Chutzpod!

As you're buying gift after gift for Hannukah, enjoy this gem from our archives.

What to do when you want to teach your children gratitude, humility and the value of a dollar, but your mother’s “greatest joy in life” is spoiling them rotten. Rabbi Shira and Hanna talk about money myths, values and honoring thy father and mother. 

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It’s the season of giving, so we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes from the archive. We’ll be back answering new questions soon. So please send them to chutzpod@gmail.com

What happens if you receive an unexpected inheritance from a person you’ve cut out of your life? Should you keep it? Give it away to charity? Join Rabbi Shira and Hanna as they balance the rules of Torah with the financial realities of life.

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We are thankful for YOU! Enjoy this recent episode with gratitude. And if you're thankful for Chutzpod please consider making a donation to support the show.

Rabbi Shira and Hanna are joined by Rabbi Sharon Brous to talk about what she calls the “The Amen Effect” – what it means to be heard and seen during times of joy and grief and how a deeper connection to the Jewish community can actually help us cross tribal lines. Rabbi Brous is the founder of IKAR, an influential progressive Jewish congregation in Los Angeles and the author of The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World.

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Friendsgiving plans got you down? Enjoy one of our favorite recent episodes...

While you listen, please make a contribution to support this podcast you love! 

Do you suffer from Friendship FOMO? Heartburn, fatigue, painful stabs of jealousy while looking at Instagram? Rabbi Shira and Hanna will provide some relief. Podcast host and producer Lauren Ober writes in. And Shira lets out her inner mean girl.  

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Saving seats at services is almost as old as Judaism itself. But should you do it?

A newly converted Jewish listener bristles at this convention and wonders if it’s ok to make her friends and family fend for themselves if they can’t make it on time. 

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Should second weddings be modest? Or is it kosher to go full bridezilla?

A listener asks for advice on how to deal with her sister’s seemingly over-the-top requests for her second Jewish wedding.

2nd weddings in the Torah:

Abraham and Ketura 

Boaz and Ruth

Rabbi Akiva 

Rav 

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A Grandma asks Rabbi Shira and Hanna how to share Jewish traditions with her grandchildren. How can she share these traditions without overstepping? How can she be a Jewish grandparent at a distance?

Resources for Jewish grandparents: 

Jewish Grandparents Network

PJ Library

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The news is awful, and everything feels terrible. Now go celebrate! 

A news-obsessed listener asks for advice on how to be less negative at home. Is it ok to check out and still be a good Jew? And could Debbie Downer have been Jewish?

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The next best thing to being in the synagogue with Rabbi Shira…Tune in to Rabbi Shira’s sermon for this year’s Yom Kippur. 

We want to live in a world of the everlasting yes--but what do we do when we get the terminal no, instead?

Read about the death and burial of Moses

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A special episode on October 7th:

A year after the attack by Hamas on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, Rabbi Shira and Hanna mourn the loss of life and talk about what else has been lost in the trauma of ongoing war with an uncertain future. 

A young Jewish listener asks for advice on how to navigate tension between her two friend groups on opposite sides of the Israel debate.

Read Can We Talk About Israel by Dan Sokatch

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Live from Washington D.C.! 

Rabbi Shira and Hanna are answering your real life questions live at a special event in Washington D.C. – a city known for its scandal and intrigue. A married listener is having an affair and has no plans to stop. Should he still repent on Yom Kippur?

Special thanks to Adas Israel Congregation in Washington D.C.

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After her wife of more than two decades passed suddenly, our listener is struggling how to spend time by herself again, and how to tell her wonderful, well-meaning community to give her space.

More on being "alone"

More on Jewish Shiva rituals 

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Rabbi Shira and Hanna are joined by Rabbi Sharon Brous to talk about what she calls the “The Amen Effect” – what it means to be heard and seen during times of joy and grief and how a deeper connection to the Jewish community can actually help us cross tribal lines. Rabbi Brous is the founder of IKAR, an influential progressive Jewish congregation in Los Angeles and the author of The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World.

See Chutzpod! live in D.C.! 

Read Mishnah Midot 2.2

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Rabbi Shira and Hanna help a new rabbi navigate her first high holiday season – what she calls “her Oscars and big debut.” What do rabbis wish you knew about services, why does Rabbi Shira hate when people only attend on Yom Kippur, and, gasp, what should a rabbi wear?!

See Chutzpod! live in D.C.! 

Read the Talmud story about being flexible like a reed.

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Dogs on a plane are kosher, but are they annoying? Rabbi Shira and Hanna kick off a new season and Elul with a Rosh Hashanah LaBehemot celebration. What are the Jewish ethics around animals? Is the Torah ableist? Bring your apples, honey, and dog biscuits and tune in.

See Chutzpod! live in D.C.! 

Read more about Jewish pet names

Read more about Rosh Hahanah LaBehemah 

Learn about ableism in the Torah 

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This season on Chutzpod! Rabbi Shira Stutman and Hanna Rosin dive into all things high holidays. How do you really start over in the new year. How can you forgive others if you can't forgive yourself on Yom Kippur. And what should we think about snakes (and dogs) on a plane? 

New episodes launch September 4th. Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss a thing. 

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Rabbi Shira and Hanna close out Season 3 with by celebrating Shavuot*, which commemorates the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. But how do you celebrate a sacred text that's often problematic? 

*This year Shavuot at sundown on Tuesday June 11, 2024, and concludes at nightfall on Thursday, June 13.

Story of Dinah

Torah Portion Nasso

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A listener in an interfaith and interracial relationship asks for advice on how to navigate conversations about antisemitism, race and Israel. Rabbi Shira and Hanna are joined by antiracist educator Rachel Faulkner from the National Council of Jewish Women.

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Do you suffer from Friendship FOMO? Heartburn, fatigue, painful stabs of jealousy while looking at Instagram? Rabbi Shira and Hanna will provide some relief. Podcast host and producer Lauren Ober writes in. And Shira lets out her inner mean girl.  

Biblical Moments of Jealousy: Exodus 20.5, Joseph & his brothers

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Rabbi Shira and Hanna fire through a bunch of your letters and voice memos. Shira imagines having an audience with the Pope. Hanna reimagines her concept of Jewish power. And, yet another plug for the mikvah. 

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Rabbi Shira and Hanna help a couple navigate the decision to donate their embryos. They’d like to give the gift to a Jewish family. They’d like to maintain close contact. Are mitzvahs still mitzvahs if you have an ulterior motive?

More on Judaism & Fertility

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What to do when you want to teach your children gratitude, humility and the value of a dollar, but your mother’s “greatest joy in life” is spoiling them rotten. Rabbi Shira and Hanna talk about money myths, values and honoring thy father and mother.

The Torah on Money 

Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Kiddushin 31b

Rav Asi had an elderly mother. She said to him: “I want jewelry.” He made jewelry for her. “I want a man,” and he said: I will seek one for you. “I want a husband who is as handsome as you.” He left her…and went to Israel.

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Israel is destined to be top of mind during Passover this year. Rabbi Shira and Hanna give advice on how to have a meaningful (and less contentious) seder.

Priya Parker on the “Art of Gathering”

Why do you spill the wine?

On the interplay between Purim and Passover

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There's something titillating about secrets in Judaism, but should we have them? Rabbi Shira and Hanna help a listener who wants to unburden a big secret with her father.

More on secrets of the Torah

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Have you ever hid your Judaism? Whether for safety or comfort? A listener in France wonders if and when it’s ok to conceal your Jewish identity.

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Rabbi Shira and Hanna talk with Franklin Foer about his cover story for The Atlantic, which argues that Anti-Semitism is threatening to end a “Golden Era” for Jewish Americans.

Read Frank’s piece

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Can three be the magic number in a Jewish marriage? Rabbi Shira and Hanna help a listener understand what Judaism says about marriage and polyamory. 

More about Jewish polyamory

Rachel Adler’s Brit Ahuvim

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Comedian, podcaster and “Subculture Vulture” Moshe Kasher joins Rabbi Shira and Hanna to help a listener pull (or not pull) a geographic.

More about Moshe Kasher

Listen to Moshe in conversation with Lauren Ober at Sixth & I.

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Rabbi Shira returns from Israel where she engaged in a week of Torah study, rabbinic debates and shepherding in the West Bank.

Send us your questions at chutzpod.com. While you’re there support the show. And follow Chutzpod, Shira & Hanna.

A listener’s friend insists that the Jews killed Jesus. How should she respond? And why does this myth continue to hurt? Rabbi Shira and Hanna talk about weaponizing myths, conspiracies, and the always helpful “I” statements.

More on dispelling that myth

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Rabbi Shira and Hanna help a listener who wants to know what Judaism says about choice when it comes to the end of life. What are the Jewish ethics around medical aid in dying? And is there a Jewish value in suffering?

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Rabbi Shira and Hanna are really Jewish. Charlotte York Goldenblatt is really Jewish. But what about the many of us who live in the gray in-between? We answer this week’s listener question: who gets to be Jewish?

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Can you be “Friends Forever”? And should you? Pulling from the ancient texts Saved by the Bell and the Talmud, Rabbi Shira and Hanna help a listener who wants to bring her oldest and dearest friendships back to life.

More on friendships & friend fights from Hanna.

And check out more of Lanie Fefferman’s music, including the song featured at the end of the show: “One by One” by Beverage Station.

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When channeling your inner Dead Poets Society isn’t enough…Rabbi Shira & Hanna help a high school teacher figure out when and how to talk with students about the war in Israel and Gaza.

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What does Judaism (and the universe) have to say about dating and divorce? Dating BEFORE divorce? And are Jews better at New Year’s Resolutions? Rabbi Shira & Hanna are back to answer these questions and more.

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The decision to have children is often difficult, but what about the decision to have MORE children? Rabbi Shira and Hanna advise a listener on what they think and Judaism says about having a third kid, and whether they regret having their own (spoiler: they don’t).

More:

Genesis 1:28

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I really love Judaism...should I be a rabbi? Rabbi Shira and Hanna help a listener decide whether to take the jump.

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Is a Jewish Santa kosher? Rabbi Shira & Hanna Rosin ponder the ethics of Christmas cosplay in this very merry episode.

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Rabbi Shira and Hanna give advice on how to say you’re sorry, and really (sorta) mean it.

Like Chutzpod? Please rate, review and subscribe!

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What to do when calling your mother is not just a pain, but painful. Rabbi Shira is back from Israel with insights and advice.

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What happens if you receive an unexpected inheritance from a person you’ve cut out of your life? Should you keep it? Give it away to charity? Join Rabbi Shira and Hanna as they balance the rules of Torah with the financial realities of life.

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A pastor expresses private support for his Jewish friends, but they ask him to make it public. He is squeamish…he could alienate members of his own congregation. How does he say no without ruining a friendship? And is he being antisemitic? Join Rabbi Shira and Hanna Rosin as they dive into when it’s ok to say no, and what is and isn’t antisemitic.

Read: How to tell when criticism of Israel is actually anti-Semitism

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Rabbi! Hanna! the parents ask. Tell us the magic words we can say to our children that will make them love and unequivocally support Israel. And we respond.

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On the inaugural episode of this season of Chutzpod, Hanna Rosin and Rabbi Shira wrestle with a listener's question about American Jews who are full of “yes, BUT…” when it comes to mourning murdered Israelis. Can’t we just be sad without invoking the Occupation?

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Join Rabbi Shira and Hanna Rosin in a short discussion on the fraught politics of seeking comfort if you are mourning for Israel. Why, in social justice circles, is expressing sympathy for Israelis, even in a tragic moment like this, complicated? Where should you seek comfort? If you're an ally how should you provide it? Can you feel for both Israelis and Palestinians?

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This week we finish our two-part series in partnership with Encounter honoring Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut. We share stories from American Jews who found moments of humanity and mutual respect and understanding with Palestinians, helping to bridge the distance between cultures, countries, and continents. We also bid l'hitraot (see you soon!) to Josh as he leaves Chutzpod for other projects.

This week is our first of two episodes in partnership with Encounter in honor of Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Memorial Day and Independence Day, respectively). We share the stories of two Israelis and two Palestinians on their experience seeing "the other," and how it has helped them believe a different future is possible. This is a must-listen episode; we hope you return to it again and again. 

We've got a double parsha week everyone!  Join Rabbi Shira and Josh as they discuss Tazria-Metzora, one of the...grosser sections of the Torah. But worry not, this episode is not about skin disease but about gossip. Learn how the two are related, about the nature of gossip (hint: it's everywhere!), and when it's ok to talk about others.

On this week's episode Joshua and Rabbi Shira dig into two important observances in Judaism: Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) and counting the Omer. Learn more about the modern observance of Yom Hashoah, Jewish conversion during World War II, and what lessons we can learn for today. We also discuss Leopoldstadt, the Broadway play that Joshua now stars in, and how it's just as relevant as ever. Also learn about what the heck the Omer is, why we count it and how!

On this week's episode of Chutzpod, Rabbi Shira and Joshua welcome Korin Arkin of the National Human Trafficking Hotline and Noel Gomez of the Organization for Prostitution Survivors to learn about what human trafficking and modern day slavery look like. It's a heavy episode, but important listening to understand that the Exodus story is not a thing of the past. Listen today to learn more about what is happening all around us and what you can do to help.

Episode Timecodes:

(06:00) Interview with Noel Gomez & Korin Arkin

(35:00) Closing Nigun by Yosef Goldman