The Song in the Heart

Dr. Yehuda Kurtzer is the President of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. Yehuda is a leading thinker and author on the meaning of Israel to American Jews, on Jewish history and Jewish memory, and on questions of leadership and change in American Jewish life. Yehuda led the creation of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America in 2010 as a pioneering research and educational center for the leadership of the North American Jewish

Na'ama Applbaum

Marc Baker

How do the songs we sing as part of the High Holiday liturgy reflect the diversity of the Jewish people? Na’ama Applbaum, Jerusalem- based prayer leader and educator, and Marc Baker, President & CEO of Combined Jewish Philanthropies Boston, join Yehuda Kurtzer to reflect on the sanctity of communal singing and the meaning of being a prayer leader during the holidays.

Identity/Crisis: The Ideas Behind the News is a podcast of the Shalom Hartman Institute.

A transcript of this episode is available here.

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In a frenzied media cycle, Identity/Crisis delves into the big ideas behind the news from a uniquely Jewish perspective. Host Yehuda Kurtzer, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, talks with leading thinkers to unpack current events effecting Jewish communities in North America, Israel, and around the world, revealing the core Jewish values underlying the issues that matter to you.