Identity/Crisis

Latest Episodes:

Norman Lamm and American Orthodoxy Jan 25, 2022

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Norman Lamm was a rabbi and the longtime leader of Yeshiva University who championed the idea that Orthodox Jews could maintain their faith while engaging with modern society. Our special guest host, Elana Stein Hain, is joined by Avi Helfand, a Hartman Senior Fellow, Shlomo Zuckier, a David Hartman Center Fellow and a Research Fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Philosophy of Religion, and Tova Warburg Sinensky, a member of the Frisch School faculty and Rabbi Lamm’s granddaughter, to discuss the life of Rabbi Lamm, the value of secular learning in a religious Jewish context, and how to actualize his legacy today.

Between Charlottesville and Colleyville Jan 19, 2022

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We have never had the national reckoning that we need over the August 2017 events in Charlottesville, and this week’s synagogue hostage crisis in Colleyville, TX, reminds us that more than four years later, Jews are still unsafe.

In this episode, Hartman Senior Fellow and The Atlantic contributor James Loeffler, who spent a month chronicling the civil trial against Charlottesville’s white supremacist organizers, speaks with Yehuda Kurtzer about what the trial of white supremacists means for the Jews, strategies to fight antisemitism, the recent events in Colleyville, and the American Jewish relationship with the justice system.

Read James Loeffler’s recent article in The Atlantic, Charlottesville Was Only a Preview.

Challenging Wokeness: Jews & The American Narrative Jan 11, 2022

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Jews have a significant interest in the world of ideas and playing a role in them. In this episode Yehuda Kurtzer chats with Bret Stephens, Pulitzer Prize winning conservative journalist, Editor of the Sapir Journal and op-ed columnist for The New York Times op-ed columnist, about the power of ideas to spark change. They examine topics in the US public discourse: meritocracy, wokeness, cancel culture, and antisemitism.

Protecting a Predator: Chaim Walder & the Haredi Defense Jan 06, 2022

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This episode covers sexual abuse and suicide. Listener discretion advised.

Chaim Walder, an Israeli rabbi, author of literature for children, and one of the most trusted voices on child psychology in the Haredi community, committed suicide in December after widely publicized child abuse and rape allegations came to light. Despite these allegations, leaders of the Haredi community came to his defense to discredit and silence his accusers.

Nechumi Yaffe, an expert on the ultra-Orthodox, joins Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss the impact of the Walder crisis, the Haredi community’s distinct reactions to sexual abuse, and the ways in which power seeks to maintain power.

Jews and Muslims in a Fractured America Dec 22, 2021

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In the wake of recent Antisemitic comments by Zahra Billoo and CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Imam Abdullah Antepli (Duke University, Co-Director of Hartman’s Muslim Leadership Initiative) offers the Jewish community words of consolation and a path to build more honest and resilient relationships between Jews and Muslims in America.

In a frank conversation with Yehuda Kurtzer, Imam Antepli shares a unique perspective on the impact of political partisanship on religious communities, moral leadership, the Israel-Palestine conflict, and the critical importance of interfaith dialogue in creating a more just world.

Yehuda's recent article on the subject for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency can be read here.

A Word from the Rabbi's Spouse Dec 16, 2021

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The role of the Rebbetzin in Jewish life has always been significant. But what happens when the rabbi’s spouse is a successful professional with a career? What implicit and explicit expectations persist, and how are they influenced by gender? How is the synagogue community affected? What does this mean for the rabbi’s family and the community’s relationship with it?
Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt and Maital Friedman, two accomplished, professional women married to rabbis (one Orthodox and one Conservative), open up to Yehuda Kurtzer with intimate reflections on their experiences on this complex, evolving role.

Inside Chabad’s Vision for American Judaism Dec 07, 2021

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Chabad impacts every aspect of the Jewish ecosystem. It actively competes in the marketplace of Jewish ideas and identities, and pushes Judaism into the American public square and onto local street corners; it is a force on college campuses; and is leading Jewish conversations on social media.

How is Chabad driving the future of Judaism in America? Mordechai Lightstone (Chabad.org) joins Yehuda Kurtzer for a look into the Chabad mindset in this moment.

Israel-Palestine in the College Classroom Nov 30, 2021

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How do Jewish identity and Israel identity manifest on campus both inside and outside the classroom? Academia today is increasingly rooted in activism, not just inquiry. Students are defineing a new 21st century Jewish identity, but many self-censor because the Israel-Palestine conflict is uncomfortable. And many Jewish studies faculty feel pressured to avoid conversations around this topic to protect their academic credentials. Is this the trend of where we're headed in the future? Hartman Fellow Dr. Sara Yael Hirschhorn (Northwestern University) discusses these trends with Yehuda Kurtzer in this week’s Identity/Crisis podcast.

Love, Thoughts, and Thanksgiving Nov 24, 2021

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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 interpreting our stories for the present, and our conceptions of memory, gratitude, and redemption, heal our divided country?

In this special episode of Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer reflects on the Jewish significance of Thanksgiving.

Jewish Ethics in a Time of Power Nov 16, 2021

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How do we help people see democratic values as endemic to Judaism?How do we make Jewish values an integral part of Zionist governance?

At the intersection between Judaism and politics, author Mikhael Manekin (Alliance for Israel's Future) and Yehuda Kurtzer debate a virtue ethics for Judaism in a time of power.

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