Can We Innovate Without Losing What Makes Judaism Sacred?

When does protecting tradition preserve Judaism, and when can it get in the way of the very religious experience we're trying to protect? Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein and Rabbi Simi Lerner begin with a contemporary controversy over musical Selichot and Hallel, and quickly move into a much larger conversation about change, authority, emotion, and religious life. What role should music play in prayer? Why are so many Jews drawn to more emotional and experiential forms of spirituality? How seriously should we take the fear of the slippery slope? And what happens when rabbinic leaders prohibit innovations that many members of their communities find deeply meaningful? Along the way, they explore Chassidus and neo-Chassidus, kiruv, the tension between structure and spontaneity, and an often overlooked reality: saying no to change carries risks of its own. It's a conversation about how Judaism can respond to a changing world without sacrificing the traditions and structures that make it Judaism in the first place.