Identity/Crisis

By Shalom Hartman Institute

Religion & Spirituality Judaism

What's Identity/Crisis about?

In a frenzied media cycle, Identity/Crisis delves into the big ideas behind the news from a uniquely Jewish perspective. From the Shalom Hartman Institute, host Yehuda Kurtzer invites leading thinkers to unpack current events effecting Jewish communities in North America, Israel, and around the world, revealing the core Jewish values underlying the issues that matter to you.

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LAST EPISODE

Six Stories About the Prote...

03.27.2023

Ever since Israel's current government proposed a judicial overhaul that would render the Israeli Supreme Court powerless to strike down legislation, protesters have been flooding the streets. The current moment in Israel is one of tremendous anxiety and fear for ...

Identity/Crisis episodes:

03.27.2023 Six Stories About the Protests in Israel Ever since Israel's current government proposed a judicial overhaul that would render the Israeli Supreme Court powerless to strike down legislation, protesters have been flooding the streets. The current moment in Israel is one of tremendous anxiety and fear for ...
03.22.2023 More Dollars, Fewer Moonshots (Re-Release) Organized philanthropy has become the most powerful force in American Jewish communal life. As the culture of philanthropy has transformed, so has the allocation of power in the community. In an episode originally released in May 2022, Felicia Herman, Chief ...
03.15.2023 American Judaism, the Chain Novel We are all inevitably shaped by the "dusty old books" of the Jewish past: our institutions, ideas and identities are built on the thought and work of our intellectual forbearers, even when we ultimately repudiate their teachings. Host Yehuda Kurtzer ...
03.07.2023 Purim, But Make It Darker The Purim story is one in which the Jewish people take responsibility for their own destiny. While the story ends in triumph it also involved a great deal of violence inflicted by the Jews upon their enemies. In this episode, ...
02.28.2023 From Kharkiv to New York The Jewish tradition is full of exhortations to look after the vulnerable—to open up our pocketbooks, our hearts and even our homes to those in need—as well as stories of our own vulnerability, when we were dependent on the generosity ...
02.21.2023 Should Jews Criticize Jews in Public? How wary should American Jews be of "airing our dirty laundry in public?" Should they resist subjecting other Jews to public scrutiny out of concern that it will lead to caricatures and stereotypes of Jewish communities—or is it our responsibility ...
02.14.2023 Clergy at the Courthouse 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 ...
02.07.2023 Israeli TV Comes to The Sundance Film Festival American Jews are learning about Israel through television shows like Fauda and Shtisel—but what happens when an American Jew takes center stage? Aleeza Chanowitz, Chanshi creator, writer, and star, joins guest host Shayna Weiss (Associate Director of the Schusterman Center ...
01.31.2023 David Hartman z''l On Living a Spiritual Life Shalom Hartman Institute founder Rabbi Prof. David Hartman z”l was a leading thinker among philosophers of contemporary Judaism and an internationally renowned Jewish author. In honor of his tenth yahrzeit (Sunday, 30 Shevat 5773 – February 10, 2013) , we ...
01.27.2023 Bible by Bot In the last few months, a new AI called ChatGPT has emerged and is already upending education at all levels. How will ChatGPT impact Jewish education and Jewish learning? Identity/Crisis guest host David Zvi Kalman, Director of New Media and ...
01.17.2023 The Hole in the Center of Israeli Society Is it possible for centrist and moderate Israelis, those who believe in a Jewish democratic state, to stand together? Tehila Friedman is a Research Fellow at Shalom Hartman Institute, the host of a new Hebrew-language podcast about Israeli Jewish identity, ...
01.12.2023 Envisioning Shared Society Can the acceptance of multiple identities and conflicting narratives paradoxically propel us toward a vision for a shared society? Rana Fahoum, a Palestinian and an Israeli citizen and the recently appointed Director of Hartman's new Center for Shared Society, joins ...
01.05.2023 Beyond Shul and State in Today's Israel The new Israeli government coalition, which aligns with ultra-Orthodox and right-wing extremist parties, is poised to affect major changes on Israeli society, including limiting the Law of Return, delegitimizing non-Orthodox Judaism, and limiting LGBTQ rights. These moves are disturbing on ...
12.27.2022 The American Jewish Music Episode (Re-Release) 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 ...
12.22.2022 Caring For Our Kids' Mental Health, Jewishly What is the responsibility of Jewish leaders to address mental health in the Jewish community? Yehuda Kurtzer talks with Yael Kornfeld, campus social worker at Hunter College Hillel and a Jewish professional on the frontline of the mental health crisis, ...
