Thoughts and Prayers

Uncover the complexity, beauty, and struggle at the heart of Jewish prayer in Thoughts & Prayers, a new limited podcast series from the Shalom Hartman Institute.

Jewish worshippers pray at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City, during the Birkat Kohanim priestly blessing during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, October 20, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Across Time & Space

December 15, 2025

From the universal call of the shofar to the discomfort of praying beside those we disagree with, what does it mean to be a people who do not always see or believe the same way?

Wildflowers at the Dead Sea. (Avner Rinot, Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel)

Thoughts and Prayers

The Land of Israel is a Prayer

December 7, 2025

What happens when the Israel of our prayers looks different from the Israel of our headlines? How can prayer help us glimpse the Jerusalem of our dreams within the Israel of today?

Rabbi Ari Berman prays during the 60th Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington, January 20, 2025. (AP Photo/ Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)

Thoughts and Prayers

When Prayer Meets Politics

November 26, 2025

Host Jessica Fisher examines how Jewish prayer and American politics intertwine, from the synagogue’s prayer for the government to benedictions on the national stage.

Congregants praying at the Kadoorie Synagogue in Porto, Portugal, May 2014. (Courtesy of the Jewish community of Porto/JTA)

Thoughts and Prayers

Between Me and We

November 20, 2025

How do we balance our individual spiritual needs with our responsibilities to community? Our host Jessica Fisher explores the tension between private devotion and communal obligation.

Jews praying for forgiveness (Selichot), at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, early on October 1, 2025, on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Thoughts and Prayers

Does Prayer Work?

November 17, 2025

In this first episode of Thoughts & Prayers, host Jessica Fisher explores one of the oldest and most unsettling questions in Jewish life: Does prayer work?