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In a frenzied media cycle, Identity/Crisis creates better conversations about the issues facing contemporary Jewish life. Host Yehuda Kurtzer, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute, talks with leading thinkers to unpack current events affecting Jewish communities in North America, Israel, and around the world, revealing the core Jewish values underlying the issues that matter most to you.
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What’s next for Israel’s democracy after years of polarization, war, and political stagnation? In this episode of Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer talks
with Tani Frank, Director of the Center for Judaism and State Policy at
the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, about Israel’s rapidly changing
political landscape ahead of the 2026 elections. They discuss Benjamin
Netanyahu’s enduring power, the rise of a possible “Zionist alliance,” and the growing demand for political accountability and unity after October 7.
We're grateful to the Charles H. Revson Foundation for supporting the Shalom Hartman Institute's digital work, including Identity/Crisis.
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
Subscribe to our new podcast Thoughts & Prayers here
Learn more about Hartman’s Winter Leadership Seminar here
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Thirty years after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, Yehuda Kurtzer speaks
with Yossi Beilin, one of the architects of the Oslo Accords, about the
night that changed Israel forever. Together they revisit Rabin’s legacy, the
rise of extremism that followed, and ask: what will it take to revive the hope
of peace?
We're grateful to the Charles H. Revson Foundation for supporting the Shalom Hartman Institute's digital work, including Identity/Crisis.
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
Learn more about Hartman’s Hevruta Gap-Year Program HERE
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1What does Zohran Mamdani’s rise reveal about the shifting power, politics, and identity of New York City’s Jews?
As New York stands on the verge of electing its first anti-Zionist mayor, on Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer and political strategist Howard Wolfson explore what happens when the Jewish community, who once defined New York’s political center of gravity, finds itself on the outside looking in.
We're grateful to the Charles H. Revson Foundation for supporting the Shalom Hartman Institute's digital work, including Identity/Crisis.
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS
Last week on the Jewish Broadcasting Network, Shalom Hartman Institute presidents Yehuda Kurtzer and Donniel Hartman joined journalist Abigail Pogrebin for a live conversation reflecting on this pivotal moment: the immense Israeli public effort to bring the hostages home, the roles of Trump and Netanyahu in current and future politics, and the dueling priorities of Israeli and American Jews. As the ceasefire went into effect and all remaining living hostages and some of the fallen returned to Israel, Yehuda and Donniel celebrated with cautious optimism and offered a hopeful vision for reconstructing Jewish life.
At a time of unprecedented leaps in technology and ethical questions about artificial intelligence, one scholar seeks answers from an unlikely source — ancient Jewish wisdom.
In this episode of Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer talks with technology guru, Hartman scholar, and founding Identity/Crisis Producer David Zvi Kalman about the religious and ethical dilemmas AI poses for Jewish life — from sermons written by bots to the erosion of truth and authority. This thoughtful conversation is for anyone wondering whether Judaism can move fast enough to meet technology’s challenges while preserving the core Jewish value of human dignity.
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
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What is at stake when Holocaust memory fades—or worse, loses its relevance?
This week on Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer speaks with Anita Friedman —
daughter of survivors, renowned educator, and executive producer of the new film Among Neighbors — about the future of Holocaust education, the
dangers of “Holocaust fatigue,” and how storytelling can help make Holocaust memories relevant for generations to come.
Register for the Sapir Debate HERE.
Learn more and register for our Winter Leadership Conference HERE.
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
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In this episode of Arc: The Podcast, Mark Oppenheimer sits down with Yehuda Kurtzer to discuss the aesthetics of yarmulkas, the crisis facing clergy-members, and how the war in Israel is changing American Jewry.
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
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What happens when the words we pray clash with the values we hold? Just in time for the High Holidays, this week on Identity/Crisis Yehuda Kurtzer speaks with Ethan Tucker, president of Hadar and co-author of Gender Equality and Prayer in Jewish Law, about what it means to pray ancient words in a world shaped by present fears and political tensions and how we can navigate the frameworks of tradition and modern egalitarian commitments.
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS
Does Benjamin Netanyahu need Hamas — and even this war —for political survival? This week on Identity/Crisis, following Israel’s puzzling strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar, Yehuda Kurtzer and Michael Koplow, Chief Policy
Officer at Israel Policy Forum, try to get inside Netanyahu’s head and understand the ways in which he and Hamas may be inextricably linked.
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
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What does it mean to reclaim the Jewish story in an era of shame, assimilation, and contested narratives? On this episode of Identity/Crisis, host Yehuda Kurtzer speaks with author Sarah Hurwitz about her new book, As a Jew, her journey from superficial Jewish identity to deeper engagement with Jewish tradition, and why knowledge and countercultural courage may be key to Jewish continuity today.
