Rabbi Angela Buchdahl on forgiveness, Zionism and Mamdani

The Jewish new year arrives with the word ‘Zionist’ deemed an insult and a technology that never forgets anything that anyone has ever said or done. Following Unholy tradition, Yonit and Jonathan usher in the season of awe and the High Holydays with Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, who leads New York’s Central Synagogue and whose congregation was rushed by an intruder during a packed Friday night service weeks before this conversation. She walks through what repentance actually demands — a real apology, a change of action as well as heart, and three attempts — and why she thinks Abraham, the first Jew, failed the test we remember on Rosh Hashanah. Plus: the sermon she is dreading, why she calls the coming Israeli election existential for Jews everywhere, and, as ever, the music.