Podcast Summary: America Betrays the Stranger

Podcast: Identity/Crisis (Shalom Hartman Institute)
Host: Yehuda Kurtzer
Date: February 3, 2026
Episode Theme: Examining the betrayal of the American—and Jewish—commitment to welcome the stranger in the wake of escalating anti-immigrant policies and nativist rhetoric, connecting historical memory, tradition, and moral responsibility.

Overview

In this episode, Yehuda Kurtzer delivers a powerful reflection on the intersection of Jewish values and America's treatment of immigrants. He traces the cultural symbolism of welcome, the Jewish narrative of embracing the stranger, and the disturbing rise of cruelty in American immigration policy, especially under recent administrations. Drawing analogies between the US and Israel and invoking classical Jewish sources, Kurtzer challenges listeners to remember the covenantal responsibilities of both American and Jewish identity, and to resist the normalization of cruelty.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Emma Lazarus, American Ideals & the Jewish Narrative

• Opening Reflection (01:04–02:30)

  • Kurtzer begins by reciting Emma Lazarus’s "The New Colossus," emphasizing its dual role as an American and Jewish symbol of welcome to immigrants.

  • Lazarus’s involvement in immigrant aid makes her words especially meaningful for American Jews, tying their gratitude and historical memory to contemporary obligations.

    “It’s a Jewish symbol, too... a reflection of the American Jewish narrative of immigration and our gratitude to this country that has more often than not, welcomed us in... we care for them and we love them, because we too were once strangers.” — Yehuda Kurtzer (02:13)

2. White Nationalism & Antisemitic Conspiracy

• Recent History & Moral Clarity (02:30–04:02)

  • Kurtzer recalls Charlottesville and the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, tying anti-immigration sentiment and antisemitism together; Jews are attacked for their advocacy for the stranger.

  • He reframes accusations: those who berate Jews for loving the stranger evidence Jewish fidelity to tradition.

    “You do not insult us, I say, when you accuse us of loving the stranger too much. All you do is comfort us that we are being faithful to our tradition.” (03:36)

3. Political Betrayal & Policy Escalation

• Policy Analysis & Escalation Under Trump (04:02–07:45)

  • Critiques the explicit reshaping of American welcome, referencing Ken Cuccinelli’s attempted revision of Lazarus’s poem.

  • Details recent policy actions: extreme increases in deportations, the use of force and cruelty as immigration tools, blurred lines between different immigrant categories, and human rights abuses carried out by an emboldened, barely accountable enforcement apparatus.

    “To do so you need cruelty, and you cannot be inconvenienced by such petty distractions as norms... You’ll kill people in the streets and then lie about how and why, even in the face of overwhelming video evidence.” (06:15)

4. Excuses, Denial, and Historical Blindness

• Economics, Dehumanization, and Jewish Irony (07:46–09:50)

  • Explores the rationalizations people make to ignore cruelty—economic anxieties, internalized negative stereotypes, self-preservation.

  • Starkly notes the irony: Jews using the same logic that fueled antisemitic conspiracy and violence.

    “It’s astonishing to me that Jews do this sometimes, of all people. This is literally the story of how slanderous conspiracy theories about Jews resulted in mass killings and exiles…” (08:48)

5. The Imaginative Leap & Societal Responsibility

• Philosophical Context—Martha Nussbaum, Rousseau (09:51–11:10)

  • Kurtzer cites Nussbaum and Rousseau on how humans restrict empathy to resemble themselves—unless society fosters expansive imagination.

    “We have so many devious ways of refusing the claim of humanity... The sight of these common miseries can therefore carry our hearts to humanity if we live in a society that encourages us to make the imaginative leap into the life of the other.” (10:35)

6. Silence, Fear, and Complicity

• Dynamics of Jewish Institutional Silence (11:11–13:12)

  • Unpacks why many Jews and institutions stay silent: fear of political fallout, discomfort with coalition partners, anxiety about fueling antisemitism, and inability to proffer alternatives.

  • Challenges the idea that moral objection needs a policy solution.