12.13.2022 The Path to Heretic in The House What happens when one grapples with their Jewish identity? How does this impact their relationship with self, family, and community? Yehuda Kurtzer is joined by Naomi Seidman, professor, author, and Hartman Fellow to discuss Heretic in the House, a new ...
11.30.2022 A Jew Walks Into a Bar How do you democratize the study of Torah? Lehrhaus, a Jewish tavern meets beit midrash in Boston is reimagining what Jewish learning could be. Co-founders Charlie Schwartz and Joshua Foer join Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss their hope to redefine public ...
11.24.2022 Love, Thoughts, and Thanksgiving (Re-Release) For many American Jews, Thanksgiving is another high holiday. We celebrate our obligations of citizenship and show appreciation for all that America has granted. Perhaps, in turn, our tradition may have lessons to teach America. Could the Jewish model of ...
11.18.2022 Jewish Media from Right to Left The Jewish media landscape has evolved significantly over the last few years, and has in many ways become more fragmented. In this episode, Laura E. Adkins, (Opinion Editor of the Forward) and Ari Hoffman, (Assistant Editor of the New York ...
11.09.2022 Two Elections and the Path Forward Last week, Israel returned Netanyahu to power as part of a right wing coalition that will include Itamar Ben Gvir, a racist politician who was the subject of last week's episode. This week, Americans seem poised to return at least ...
10.31.2022 Why is Ben Gvir so Popular? Itamar Ben Gvir is the leader of an extreme right wing Israeli political party, who in the past has supported Israel settler violence against Palestinians and advocated for the forced expulsion of "disloyal" Arab citizens of Israel. In this week's ...
10.25.2022 Who's a Bad Jew? Why do Jews call one another (and themselves) "bad Jews?" What does it mean to be "not Jewish enough?" Emily Tamkin, US Senior Editor at the New Statesman and author of Bad Jews joins Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss the problematic ...
10.20.2022 Antizionism at Berkeley Law U. C. Berkeley Law School recently made headlines when several of its student groups pledged not to invite "speakers that have expressed and continue to hold views in support of Zionism, the Apartheid state of Israel on the occupation of ...
10.02.2022 The Song in the Heart How do the songs we sing as part of the High Holiday liturgy reflect the diversity of the Jewish people? Na'ama Applbaum, Jerusalem-based prayer leader and educator, and Marc Baker, President & CEO of Combined Jewish Philanthropies Boston, join Yehuda ...
09.29.2022 The King of Flesh and Blood What have the last few weeks been like for British Jews living through royal change and royal loss? The Jewish community of the United Kingdom pivoted with speed and sincerity in rewriting the prayer for the Queen quickly to celebrate ...
09.22.2022 The Key Pronoun is We In this high holiday season of introspection, host Yehuda Kurtzer isjoined by Rabbi Josh Feigelson, President & CEO of the Institute forJewish Spirituality, and author of the new book "Eternal Questions," todiscuss how we find meaning and purpose in our ...
09.13.2022 Yeshiva vs. Pride On Friday, SCOTUS issued an order by Justice Sonia Sotomayor that allows Yeshiva University in New York to refuse to recognize an LGBTQ club for students. In this episode of Identity/Crisis, Miryam Kabakov, Executive Director and Co-founder of Eshel, and ...
09.07.2022 What Jewish Food Is What counts as Jewish food? Does it count if a Jew makes it? Is kosher food Jewish Food? Shannon Sarna is the editor of the popular Jewish food website, The Nosher, and author of The Modern Jewish Baker and her ...
08.30.2022 The Canadian Jewish Difference (Re-release) 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. This episode originally ...
08.23.2022 A Musical Journey with Joey Weisenberg (Re-release) Where does song end and prayer begin? Joey Weisenberg, founder and director of Hadar’s Rising Song Institute and author of The Torah of Music and Building Singing Communities joins Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss the spiritual role of music in Jewish ...
08.16.2022 The Peculiar Power of Jewish Food Influencers (Re-release) Something to nosh on as we go inside the world of Jewish food influencers. Kosher food influencers can often create a platform where niche religious content has an appeal beyond its immediate circle. Has social media brought Jewish food to ...
08.09.2022 The Hilltop Youth and Jewish Terrorism (Re-release) Anti-Palestinian violence committed by disaffected young Israelis increased by 50% in 2021. Why do the IDF, the police, and society turn a blind eye towards these Jewish terrorists? Who is responsible for prosecuting their crimes? Haviv Rettig Gur, Senior Analyst ...
08.04.2022 The Torah of TikTok (Re-release) Miriam Anzovin is a millennial TikToker who is transforming Talmud study for the social media age. Her “hot takes” on Daf Yomi, where a person learns one page of Talmud every day, have drawn viral attention from supporters and critics ...
07.26.2022 The "Secular" Rabbis of Israel Israel is experiencing a non-Orthodox religious renaissance that is redefining Judaism and secularism in Israel. Rabbi Noga Brenner Samia, Executive Director of Hillel Israel and alumna of Hartman's Beit Midrash for Israeli rabbis, speaks with Yehuda Kurtzer about what sparked ...
