Deep Meaningful Conversations

So many of us in Chutz LaAretz want to understand what it’s like for the women who are holding down the fort in Eretz Yisrael with their husbands off fighting this war. These mothers and wives are true heroes, taking care of everything without the support and presence of their husbands who are risking their lives to protect our Holy Land. We want to learn and know more about what these special wom...

Purim is on its way, so we’ve invited who we think are two of the funniest (and maybe cleverest) ladies to grace the pages of Mishpacha Magazine, and that’s Chani Judowitz and Bracha Stein, the masterminds of The Kichels’ comics. We say that The Kichels is social commentary in its best form. They manage to point out silly things about frum life in a way that’s highly relatable, while doing it in s...

So often the situation in Israel can feel dispiriting. We want to make a difference and contribute, but we don’t know how. Meira Kolatch, otherwise known as “The Official Meira”, shares with us how out of her desire to keep her friends and family informed about events in Israel, she accidently created a following of over 35k people on social media who come to her for  real-time, verified informati...

We all want to lead happy lives, but what about living beautiful lives? Gila Ross shares with us her favorite relatable lessons from Pirkei Avos that help us bring meaning, joy and love into our lives – all the things we need now more than ever. In this DMC we discuss: How Gila became the person she is today Why she wrote her book Living Beautifully and what she hopes it accomplishes What the titl...

Tziri Preis is one of those people who is living her dream. Classroom teacher turned podcaster and “General” of the Tehillim Army nightly Zoom and livestream, she reaches thousands of children (and their parents) each night. The Tehillim Army was Tziri’s response to October 7th, and little did she know what a need it would fill and the impact it would make. Tziri’s story has so much to teach us ab...

These days, it seems Geula is very much on our mind. Geula, as our guest Faigy Blumstein explains, is very much a mindset as well hat needs developing. Geula, redemption, will happen with Hashem’s help in the future, but it isn’t something that we passively wait for. Every day we yearn for the Geula, and there are things we can do right now to put into place as an expression of that yearning – and...

Welcome to episode 51 as Season 3 of DMC comes to a close! It’s time for a little recap of our year as we reflect on our experiences as the hosts of Deep Meaningful Conversations. We released 23 episodes this year and have had over 120k downloads. We’ve had on average 4000 listeners per episode. So thank you to all our loyal DMC listeners! Here’s to continued growth and many more DMCS in 2024! On...

We hope all our listeners had a wonderful Chanukah! With any holiday or yom tov, there is that week after when we’re trying to get bedtimes back to normal, work schedules back to normal, and our eating schedules back to normal. But this year, we haven’t really had the luxury of “getting back to normal.” Nonetheless, taking care of ourselves during stressful and disruptive situations is extremely i...

We all know the frightening reality facing Jewish students on college campuses today. The stories are horrifying and unbelievable. We want this episode to be somewhat uplifting as well, and that’s why we’ve invited Mariel Goldstein to speak with us. Mariel is the director of women’s education at MEOR Maryland, a campus-based organization dedicated to extending Jewish learning opportunities to the...

The topic of processing our emotions applies at all times, but it’s especially relevant now. We know that there are ways we as individuals process our emotions in a healthy way, and process our emotions in an unhealthy way. Disclaimer: for anyone who is going through acute trauma due this war, this episode is not designed for you. This episode is also not meant to take the place of seeking profess...

We’re thinking about all of our listeners during this extremely challenging time for the Jewish people worldwide, and here at DMC, we’re committed to providing content for you that will be helpful and hopefully uplifting. There are many heroes in this war, and some of them are the special individuals in Eretz Yisrael who have done whatever they can to support their fellow brothers and sisters who...

Like everyone right now, no matter where you live, our everyday lives are not the same due to the tragic unfolding of events in Eretz Yisrael. Certainly, our brothers and sisters in Israel are facing the most formidable challenges. Those of us watching and davening from afar are challenged in different ways, but challenged nonetheless. Eretz Yisrael and Am Yisrael are constantly on our minds, as w...

Yom Kippur is our most serious and arguably most important Yom Tov in the Jewish calendar. But what happens if our feeling of overwhelm about the seriousness of the day (and the practical physical requirements of the season) robs us from feeling truly connected? More broadly, how does our mental health impact our Torah observance in general? When we're feeling anxious, depressed or overwhelmed...

Rosh Hashana is approaching and we want to give you some deep and meaningful content to think about in addition to the delicious meal planning! That’s why we invited Rebbetzin Slovie Jungreis-Wolff to DMC with us about finding focus this Rosh Hashana. Slovie herself is a well-spring of knowledge and inspiration and in this DMC, she shares her Rosh Hashana memories around the Jungreis table in addi...

We all want to be more resilient, to bounce back during times of stress and upheaval. But is resilience just about bouncing back to who we were before we experienced adversity, or is it more? On this episode of DMC, we  sit down with Professor Leslie Gutman, author of Resilience: A Jewish Guide to Facing Adversity, Fostering Strength and Living your Best Life, who shares some fascinating insights...

Being happy is an aspiration that is thrown around so easily and often, we wonder if it’s really even a goal in life. But happiness is crucial for healthy children, and we’re going to be talking all about it with our guest, Beth Perkel. Beth is an author, freelance writer and essayist. Her recent book is called Light At the Beginning of the Tunnel: Wiring our Children for Happiness.  Beth believes...

This episode of DMC is about spiritual self-care. This means, what are we doing to take care of our neshama? What are we doing to invest in our connection to Yiddishkeit and Hashem? Because if we don’t take care of our spiritual side, we know what happens. It’s the same with when we don’t take care of our bodies, or our relationships, or our linen closets…the law of entropy entails and things star...

It’s the Three Weeks, and we knew we wanted to provide something meaningful for us all to help us get in the mindset of this unique period in the Jewish calendar. As we’re leading up to Tisha B’Av, we really should be thinking more about mitzvos bein adam l’chaveiro since sinas chinam, baseless hatred, is the reason given for the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdash. So we asked Yocheved David...

On this DMC, we’re talking about tefillah, prayer.  We want to get real, we want to get practical and we want to get inspired. Our guest is Sara Blau. Sara is passionate about tefillah and making prayer relevant. Her brand is providing inspiration for the Jewish woman, so she’s a perfect guest for DMC. Sara’s a public speaker and the author of 29 books. She’s also in the middle of a book about tef...

We get a lot of feedback from women that they’d like to hear more episodes about marriage and parenting. So this episode is devoted to the topic of marriage and we’re DMCing with a very special person, Rivke Gardner. Rivke is “a marriage mentor for mentors” –  and a marriage coach for everybody. She went on her own quest to improve her marriage after she realized as a newlywed that the little tool...

It’s fair to say that every Orthodox woman has her own unique relationship with tznius. There are many factors at play that determine the nature of her relationship: education, upbringing, societal and familial influences, peer dynamics, and religious background, amongst others. Whether tznius is your favorite mitzvah or your biggest struggle, it’s valuable to bring tznius into our conversations a...

Whatever “chizuk” means to you, we all need it. Whether it’s inspiration, validation, support or cheerleading, chizuk is what keeps us going when the going gets tough, or when we’re just not feeling it. Chizuk isn’t just for those of us who may be struggling religiously. We all can use a boost of strengthening to help us get through our daily lives, to keep us connected to our Judaism, to remind u...

Let’s say we’re struggling with a challenge in our life. We can weather the storm on our own, or we can reach out to someone for help. But who? Sometimes it’s a family member or friend. Other times a rebbetzin or rav is our first avenue of support. Or a mental health professional. Or all of the above. In our modern world, many seek advice via social media, whether anonymously or not. All these ave...

What can we learn from the wisdom of the Eishes Chayil that can be applied to our modern lives? Our guest today is Shira Hochheimer, author of Eishes Chayil: Ancient Wisdom for Women of Today. On this episode, we explore the connotations the Eishes Chayil has for us, and the implications it has on our lives. We discuss: The backstory behind how Shira decided to write a book on this topic Her favor...

Pesach is coming, and DMC is here for you! Whether you’re defrosting your freezer or packing all the suitcases, we’re back to share conversations about the upcoming yom tov and help us get focused on the meaning of what we do. In this episode, we DMC with Esti Hamilton, the most relatable of rebbetzins, to give us some chizuk and inspo for Pesach.  We discuss: Her personal relationship with Pesach...