  • Calls out the imbalance: strong responses to antisemitic incidents, but relative quiet about anti-immigrant violence.

    “We have no shortage of press releases on any given antisemitic incident. But Americans, fellow Americans, are being gunned down... and somehow this doesn’t rise to the level of being considered a clear and present danger to the Jews in this country.” (12:40)

7. Interconnected Struggles: Israel and America

• Echoes of Cruelty in Israel and the Jewish Tradition (13:13–17:30)

  • Juxtaposes American cruelty with events in Israel: violence against Palestinians, normalization of anti-Arab sentiment, and the rise of the death penalty advocates.

  • Quotes Jewish tradition (Maimonides) warning against cruelty as antithetical to Jewish identity.

    “Maimonides... says that a person who is especially quarrelsome, a person who seeds hatred between people, a person who is cruel—with such a person, we are supposed to be suspicious of the legitimacy of their Jewish lineage. After all, Maimonides says, are we not meant to be the children of the merciful?” (16:15)

8. Responsibility, Covenant, and Choice

• Renewing Covenant in Every Generation (17:31–19:20)

  • Compares the American constitution and the Jewish covenant at Sinai: both require a commitment re-chosen each generation, regardless of leaders' failures.

  • Calls upon listeners to embrace their responsibilities, not evade them when leadership betrays foundational ideals.

    “None of what I’m talking about today is about me... it is about we, the people, who must raise our voices in re-accepting the covenant of Americanness, its promise of the rule of law, its promise, its care for its citizenry, and its hospitality to the stranger.” (18:34)

9. Historical Leadership and Moral Aspiration

• Abraham Lincoln’s "Better Angels" (19:21–19:48)

  • Invokes Lincoln’s appeals to the "better angels" of American nature—insisting both on the possibility and necessity of moral improvement, even and especially in times of division.

    “This is our template... We the people right now need to be the better angels of our nature. We need to see ourselves as better than this. We cannot allow this to be the story of our America.” (19:42)

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• “It’s a Jewish symbol, too... because we too were once strangers.” — Yehuda Kurtzer (02:13)
• “You do not insult us... when you accuse us of loving the stranger too much.” — Yehuda Kurtzer (03:36)
• “To do so you need cruelty, and you cannot be inconvenienced by such petty distractions as norms.” — Yehuda Kurtzer (06:15)
• “It’s astonishing to me that Jews do this sometimes, of all people.” — Yehuda Kurtzer (08:48)
• “We have so many devious ways of refusing the claim of humanity.” — citing Martha Nussbaum (10:35)
• “We have no shortage of press releases on any given antisemitic incident. But... somehow this doesn’t rise to the level of... clear and present danger to the Jews...” — Yehuda Kurtzer (12:40)
• “Are we not meant to be the children of the merciful?” — quoting Maimonides (16:19)
• “We, the people, who must raise our voices in re-accepting the covenant of Americanness...” — Yehuda Kurtzer (18:34)
• “We need to see ourselves as better than this. We cannot allow this to be the story of our America.” — Yehuda Kurtzer (19:45)

Notable Moments & Timestamps

• Emma Lazarus Poem Reading: 01:04–02:05
• Discussion of Charlottesville & Pittsburgh: 02:30–03:35
• Critique of Immigration Enforcement Escalation: 04:12–07:45
• Reflection on Jewish Institutional Silence: 11:11–13:12
• Comparison to Events in Israel: 13:13–17:30
• Invocation of Jewish Texts and Maimonides: 16:15–16:45
• Appeal for Renewed Civic Covenant: 17:31–19:20
• Lincoln’s "Better Angels" Analogy: 19:21–19:48

Conclusion

Yehuda Kurtzer’s address is a call for deep moral reckoning: for Jews, for Americans, and for all who aspire to societies grounded in compassion, justice, and pluralism. By fusing historical memory, Jewish textual wisdom, current events, and a challenge to civic conscience, he forces listeners to confront the normalization of cruelty and to reclaim the responsibility to welcome and protect the stranger—at the core of both Jewish and American ideals.