This event is part of the lecture series at B’nai Jershurun in New York City titled At a Crossroads: American Judaism at an Unprecedented Time.
A Conversation with Rabbi Jill Jacobs (T’ruah), Esther Sperber (Smol Emuni US), Peter Beinart, and Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove (Park Avenue Synagogue), moderated by Rabbi Irwin Kula.
American Jews have long spoken of a “big tent”—a communal space capacious enough to hold deep disagreement while maintaining a shared sense of peoplehood. Today, that tent is being tested as never before. A generational shift that has been brewing for some time has come to the fore since October 7, challenging old assumptions about Israel and Jewish identity. Debates over Israel, Zionism, Jewish safety, Palestinian rights, and the meaning of democracy have grown more urgent and more polarized. The question is no longer just what Liberal Zionism stands for, but whether a tent large enough to include its supporters, its skeptics, and its fiercest critics can still exist.
This conversation brings together panelists who represent distinct and diverging perspectives on Zionism, Jewish democracy, and the future of Israel–Diaspora relations. They will explore the fault lines reshaping Jewish identity, and the very practical question facing communities and institutions: How big can the Jewish tent be, and what must it hold in order to endure?