Advertise on podcast: Temple Emanuel Hartman Learning Initiative

Listen to Hartman’s Ronit Heyd, Vice President and Director of the Center for Israeli & Jewish Identity, in conversation with participants from the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Hazon program visiting from Israel Israel — Noi Schwartz, Ayala Dahlan and Yonathan Machlis. Since October 7, it has been hard to imagine a secure and peaceful future for Israel. Conversations across the Jewish world have often been marked by despair: ongoing war, political deadlock, internal divisions, and a growing sense that the vision of a democratic, united Israel feels more distant than ever. Yet there is another story—one grounded in hope. Hope is more than a feeling; it is the engine of social change and the foundation of a better future. As Israel’s anthem, Hatikvah, reminds us, hope is central to Jewish identity and to those shaping Israel’s tomorrow: young changemakers building community, students defending democratic values, spiritual leaders offering guidance, and bold thinkers imagining new paths for shared society. They remind us that even in difficult times, aspiring and working towards a better vision for tomorrow can bring about real change. Hear from the leaders who are meeting today’s realities with vision and courage. Together, with purpose and optimism, we can help shape a better future for Israel.

We all get, every day, that we are living in no ordinary time. That we are living in historically tumultuous times. In America. The world. The financial markets. Universities. Alliances that are upturned. America’s role in the international order since World War II upturned. In Israel. Its government under a cloud of investigations and mistrust. The moral and reputational challenges to its war with Hamas that will not end, with Hamas damaged but not gone, and with our hostages still held captive. But why? Why is there this world-wide international tumult? What are its origins? What, if anything, can we do to ameliorate it? Most of us work on creating a counterworld of decency and dignity in our own dalet amot, the four cubits of our local existence. But can any of us make the problem of this global chaos better at its roots? Or not? We wrap up our year of Hartman learning at Temple Emanuel with a visit from our friend and teacher, thought leader and public intellectual Micah Goodman who will be here from Israel to speak about the chaos now afflicting the lands we love and the world in which we live.

Since 1948, we are in a rare moment in Jewish history, one in which we possess actual power but retain real vulnerability. Join Dr. Elana Stein Hain, who is spending this year in Israel, as she explores how power and vulnerability intersect both in American and Israeli Jewish life with an eye toward what we can learn from each other in shaping our shared future.

Our Temple Emanuel Hartman Learning Initiative continues with an online program Sunday morning, February 16 with Dr. Micah Goodman, who will join us via zoom from Israel. Over the past year, Iran’s network of terror proxies – their ‘Axis of Resistance’ – has collapsed. Scholar, public intellectual, best-selling author and our good friend Dr. Micah Goodman has a creative new perspective on Iran’s defeats. Join our Temple Emanuel community on Zoom to hear Micah present his theory and answer the question: What does this war against Iran’s proxies reveal about the hidden power of Israeli society?

The politicization of the October 7 tragedy has deepened divisions in Israel and among Jews worldwide. Our Hartman Learning Initiative continues in person with Donniel Hartman, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute,  in conversation with Rabbi Michelle Robinson as he reflects on a year of war in Israel and shares how we can work together to imagine a stronger, more vibrant Israel.

Our Hartman Learning Initiative continues in person at Temple Emanuel on November 20, 2024 with Yossi Klein Halevi in conversation with Seth Klarman, CEO of The Baupost Group. In the nearly 80 years following the Holocaust, the Jewish people saw the realization of two long-held dreams: the reclamation of our homeland and the development of a robust and welcoming Diaspora. Since October 7, we have seen major fractures in both dreams. Join Yossi Klein Halevi in conversation with Seth Klarman as they explore the aspirations of the Jewish people in Israel and in the Diaspora post-October 7 and how we can move forward following a year of grief, pain, and war.

Our Temple Emanuel Hartman Learning Initiative continues in person in May with teaching by Hartman’s Dr. Elana Stein Hain. More than six months after October 7, we are still embroiled in a tragic conflict which has unleashed significant antisemitism and questions about the future of both Israel and America. How can we step back and think about what all this means? What moral principles might anchor us right now in thinking about these weighty concerns about the present and about the future?

In the 21st century, Jews in Israel and North America are both powerful and vulnerable, a duality that has only been made starker by the events of Oct. 7th and the subsequent war. While the contemporary expressions of Jewish power and vulnerability have particular and even unique features, Jewish traditions going back to the earliest canonical texts offer possible frameworks for navigating the challenges of this moment. Join Sara Labaton to examine Purim and Pesach as case studies for how Jewish values and rituals can serve as guideposts as we re-interpret them considering unfolding events. Find sources here.

Much has been learned since October 7. Micah will join us online live from Jerusalem and offer his candid thoughts on what it will take for Israel to get from its longest war to a new and better future. Let’s pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and let’s learn from our friend on the ground there.  

As the Israel-Hamas war enters its 4th month, moral, ethical and philosophical questions continue to dominate the discourse. Our Temple Emanuel Hartman Learning Initiative continues in person in February with Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute, in conversation with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz about the critical questions of this moment, the obligations of Jewish Peoplehood, the impact on Israel-Diaspora relations and the moral considerations related to fighting a just war. Donniel’s new book, Who Are the Jews – And Who Can We Become, is available for purchase here.

We continue with Rachel Korazim’s second class of Israeli poetry written in the wake of October 7. More voices. More intimacy. More poems that show, with the change of a letter, how Israel and Israelis have changed in this worst chapter of the state’s existence. And yet, somehow, and miraculously, in addition to the notes of loss and rawness, there are also some notes of hope. 

The calamity of October 7th left Israel and the Jewish world in shock and despair. The unimaginable became our reality. As more details of the horror unfold, we find ourselves less and less able to talk about it. The expression most commonly used is םילימ ןיא ein milim – No Words! And yet – there are those who struggle and find words to express pain and anger, despair and abandonment.  In our sessions with Rachel Korazim we will read and discuss poetry written these very days. The poems are often raw and painful, while at the same time also full of love and even hope. Join us to explore this moment in Israel through the window of Israeli literature, created in this moment.

In the aftermath of the tragic events of October 7, we have seen an unprecedented response from the Jewish community in love, solidarity, and philanthropy. Join Yehuda Kurtzer, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute, as he shares his thoughts on the big questions people are asking, as well as insights on this complex and evolving moment.

What is going to happen in Israel when later this month the Supreme Court has a hearing on, and issues a ruling about, the Knesset’s vote this past summer eliminating the Supreme Court’s power to invalidate laws it deemed unreasonable? If the Supreme Court validates the Knesset’s move, what will be with the significant energy against what is broadly seen by hundreds of thousands of protesters as neutering the Supreme Court and undermining Israeli democracy? On the other hand, if the Supreme Court declares the Knesset’s move improper, the Prime Minister has already affirmed that the Knesset will not heed the Supreme Court. In which case there will be a full-blown constitutional crisis in a country without a constitution. This is unchartered territory. This is unsettling. Micah Goodman, our friend and teacher, is a broadly beloved and respected public intellectual in Israel, and he is working 24/7 to create a positive way forward. In the midst of his Elul teaching at Beit Prat for a rising generation of post-Army Israelis finding new meaning in Judaism, Micah is going to make time to give us an update from Jerusalem. His talk, on Zoom, will begin sharply at 10:15 am and end sharply at 11:00 am. We are so grateful to Micah for his love of Israel and for his wisdom and friendship. Let's pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and let's learn from our friend on the ground.  

Yossi Klein Halevi Israel's Identity Crisis: How Should Friends of Israel Respond?