Identity/Crisis Shalom Hartman Institute

With elections top of mind for Jews in the U.S, Israel, and around the world, growing threats to liberalism and the rise of religious fundamentalism, populism, and identitarianism beg the question – are we going back in time? This week on Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer and Tomer Persico discuss the current challenges to liberalism as a Jewish value and why its survival may be the only path forward for a moral future.

Read Tomer Persico’s article HERE

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At a time when it can be easy to focus on the threats to North American Jewish life, it’s important to remember that the current generation of American Jews benefits from more affluence, influence, power, and privilege than any other Jewish community in history. In this episode recorded in front of a live audience, Yehuda Kurtzer argues that we are heirs to a golden age of American Jewry, and that it is our responsibility to sustain this magnificent era in the face of those who may claim otherwise.

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The Democratic congressional primary in New York’s 16th District was one of the most closely watched this year and ended with Representative Jamaal Bowman losing to George Latimer. Yehuda Kurtzer and J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami discuss Bowman’s visit to Israel with J Street and the shift in Bowman’s politics and strategy during his time in office.

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With looming threats and escalating violence from Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel is being forced to shift its gaze to the North. In this episode, Yehuda Kurtzer speaks with journalist and author Matti Friedman about the rising tensions with Lebanon, Hezbollah’s history and ethos, and the ideological and geopolitical challenges currently faced by Israel.


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The latest issue of Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas, centers around Jewish life on university campuses, where anti-Zionism and antisemitism have become frighteningly visible.
In this week’s episode, guest host Claire Sufrin, editor of the award-winning Journal, speaks with Adena Kirstein, Executive Director of Hillel at the George Washington University, about her article in this issue where she focuses on the importance of engaging Jewish students through joy instead of fear. They discuss how to respond to antisemitism on campus, how to relate to students with a range of perspectives on Israel, and how her ability to guide students emerges from her training as a social worker.
A new issue of Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas will be released in early July.
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This episode was originally released on November 7, 2023.

Organizations and individuals throughout the world are responding to the October 7th massacre by Hamas, and Israel’s military response, in sharp and vociferous contrast with one another. While one camp mourns the atrocities by Hamas and pools resources to aid the IDF, the other rallies to decry the suffering of Palestinian civilians caught in the war’s crossfire. Few voices, it seems, give credence to both tragedies at once.

This week, Yehuda Kurtzer and Mickey Gitzin, Director of the New Israel Fund in Israel, consider how it’s possible to hold complexity during this time of intense polarization and the ways the political left in Israel differs starkly from progressivism globally. They explore the conflicting visions for the future of the region, the balance of criticism and solidarity, the state of shared society between Israelis and Palestinians, and the role of activists and NGOs like the New Israel Fund.

Mentioned in this episode:

Learn more about the New Israel Fund here.

In July 2021, Ben & Jerry’s bid its parent company not to sell its ice cream in the occupied territories.

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