IKAR Podcasts

ASL Interpretation for this sermon is available on YouTube.

In this week's parsha we read that Moses pleads with God, and the form of that word (va'etchanan) only shows up in one other place in the Torah - with Joseph. What do these two moments come to teach us about yearning for things we may never get? Why is it important that we articulate those desires anyway?

The book of Deuteronomy has begun, and our people are as numerous as the stars in the sky. But Moses cries out, “Eikhah!”

The famous heart-broken “how” that foreshadows the tragedies of Tisha
B’Av. What mournful message does Moses see in the stars? And what,
instead, can we learn from the dust?

Join Donniel Hartman and Rabbi Sharon Brous at the Shalom Hartman Institute for a profoundly honest and challenging conversation on the moral responsibility of Jewish leadership today.

Together, they explore the complexities of holding onto faith and hope in a world facing overlapping crises—from climate change and the rise of AI to political extremism and the disturbing normalization of violence and antisemitism.

Drawing on the teachings of the prophet Micah, Brous and Hartman share what keeps them up at night and where they find reasons to be optimistic. They delve into the crucial difference between winning the war in the Middle East vs. maintaining a moral standing on the global stage, the necessity of truthtelling within the Jewish community, and the controversial debate over the utility of the label "Zionist" in contemporary political discourse.

This discussion is an essential watch for anyone grappling with identity, community, and the ongoing struggle to build a just and loving world in times of deep uncertainty.

Topics Covered:

The "polycrisis" of our time: Climate change, AI, and violent extremism.

The tension between internal truthtelling and external public relations.

What it means to drop a "sea anchor" when facing waves of fear and anti-Semitism.

Why the words we use matter, and the growing debate over the term "Zionism".

What happens when the man who once found refuge forgets the power of mercy? Drawing together Moses' flight to Midian, the cities of refuge, and one of the Torah's most difficult passages, we discover an enduring
challenge to break the cycle of vengeance before it breaks us.

Join
Rabbi Sharon Brous in conversation with Raphael Warnock, Baptist pastor
and senator from Georgia, to discuss his new book The Crooked Places
Made Straight: Reflections on the Moral Meaning of America. Join us on
June 27 during services, virtually and in-person.Senator
Reverend Raphael G. Warnock is a transformational voice in Congress and
the pastor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, and for
the semiquincentennial of America, he exhorts us to reach for the
highest and noblest aspects of our national character. Senator Warnock
argues that we suffer not from a paucity of resources but from a poverty
of moral imagination.