Harry Kay Leadership Summit: Heart of a Stranger: Belonging in a Divided World

Join us for the Harry Kay Leadership Summit! This evening is an invitation to every Jew and every seeker to reimagine what Jewish community can be when we lead with our values of inclusion and compassion.

At the heart of Jewish tradition is a radical idea: we are commanded to love the stranger as ourselves. In our polarized and divided times, this teaching is both urgent and transformative. Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, the first Asian American rabbi and Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue, brings her unique perspective as a bridge-builder across cultures, faiths, and identities to show how Judaism can guide us toward deeper belonging. Through stories from her life and insights from her new book Heart of a Stranger, Rabbi Buchdahl will explore how communities can resist division and instead cultivate empathy, hospitality, and wholeness. Together, we will reflect on what it means to cultivate belonging in a world that so often defines us by our differences.

Angela Buchdahl is the first woman to serve as Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City in its 185-year history, a flagship Reform synagogue, dubbed the first ‘mega-shul’ by the Wall Street Journal. Born in Seoul, Korea, Buchdahl graduated from Yale University and became the first Asian-American ordained as a cantor and the first ordained as a rabbi in North America. Rabbi Buchdahl has been nationally recognized for her innovations in leading worship. Rabbi Buchdahl was invited by President Barack Obama in 2014 and President Joe Biden in 2023 to share blessings and light the menorah for the White House Hanukkah Party, the first rabbi invited by two administrations.