The Sermons I Needed to Hear Right Now
b'This is a conversation about the relationship between Jewishness and the Jewish State. About believing some aspects of Israel have become indefensible and also believing that Israel itself must be defended. About what it means when a religion built on the lessons of exile creates a state that inflicts exile on others. About the ugly, recurrent reality of antisemitism.\\n\\nYou know, the easy stuff.\\n\\nIn these past few months, I\\u2019ve been moved by the sermons of Rabbi Sharon Brous, which have managed to hold these paradoxes with more grace and prophetic wisdom than most. Brous is the founding and senior rabbi of IKAR, a Jewish community based in Los Angeles, and the author of the forthcoming book \\u201cThe Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World.\\u201d And so I asked her to be on the show to talk about things that are deeply uncomfortable to talk about.\\n\\nWe discuss the \\u201cgreat dream\\u201d that Israel represents for generations of Jews; Brous\\u2019s Yom Kippur sermon reckoning with the moral cost of Israel\\u2019s decades-long occupation and its increasingly right-wing government; the \\u201cexistential loneliness\\u201d she and many in her community felt on Oct. 7; the antisemitism she witnessed in the wake of Oct. 7; how experiences of exile throughout history have shaped the Jewish psyche and speak to us now; stories from her visit with residents of the Kfar Aza kibbutz as they mourned their dead; why \\u201cbearing sacred witness\\u201d is a core spiritual commitment; and more.\\n\\nMentioned:\\n\\n\\u201cThis Is the Moral Earthquake\\u201d by Rabbi Sharon Brous (sermon delieverd on Sep. 25, 2023)\\n\\n\\u201cWe\\u2019ve Lost So Much. Let\\u2019s Not Lose Our Damn Minds\\u201d by Rabbi Sharon Brous (sermon delieverd on Oct. 14, 2023)\\n\\n\\u201cWe Are Hebrews. We Must Act Like It.\\u201d by Rabbi Sharon Brous (sermon delivered on Oct. 28, 2023)\\n\\nBook Recommendations:\\n\\nThe Prophets by Abraham J. Heschel\\n\\nTo Bless the Space Between Us by John O\\u2019Donohue\\n\\nHomegoing by Yaa Gyasi\\n\\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\\n\\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\\n\\nThis episode of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d was produced by Kristin Lin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show\\u2019s production team also includes Emefa Agawu and Rollin Hu. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Sonia Herrero.'