Identity/Crisis

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...

Host Yehuda Kurtzer convenes a panel of guests to discuss the past and present of American Jewish religious music, from Mordechai Ben David to Nissim Black to Debbie Friedman. Featuring Dovid Bashevkin (1840 Podcast), Yardaena Osband (Talking Talmud Podcast), Miri Miller (SHI NA), and Shira Hanau (JTA). Episode playlist: https://spoti.fi/3vLFbMQ Other Songs Discussed:Im Hashem Lo Yivneh Bayis: htt...

Guest host David Zvi Kalman asks Meredith Lewis (PJ Library) about how PJ Library works, how the organization is responding to criticism, and what the future of Jewish children's literature might look like.

Felicia Herman (Natan Fund, Jewish Commmunity Response and Impact Fund), Hindy Poupko (UJA Federation of New York), and Andres Spokoiny (Jewish Funders Network) join Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss the lessons of 2008, the role of Jewish philanthropy in the pandemic, and why we haven't seen the dire institutional turbulence many predicted one year ago.

Yehuda Kurtzer gathers Rabbi Barry Dov Katz (Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale), Tilly Shemer (Hillel at University of Michigan), and Stephanie Ives (Beit Rabban Day School) to look back at one year of the pandemic: how COVID has impacted their institutions and changed their leadership in ways both temporary and permanent.

During the Truth, Difference, and Loyalty interfaith symposium, Ross Douthat (The New York Times) joined Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss the role of faith in presidential politics, the possibility of political but not partisan religion, and what if anything remains at the religious center of America.

Stacy Burdett joins host Yehuda Kurtzer to dig deep into the IHRA definition of antisemitism she helped craft, which is currently causing waves in the American Jewish community - what it is, what it isn't, and where it came from. 

Sarah Levin (JIMENA) and Tye Gregory (JCRC of San Francisco) join Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss the years of work that their organizations have done on the California Ethnic Studies model curriculum, and the controversy that erupted in the national Jewish press last week.   

Rachel B. Gross (San Francisco State University) joins Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss her new book, Beyond the Synagogue: Jewish Nostalgia as Religious Practice, and its central argument: that foodways, children's literature, and Jewish nostalgia represent a defining feature of American Jewish religion today - and that that's not a bad thing. 

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt joins host Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss Jewish perspectives on the emerging Biden administration, what was “good for the Jews” and what was “bad for the Jews” about the Trump administration, and most importantly, how American Jews can strengthen the precious “software” of the American government.

Journalists Isabel Kershner (The New York Times) and Ben Sales (JTA) join host Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss the successes and failures to date of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Israel, Palestine, and the global Haredi community.  Articles mentioned in this episode: I attended an Orthodox anti-vaccine rally. Here’s what I saw. by Ben Sales in the Jewish Telagraphic Agency Netanyahu's Two Israels by Y...

Host Yehuda Kurtzer and Yoni Appelbaum (The Atlantic) come together the morning after a mob breached the US Capitol for a conversation on the roots of the chaos of January 6, 2021, the youthfulness and fragility of American multiracial democracy, and the core idea of America that we can return to and build upon.   You can find a link to Yoni Applebaum's December 2019 essay, "How America Ends," her...

Shalom Hartman Institute Research Fellow Micah Goodman joins Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss Israeli secularism's renewed engagement with Jewish tradition, the different dynamics of change in Israel and the diaspora, and his new book, The Wondering Jew. 

Congressman-Elect Jamaal Bowman joins host and constituent Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss his campaign against 30-year incumbent Eliot Engel, the values he brings to the 117th Congress, and his message to the diverse communities he represents in the Bronx and Westchester County. 

Host Yehuda Kurtzer is joined by Muslim Leadership Initiative alumnae Inas Younis  and Rabia Chaudry to discuss Muslim-Jewish relations during and after the Trump presidency, the nature of the Israel-Palestine conflict's impact on American interfaith cooperation, and the risks and rewards of speaking across difference. Referenced in this episode: Muslims Not Only Survived, We Thrived by Zaid Jilan...

Guest host David Zvi Kalman (Shalom Hartman Institute) and Dovid Lichtenstein (The Lightstone Group, Headlines) discuss podcasting, politics, the pandemic, and halacha in the modern world. 

Hartman Fellow in Residence Mijal Bitton speaks to Yehuda Kurtzer about diverse American Jews, politics, and the goals and problematics of the project of diversity.    Mijal's article can be found here: https://www.jta.org/2020/11/19/opinion/many-jews-of-color-and-diverse-jews-are-politically-conservative-and-many-voted-for-trump

Lila Corwin Berman (Temple University) joins host Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss the ways in which America has shaped philanthropy, and the ways in which philanthropy has shaped the American Jewish community, over the last thirty years.  This episode was recorded live as part of the Judaism, Citizenship, and Democracy symposium hosted by the Hartman Institute from October 19-30, 2020. 

Host Yehuda Kurtzer is joined by Daniel Kurtzer (Princeton), a former US Ambassador to Egypt and Israel and longtime American negotiator in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. They remember Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, and reflect on the humanity and necessity of the peace process. Identity/Crisis is partnering with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. A full...

In the liminal space between the US election and the declaration of a result, Yehuda Kurtzer and Shalom Hartman Institute Director of Faculty Elana Stein Hain discuss the right relationship between religion and politics, the necessity and limits of political pluralism, and what Torah they're learning for this moment. 

On the eve of the 2020 US election, Yehuda Kurtzer talks about the future of America, Judaism, and American Judaism with Dahlia, Leah, and Tyler - three teenage alumni of Hartman's Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Thought Leaders from around the country.

Featuring Jeffrey Goldberg (The Atlantic) and Yehuda Kurtzer (Hartman) Mentioned in this episode: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/trumps-collaborators/612250/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/coronavirus-american-failure/614191/

 In episode #30 of Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer speaks with Arielle Angel and Jacob Plitman of Jewish Currents about the history and future of Jewish progressive movements and the relationship between liberalism and Jewish tradition. Articles referenced in the episode: https://jewishcurrents.org/justice-you-shall-pursue/ https://jewishcurrents.org/a-pickle-shaped-void/

In episode #29 of Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer talks with Rabbi Sharon Brous (IKAR) and Rabbi Elie Kaunfer (Hadar) about whether and how one should pray for the welfare of a government and president to which one is opposed. Mentioned in the episode: - Jewish Prayers for the United States Government: A Study in the Liturgy of Politics and the Politics of Liturgy by Jonathan Sarna (https://bit.ly...

Malka Simkovitch (Catholic Theological Union) and Zev Eleff (Hebrew Theological College) join host Yehuda Kurtzer to explore the history and present of the relationship between Jews and Catholics through the lens of the Supreme Court and their respective communal roles in American politics.