with unstoppable force.Click here to view and download the resource developed by the Ritual Center at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem to commemorate October 7, 2023 throughout the month of Tishrei.You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS 

Yair Furstenberg, a Professor of Talmud at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, joins Yehuda Kurtzer, a thought leader on Jewish tradition and mortality. They delve into profound themes of death and martyrdom, particularly in light of recent violence. The discussion weaves through Jewish rituals, exploring how they help navigate grief and seek meaning during the High Holidays. They also reflect on the complexities of communal mourning and the evolution of martyrdom language within tradition, highlighting the balance between hope and despair.

November is rapidly approaching, and with it the end of the tumultuous U.S. presidential election cycle. In this week's episode, Yehuda Kurtzer speaks with Aaron Dorfman, Founder and Executive Director of A More Perfect Union: The Jewish Partnership for Democracy, about his efforts to mobilize the American Jewish community to strengthen U.S. democracy, what’s at stake in this election, and how American Jews are uniquely positioned to contribute to—and benefit from—a healthy democracy.You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS 

At a time when society feels more divided than ever, Yair Zivan, diplomatic advisor to Yair Lapid and author of the new book, The Centre Must Hold, is advocating for centrism. On this week’s episode, Yair chats with guest host and Shalom Hartman Institute Vice President Justus Baird about topics ranging from the politics around hostage deals to the American two-party divide and shares his vision for a viable path forward.  You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.   JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS  

The recovery of the bodies of six hostages over the weekend, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin z”l, brought with it a fresh round of mourning in the ongoing collective grief for Israelis and Jews around the world since October 7. In this week’s episode, Yehuda Kurtzer explores the personal, political, and ethical questions that emerge during this painful and uncertain moment.You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS 

This episode was originally released on January 16, 2024.The relationship of many Jews to top tier American universities has recently undergone a transformation from an aspiration to study at an ivy league institution to a desire to join more hospitable campuses. On this episode of Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer is joined by Mark Oppenheimer to examine the longstanding and evolving relationship between Jews and American universities as well as antisemitism, civil discourse, and belonging on campus.Gatecrashers, a Tablet podcast hosted by Mark OppenheimerYou can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS 

With the fall academic semester just around the corner, guest host Claire Sufrin, Editor of Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas, shares two of the winning essays from the first student writing contest in the summer issue, Jewish on Campus.In the first essay, Princeton University senior Stephen Bartell rejects the claim that the Israel-Hamas War can only be understood in black-and-white terms in his piece, Celebrating Simultaneous Truths.In the second essay, Lilah Peck, a junior at UCLA, unpacks what it means to live in a pluralistic Jewish housing co-op on campus in Building a Bayit: Holding the Particular and Personal with the Universal and Communal. Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas is an award-winning print and digital journal published by the Shalom Hartman Institute that promotes informed conversations and thoughtful disagreement about issues that matter to the Jewish community. Find more at sourcesjournal.org, where you can read the complete Summer 2024 issue and subscribe to the beautiful print edition. You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS