What if Being a Stranger Is Actually Your Superpower? | Better in Person

August 12, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, the first Asian American cantor and a prominent leader at Central Synagogue in New York, has a definition of her job that she shares freely: she is in the "awe business." That line is not just a rhetorical flourish. It comes from a specific framework. The psychologist Dacher Keltner, who studies awe across 26 countries, identified eight reliable catalysts for the experience: nature, intellectual epiphany, art, spiritual experience, birth and death, music, collective effervescence, and what he calls "moral beauty"—the encounter with extraordinary acts of kindness and courage by ordinary people. Buchdahl says that witnessing moral beauty is what she does daily as a rabbi, and that it is the part of her work she misses most while on sabbatical.

The Stranger as Superpower

Buchdahl's own story is one of boundary crossing. Born to a Korean Buddhist mother and an American Jewish father, she grew up biracial in an ethnonational state (Korea) before moving to Tacoma, Washington, where her Jewish family had lived for three generations. She was a Warnick in a synagogue of 300 families where she saw her grandfather's picture on the wall in an AZA basketball uniform, giving her yichus—a sense of belonging. But the feeling of being a stranger never left her, and she has come to see that as the core of Judaism's offering to the world.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:46) **Introducing Rabbi Angela Buchdahl** - Steven Dubner frames the conversation with the "most famous rabbi in the world," a biracial Korean-American who is a boundary-crossing faith leader.
2 (06:09) **Defining Awe and Moral Beauty** - Buchdahl defines awe through the research of Dacher Keltner, identifying eight catalysts, with the most powerful being "moral beauty."
3 (08:08) **The Cost of Fame and the Colleyville Hostage Crisis** - Buchdahl discusses the dangers of her prominent platform, including being targeted for attacks and called in for hostage negotiations, using the Colleyville synagogue standoff as a key example.
4 (12:05) **Managing the Burden of Visibility** - Dubner asks how Buchdahl manages the constant threats and the desire for anonymity that comes with fame.
5 (13:12) **The Trap of Public Letters and Herd Mentality** - Buchdahl explains her decision to never sign public letters, even when she agrees with them, to avoid being manipulated and used as a pawn.
6 (15:02) **Fame as a Tool for a Message** - Dubner asks if her notoriety has been a help, allowing her to write her book and share her message.
7 (16:53) **The Uniqueness of Criticism Toward Israel** - Buchdahl addresses the intense and often unique criticism of Israel, where the government is conflated with the entire people and the country's right to exist is questioned.

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Show Notes

Angela Buchdahl was the first Asian American to be ordained as a rabbi, and now she is among the most influential rabbis in the world. She and Stephen Dubner talk about boundary-crossing, the aftermath of October 7, and whether you can be a good Jew without believing in God.

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