For the majority of American Jews today, commitment to halakha (Jewish law) is not the engine that drives religious life. Instead, most American Jews see their lived Judaism as the product of their own choices, which may or may not have anything to do with Jewish law. In this episode, Elliot Cosgrove, rabbi of the Conservative congregation of Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City, joins host Yehuda Kurtzer for a conversation about his recent article in Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas, which argues that liberal Jewish institutions have not properly responded to this reality. Together, they discuss what it might mean to make the case for mitzvot (commandments) within a framework of an autonomous, choice-driven Judaism.

Israel celebrated its 75th birthday in the midst of one of the biggest crises of democracy that the country has ever experienced and one of the most energetic protest movements in its history. In this episode, recorded live at the Marlene Meyerson JCC in Manhattan on Yom Ha'atzmaut, Yehuda Kurtzer is joined by Knesset member Merav Michaeli, the head of the Israeli Labor Party. They engage in a conversation about the current moment in Israel, the ethics of political compromise, and the past and future of the Israeli left. Can liberals reclaim the language and narratives of Zionist thought and history that have been co-opted by the far right? What is the role of American Jews in bringing about an Israel we can be proud of? And is there something in the air in Israel these recent weeks that might hint toward an affirmative vision for Israeli liberal democracy?

American Jews have a long tradition of being anxious about the next generation of American Jews. Are they sufficiently engaged in Jewish communal life? How are they forming opinions about Zionism and Israel? Are they successfully maintaining tradition (whatever that means)? And what does all that mean for what American Judaism might look like in 20, 30, or 50 years from now?

In this episode, host Yehuda Kurtzer is joined by Sofia, Daniel, and Rivka—three high school students who are currently participating in the Hartman Teen Fellowship—for a conversation about Jewish identity and the American Jewish future. They discuss what Jewish learning means to them, how Jewish institutions can better address the challenges facing teenagers, and their dreams for American Jewish life.

Now accepting applications to the 2023-2024 Hartman Teen Fellowship, open to Jewish high schoolers entering grades 10-12 in the fall.

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.

It's Passover, a time for new beginnings--and that's especially true for baseball fans, who celebrated this year's Opening Day just a week before the holiday began. In this episode, host Yehuda Kurtzer is joined by Ira Berkow, Pulitzer Prize-winning sports writer, to reminisce about formative moments in the history of Jewish baseball and to explore the meaning of baseball for American Jews. Whether through Hank Greenberg's "home runs against Hitler" or Sandy Koufax's famous decision to sit out a World Series game on Yom Kippur, American Jews have looked to baseball as a means of understanding their place in this country. What can a bat and a ball tell us about identity, sacrifice, and belonging?

Is the Passover Seder the right place for a political debate? Who is the target audience when your guests are generations apart? What kind of book is the Haggadah, anyway? In this episode, Yehuda Kurtzer is joined by Hartman faculty member Mishael Zion, Director of the Mandel Leadership Institute’s Program for Leadership in Israeli Jewish Culture and co-author of two haggadot, to discuss what is perhaps the most famous and widely practiced Jewish ritual: the Passover seder. They reminisce about their old family traditions, swap strategies for managing Seder stress, and think out loud about the pedagogy of Passover.

Mishael's Freedom Hagaddah can be found online here.

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 the future of Israeli democracy, but it is also a moment of reckoning and of hope, as Israelis are showing up en masse to stand up for their visions of what Israel could be. In this episode, recorded in front of a live virtual audience earlier today, Monday, March 27th, Yehuda Kurtzer unpacks several different stories that are contributing to this moment in Israeli public life, and explores what the legislation and the protests might mean for the future of the Jewish people.

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 Operating Officer of Maimonides Fund, joins Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss how the history of charitable giving has changed since the creation of the State of Israel, shifts in the Jewish institutional landscape with the rise of family foundations, and whether the Federation system retains its power and impact today.

This episode originally aired on May 17th, 2022.

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 is joined by David Ellenson, Chancellor Emeritus of Hebrew Union College and professor emeritus at Brandeis University, to discuss three key figures who were instrumental in the making of American Judaism as we know it today: Abraham Joshua Heschel, Mordecai Kaplan, and Joseph B. Soloveitchik. They examine what these three iconic rabbis stood for, and try to understand how their legacies have shaped American Judaism as we live it.

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, Yehuda Kurtzer explores the meaning of the Purim story and its relevance for our present political moment, asking what it would look like take seriously the responsibility that comes with Jewish power and agency.

Mentioned in this episode: After Kibiye, an essay by Yeshayahu Leibowitz (http://www.leibowitz.co.il/leibarticles.asp?id=85)