07.21.2022 Questions for the US Ambassador to Israel Thomas R. Nides, United States Ambassador to Israel, joins Yehuda Kurtzer for this special Identity/Crisis to discuss the hopes and expectations from the Biden administration's trip to Israel, how this administration views the deteriorated relationship between the US government and ...
07.12.2022 Leonard Cohen's Military Mystery Tour In an environment in which simple narratives prevail, what does it mean to tell Israel’s subtle and complicated stories? Why are these kinds of stories in particular so powerful? Yehuda Kurtzer speaks with Matti Friedman about his new book, Who ...
07.05.2022 Israel's Unique Role in Global Justice What is Israel’s responsibility to other nations experiencing crisis or injustice? How does Israel balance its domestic and global agendas on the international stage? Dyonna Ginsburg, OLAM CEO joins Yehuda Kurtzer live from Jerusalem on this episode of Identity/Crisis.
06.21.2022 Reading the Trans Talmud Those who succeeded in shaping how we read our texts are among the most powerful Jews in our history. Max Strassfeld, author and assistant professor in Religious Studies and Classics at the University of Arizona, joins Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss ...
06.14.2022 Jews, Gun Violence, and The Second Amendment Jews in America are deeply affected by gun violence, sometimes as direct and specific targets and sometimes as other Americans who find themselves victims in the wrong place at the wrong time. Author Jay Michaelson, a regular contributor to New ...
06.01.2022 The Many Meanings of Revelation The revelation at Sinai unites the two big stories of the Jewish people: becoming a people and becoming a people wedded to God. It also sets the stage for a conversation about the difference between revelation as a personal and ...
05.24.2022 Israel’s Outsized Role in American Politics On both the right and the left, Israel increasingly plays a disproportionate role in American politics, exceeding its geopolitical importance. How does this shift impact American policy toward Israel? Michael Koplow, Chief Policy Officer at Israel Policy Forum, returns to ...
05.17.2022 More Dollars, Fewer Moonshots Organized philanthropy has become the most powerful force in American Jewish communal life. As the culture of philanthropy has transformed, so has the allocation of power in the community. Felicia Herman, Chief Operating Officer of Maimonides Fund, joins Yehuda Kurtzer ...
05.10.2022 How Jews Talk About Abortion (Re-Release) Last week’s leaked Supreme Court majority opinion draft which would overturn Roe v Wade, portends a seismic shift in abortion legislation. Six months ago, Michal Raucher, assistant professor of Jewish studies at Rutgers and an expert in Judaism and gender, ...
05.03.2022 The Peculiar Power of Jewish Food Influencers Something to nosh on as we go inside the world of Jewish food influencers. Kosher food influencers can often create a platform where niche religious content has an appeal beyond its immediate circle. Has social media brought Jewish food to ...
04.26.2022 Antizionism in American Christianity At the Episcopal Church’s 80th General Convention, resolutions criticizing Israeli policy were proposed that use the language of apartheid. Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, Duncalf-Villavoso Professor of Church History at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, spoke with Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss ...
04.19.2022 The Great American Rabbi Shortage There's deep instability in the field of rabbinic education. Fewer rabbis are being trained, and as a result Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) recently decided to shutter the rabbinic program at one of its four campuses. Andrew Rehfeld, ...
04.12.2022 School, Shuls, and Hillels, Two Years Later As we approach our third pandemic Passover, how has Jewish communal life fared? Rabbi Barry Dov Katz (Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale, NY), Tilly Shemer (Hillel at University of Michigan), and Stephanie Ives (Beit Rabban Day School) reunite one ...
04.05.2022 A Musical Journey with Joey Weisenberg Where does song end and prayer begin? Joey Weisenberg, founder and director of Hadar’s Rising Song Institute and author of The Torah of Music and Building Singing Communities joins Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss the spiritual role of music in Jewish ...
03.22.2022 Jews in the US Military What does it mean to be a Jew in the United States military? Phil Lieberman, an Orthodox rabbi, professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt, and a decorated, active-duty military chaplain, talks with Yehuda Kurtzer about how success as a Jewish ...
03.16.2022 Seven Deep Purim Ideas Two scholars who see the world quite differently offer a deep yet playful read of the Book of Esther. Speaking this week with Dovid Bashevkin, the Director of Education for NCSY, Yehuda Kurtzer proposes seven philosophical, literary, theological, political, and ...

