Identity/Crisis

Saturday, October 7 was the deadliest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust as a result of the brutal attack by Hamas terrorists. Israel has been at war since. Over the last few days, Jews all over the world have reached out to friends and family in Israel via WhatsApp to check-in. In this week's episode, Yehuda Kurtzer collected voice messages from seven friends and colleagues in Israel that offer a window into their experiences and capture their perspectives on this unprecedented moment of uncertainty, pain, loss, and resilience.JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

On Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Hebrew calendar, Israeli Jews in Tel Aviv clashed about what it means for Judaism to manifest in the public square, tensions that relate directly to recent political battles over the character of the Jewish State. Yehuda Kurtzer sits down with Yossi Klein Halevi and Masua Sagiv to process these events and interrogate their emotional reactions to the protests, the integrity of Jewish prayer, the perils of partisanship, and what it means to be consistent in one's commitment to democracy. Street fights over prayer offer liberal Israelis a chance to define a Judaism they can believe in by Masua SagivThe state of our brokenness by Yossi Klein HaleviJOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

Dwelling in temporary booths during the holiday of Sukkot reminds us of the Israelites wandering after their exodus from Egypt and inspires us to consider the vulnerability of housing insecurity. As we look towards a week of sitting in our own booths, Yehuda Kurtzer sits down with Hannah Lebovits, assistant professor of Public Affairs and Planning at the University of Texas, Arlington. Together they discuss some of the structures that prevent society from fully addressing housing insecurity, how we might approach solutions, and how Judaism can inform our perspective towards our unhoused neighbors. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

In response to the current political moment in Israel, the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America hosted a day-long virtual Teach-In on September 20. This episode is a recording of Yehuda Kurtzer's opening session, where he challenges us to expand our understanding of what Jewish tradition teaches us about how we can respond in times of crisis. In addition to protest, he suggests that blowing shofar, teaching, and fasting are all rituals that transform and mobilize us as individuals and as a community.A source sheet accompanying this session can be found here.JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

Yehuda Kurtzer talks to Rabbi David Wolpe about the art of writing a rabbi's sermon. They discuss the writing process, the division between a rabbi's public and private life, and the role of politics at the pulpit. They also touch on the evolution of sermons in Jewish worship, challenges faced by women rabbis, the need for a different vocabulary to challenge thinking, and addressing Israel in sermons. The speakers express the desire for meaningful sermons during high holidays and discuss the irony of the synagogue experience.

The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in October 2018 was the deadliest attack on Jewish people in American history. For Adam Reinherz, award-winning journalist and senior staff writer at the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, it was also something much more personal. In the years since the attack, Adam has reported on everything—from the tragedy to its fallout to the shooter's recent death sentence—across dozens of articles, for the sake of both his Jewish community and the larger world. In this week's episode, Adam and Yehuda Kurtzer discuss what it means to approach a story that holds both particular and universal resonance.A list of Adam's articles on the shooting can be found here.JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS

"The Jewish establishment" evokes images of a small group of insiders with some combination of power, affluence, and influence. This isn't necessarily wrong, but the power and purpose of that establishment has shifted significantly since its height in the middle of the 20th century, and it also exists in relationship to its critics.Eric Fingerhut has been a member of many "establishments." He was a congressman for Ohio 19th district, CEO of Hillel International, and is now the CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). In conversation with Yehuda Kurtzer, he shares his perspectives on the power and limits of representing North American Jewish communities, particularly during times of political crisis; the systems of democracy within his own organization; and where he sees hope for the Jewish future in both North America and Israel.Yehuda Kurtzer’s article “The Establishment Has No Clothes” 

A highly competent bureaucrat who conceived the modern Israeli economy, a bungler who mismanaged the Yom Kippur War, or "the only man in the Israeli cabinet:" these are only a few of the many images of Golda Meir that remain etched in Israeli national consciousness. But who was Golda Meir, and how might her story shed light on enduring political and social questions facing the state of Israel? In this episode, Yehuda Kurtzer speaks with Pnina Lahav, Professor of Law Emerita at Boston University, about her recently published feminist biography of Golda Meir, The Only Woman in the Room: Golda Meir and Her Path to Power (Book | Audiobook). They discuss Golda Meir's political career and the conflicts that shaped it, exploring the complexities of gender, rhetoric, compromise, and power.This episode originally aired on April 18th, 2023.

This is a recorded reading from the author of an essay published in Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas, a publication of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America.In this essay, “Variations on the Shema,” Sam Fleischacker meditates on Judaism’s central prayer and statement of faith. Seen through Sam’s eyes, the Shema becomes the thread that guides a Jew from childhood to adulthood and from place to place. He argues that by seeing the Shema in all the ways that our tradition asks us to look at it, from the Haggadah to our farthest travels, we can bring diversity and richness to one of our most familiar rituals, and thereby our lives.Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas is a print and digital award-winning journal promoting informed conversations and thoughtful disagreement about issues that matter to the Jewish community. Our Fall issue on the theme of Danger and Safety will be out in just a few weeks. Find it at sourcesjournal.org, where you can read all of our articles for free and also subscribe to our beautiful printed edition.

Should religious commitments motivate political activism? How might we show up for abortion rights not only as Americans, but as Jews? Rori Picker Neiss, Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council in St. Louis and a Rabbinic Fellow of the David Hartman Center, is a leader in the fight against abortion bans and anti-LGBTQ legislation in Missouri. She joins host Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss the role of religion in shaping our political and moral choices, the place of clergy in social movements, and how faith might build bridges across the aisle.This episode originally aired on February 14th, 2023.