Identity/Crisis

What does it mean to inherit Europe’s Jewish past while living through antisemitism’s unsettling return in the present? In this episode of Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer sits down with historian and author Flora Cassen to explore the differences between European and American Jewish life, the promises and limits of Holocaust memory, and the ways antisemitism resurfaces across political and cultural contexts. The conversation moves between history and memoir, asking how Jews make sense of power, vulnerability, and belonging in a moment when old assumptions no longer feel secure.

 

You can find Flora’s book HERE

 Register for Flora's book talk, Past as Prologue: Rethinking Antisemitism Today with Flora Cassen and Arno Rosenfeld, presented in partnership with the Forward HERE.

You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS 

 

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Register to join Yossi Klein Halevi in Vancouver, Detroit, and Palo Alto and Yehuda Kurtzer in Toronto!

For many modern Jews, prayer raises more questions than answers. In this episode, Yehuda Kurtzer reflects on Hartman’s latest limited podcast series Thoughts & Prayers, and explores some of the central questions facing modern Jewish spiritual life: What does prayer do? Is it about God, or about other people? What happens when prayer becomes entangled with politics, identity, and belonging?

 

Drawing on stories and voices from across the series, this special Identity/Crisis episode offers a compelling meditation on prayer as a practice of relationship, responsibility, and Jewish peoplehood.

 

You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more. 

You can listen to the full series of Thoughts and Prayers HERE.
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This episode was originally released on October 13, 2025

 

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.

 

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learn more. 

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Can a Hollywood blockbuster be the most important piece of Passover liturgy produced in a generation?

 

On this episode of Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer sits down with Rabbi Professor Burt Visotzky, Appelman Professor Emeritus of Midrash and Interreligious Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary and a lead consultant to the makers of The Prince of Egypt. Together they examine the 1998 DreamWorks film as both cultural artifact and sacred text. They unpack the film's interpretive choices — from casting the voice of God to the rewriting of an Oscar-winning lyric — and ask why this movie has quietly entered the Jewish ritual calendar as essential Pesach viewing.

Learn more about our guest here.

You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more. 

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What happens when liberal democracies stop seeing dignity as a universal right and begin treating it as something reserved for insiders?

On this episode of Identity/Crisis, Yehuda Kurtzer sits down with political philosopher Seyla Benhabib to explore the moral, political, and philosophical stakes of migration, borders, and belonging in America today. Against the backdrop of rising cruelty toward immigrants, asylum seekers, and other vulnerable people, they examine what happens when states retreat from their highest ideals and redraw the boundaries
of who counts. Together, they discuss the fragility of human rights, the
difference between borders and belonging, and why Jews—shaped by memories of statelessness, displacement, and exclusion—must take these questions seriously.

This special live episode of Identity/Crisis was recorded as part of In the Face of Cruelty: Jewish Responsibilities to Neighbors and Strangers, a virtual day of learning on March 12, 2026.

You can now sponsor an episode of Identity/Crisis. Click HERE to learn more. 

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS 

 

Here’s more from the Shalom Hartman Institute this week:

 
Register to hear Masua Sagiv on Get Your Phil