Older episodes

Identity/Crisis

What's Identity/Crisis about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Identity/Crisis episodes:

Six Stories About the Protests in Israel

More Dollars, Fewer Moonshots (Re-Release)

American Judaism, the Chain Novel

Purim, But Make It Darker

From Kharkiv to New York

Should Jews Criticize Jews in Public?

Clergy at the Courthouse

Israeli TV Comes to The Sundance Film Festival

David Hartman z''l On Living a Spiritual Life

Bible by Bot

The Hole in the Center of Israeli Society

Envisioning Shared Society

Beyond Shul and State in Today's Israel

The American Jewish Music Episode (Re-Release)

Caring For Our Kids' Mental Health, Jewishly

The Path to Heretic in The House

A Jew Walks Into a Bar

Love, Thoughts, and Thanksgiving (Re-Release)

Jewish Media from Right to Left

Two Elections and the Path Forward

Why is Ben Gvir so Popular?

Who's a Bad Jew?

Antizionism at Berkeley Law

The Song in the Heart

The King of Flesh and Blood

The Key Pronoun is We

Yeshiva vs. Pride

What Jewish Food Is

The Canadian Jewish Difference (Re-release)

A Musical Journey with Joey Weisenberg (Re-release)

The Peculiar Power of Jewish Food Influencers (Re-release)

The Hilltop Youth and Jewish Terrorism (Re-release)

The Torah of TikTok (Re-release)

The "Secular" Rabbis of Israel

Questions for the US Ambassador to Israel

Leonard Cohen's Military Mystery Tour

Israel's Unique Role in Global Justice

Reading the Trans Talmud

Jews, Gun Violence, and The Second Amendment

The Many Meanings of Revelation

Israel’s Outsized Role in American Politics

More Dollars, Fewer Moonshots

How Jews Talk About Abortion (Re-Release)

The Peculiar Power of Jewish Food Influencers

Antizionism in American Christianity

The Great American Rabbi Shortage

School, Shuls, and Hillels, Two Years Later

A Musical Journey with Joey Weisenberg

Jews in the US Military

Seven Deep Purim Ideas