You can listen to more from Sarah Hurwitz on Ark Media's Call Me Back podcast HERE
If you loved listening to Sarah Hurwitz and want to find out which books shaped her Jewish identity, you can listen to Sarah on The Five Books Podcast. You can also check out Yehuda's guest episode! Spoiler alert: Yehuda and Sarah were shaped by one of the same books, tune in to find out which one…
Learn more about the Hartman Teen Fellowship HERE.
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Who gets to decide someone’s Jewish status, and what happens when that status comes into conflict with someone’s identity? This week on Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer sits down with Christine Hayes, Sterling Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at Yale and Hartman Senior Fellow for a provocative conversation about intermarriage, Jewish adjacency, and the boundaries of community and belonging.
Check out Yehuda’s substack HERE
Learn more about Hartman’s Hevruta Gap-Year Program HERE
Learn more about the Edward Fein Winter Student Seminar HERE
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
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This episode was originally released on April 1, 2025
The future of American Judaism is uncertain, some even might say at risk. In this special episode, recorded live at the Jewish Funders Network Conference in Nashville, Yehuda Kurtzer, Franklin Foer, and Sarah Hurwitz engage in a dynamic discussion about what ails American Judaism, why we fear change, and what we want to strengthen and preserve for the future.
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
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This week, Identity/Crisis is excited to share Hartman’s newest podcast, Future Tense, where rising Jewish leaders drive conversations with scholars from the Shalom Hartman Institute on the most pressing issues facing their generation.
What kind of Jewish future do we want to build – and how do we build something that will last? On this episode of Future Tense, hosts Anna Weiss, Sami Jinich, and Yadid Orlow reflect on their upbringings and share their visions for Jewish life. Together with Yehuda Kurtzer, they explore how values are transmitted and imagine different versions of the Jewish future that they want to create.
Learn more about Future Tense here.
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
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What happens to the credibility and power of scholarship when practitioners abandon careful methodology in favor of rhetorical certainty?
In this special episode of Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer explores the intellectual and ethical responsibilities of scholarship in the face of the Gaza war and asks: how can we confront a horror and feel it deeply, yet stop short of giving that horror a name?
You can read Barry Wimpfheimer's Sources article HERE
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
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What can Jewish summer camps teach us about building stronger, more inclusive Jewish communities? On this episode of Identity/Crisis, guest host and editor of Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas, Claire Sufrin, sits down with Adina Frydman, CEO of Young Judaea Global, to explore how Jewish camps create spaces where North American and Israeli campers live, learn, and wrestle with complex identities together. Together they discuss bridging cultural divides, navigating political tensions, and fostering belonging while holding space for difference.
Find the digital version of the summer 2025 issue of Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas HERE
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What does it mean to be “okay” when your community is not? What is the role of an educator in times of moral emergency? And how can we resist turning loyalty into a litmus test for empathy?
In this far-reaching and emotionally charged conversation recorded live in Jerusalem, Yehuda Kurtzer and Donniel Hartman reflect on what it means to lead the Hartman Institute in a moment of profound trauma.
For the latest issue of our award-winning winning journal Sources, click HERE
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
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Who should we trust when the truth is unknowable? On this episode of Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer sits down with Times of Israel founding editor David Horovitz for a candid conversation about journalistic integrity, media bias, and the urgent need for honest storytelling in a time of global confusion.
Listen to our new podcast, Future Tense, HERE
Listen to a new special season of TEXTing: IRL HERE
Learn more about our regional programming HERE
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
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What does it mean to build a culture of argument that strengthens rather than weakens us?
As Jews around the world mark the somber weeks between the 17 Tammuz and Tisha B’Av — a period our tradition links to the breakdown of social trust and the dangers of baseless hatred — Identity/Crisis turns to what it means to disagree constructively. Yehuda Kurtzer sits down with former Israeli ambassador and author Daniel Taub to explore his new book and the deep Jewish roots of better arguments.
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Does the Jewish community think big enough? Is the Jewish philanthropic market fair? Is Jewish innovation still innovative? In this episode of Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer sits down with Aaron Katler, CEO of UpStart, to explore the emotional stakes of Jewish leadership post-October 7 and whether the Jewish community still knows how to take risks and dream big.
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
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What happens to Jewish leadership when crisis becomes the norm rather than the exception?
In this episode of Identity/Crisis, host Yehuda Kurtzer sits down with Barry Finestone, President and CEO of the Jim Joseph Foundation, to explore the emotional and organizational toll of leading through upheaval—and discuss what it will take to build institutions that can thrive during times of uncertainty without losing sight of their long term goals.
You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more.
Register for a conversation with Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi, moderated by Ronit Heyd, live from our Beit Midrash in Jerusalem HERE
Subscribe to our latest podcast, Future Tense, and be the first to know about new episodes HERE
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