Monday, August 10
7:30 PM
Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging on Conversation Followed by Q&A and Reception
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl will be in conversation with Rabbi Caryn Broitman about Rabbi Buchdahl’s book, Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging.
Rabbi Buchdahl has often felt like “the stranger” throughout her journey to becoming a rabbi, but rather than solely an isolating, painful experience, it has also been a source of growth and connection.
In a time when every minority group has felt in some way marginalized or outside the tent in America, she eventually concludes, “If we recognize that everyone of us carries the heart of the stranger, maybe we’ll finally grasp that our need for belonging is the starting point for a common humanity.”
Angela Warnick Buchdahl serves as the senior rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City, a flagship Reform synagogue, dubbed the first ‘mega-shul’ by the Wall Street Journal. Buchdahl is the first woman to lead Central in its 185-year history. Born in Seoul, Korea, Buchdahl graduated from Yale University and went on to become the first Asian American ordained as a cantor and first ordained as rabbi in North America. Rabbi Buchdahl has been nationally recognized for her innovations in leading worship, which draw large crowds in the congregation’s historic Sanctuary and a million live streamers in more than 100 countries. 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. Rabbi Buchdahl serves on the boards of American Jewish Committee, The Asia Society, Yale University Presidents Council, and New York Board of Rabbis. She has been featured on the Today Show, NPR, PBS and Newsweek’s “America’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis.” Rabbi Buchdahl’s memoir, Heart of a Stranger, a New York Times Best Seller and Jewish Book Awards finalist, was published by Penguin/Random House in October 2025. Rabbi Buchdahl and her husband Jacob have three children.