Deep Meaningful Conversations

Tznius , or Jewish modesty, is a hot button topic for many frum women. It brings up lots of various feelings. Each frum woman has her own relationship with this value of modesty and its application in our everyday lives, whether it’s how she dresses, how she acts and how she expresses herself. For some it’s a love relationship, for some it’s a hate relationship and for others it’s a love/hate rela...

If you’re a business owner, an aspiring one, or an admirer of the incredible female entrepreneurs in our communities, then this episode is for you. On this episode of Deep Meaningful Conversations, Rivki and Alex have a DMC with Chayale Kaufman, the CEO of the Jewish Content Network which provides advertising to the Jewish world, offering digital, print and social ads across dozens of different pu...

On this episode of Deep Meaningful Conversations, Rivki and Alex talk about managing the very real human emotions of overwhelm and burnout. As frum women, we have a lot of responsibilities to juggle, and sometimes it feels like we can’t do everything we need to do as well as we’d want to. Rachel Hercman, LCSW to the rescue! On this DMC with Rachel, we discuss: What the struggles of the overwhelmed...

Orthonomics, a.k.a frum finances. Don’t start having heart palpitations and pass up this episode. While the discussion about the mystery of how to pay for the lifestyle we lead as Orthodox Jews can be stressful, on this episode of DMC, Alex and Rivki talk with Yael Trusch, host of the Jewish Money Matters podcast, and get a whole mindset overhaul on how we approach the concept of money as Jewish p...

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, Rivki and Alex sit down with Professor Leslie Gutman, who recently published Resilience: A Jewish Guide to Facing Adversity, Fostering Strength and Living your Best Life, who shares so...

In this episode of Deep Meaningful Conversations, we talk all about utilizing our creativity as frum women. We all have creative streaks that express themselves in different ways, but the key is how we make sure we’re expressing our creativity in the context of our lives so we feel whole as human beings. In this episode, we speak with two creative frum women, Bracha Goetz and Devora Rhodes. Bracha...

What this podcast is all about, and why you should absolutely listen. 

Welcome to Deep Meaningful Converstions! On today’s episode, we talk all about vulnerability and oversharing. Vulnerability is a popular topic these days, thanks to the work Dr. Brene Brown has done on the subject, and of course its relevance for anyone on social media. It’s really a fine line between being vulnerable in a healthy way and exposing too much. We talk with Shira Lankin Sheps, the aut...

Today, we’ve got a fun, light-hearted topic for you. In-Town/Out-Of-Town. No, there won’t be any fights here about which one is morally superior. We’re just here to share the experiences of normal frum women who are living in-town and out-of-town, whatever that means. We’re going to be talking with three women: one who lives “in-town”, one who lives “out-of-town” and one who grew up out-of-town bu...

Mazel Tov! This is our 20th episode! And it promises to be a good one. Today’s episode is all about toxic positivity. We discuss our understanding of and opinions about this concept, and we’ve invited therapist Yocheved Davidowitz to weigh in on the Jewish perspective towards toxic positivity. What is toxic positivity, you may ask? It's the belief that a person should put a positive spin on all ex...

We’re all under construction, aren’t we? In this episode, we talk with Ruchi Koval, author Soul Construction: Shape Your Character Using 8 Steps From the Timeless Jewish Practice of Mussar. Her book delves into 8 key traits from mussar teachings, but it really reads like a self-help book as well as a memoir because Ruchi shares parts of her life throughout the book. We give you a behind-the-scenes...

Neurodiversity may be a relatively new term, but about 30%-40% of the population are thought to be neurodiverse. This means that someone in your life probably falls into this category. Maybe it’s a student, a child, a spouse -- maybe it’s you. On today’s episode, we talk with Dr. Ilyssa Bass, a clinical psychologist and mother of four unique and wonderful children. Dr. Bass shares her own journey...

In this episode, we talk about staying connected to our Yiddishkeit. In other words, not putting our relationship with Judaism and Hashem on the bottom of our to-do list. (And boy, is that list long post-yom tov.) You’ll hear from Gila Ross, host of the Power Up! podcast. Gila shares lots of insights about how she works on staying connected, how she defines “connected” in terms of Yiddishkeit, and...

In this episode, we talk about transitions. Settling into life after transitions, managing big transitions such as the one we are all experiencing in a world we thought was post-Covid. We speak with Dr. Aviva Goldstein whose passion is positive psychology and who focuses her work on the transitions that gap year students experience, particularly spending their year in Israel and coming home from t...

On this episode we talk all about the shidduch system with Merissa Gross, who has been setting up couples for 20 years. We also speak with Tziporah Zelmanowitz on her perspective and insights from her decade-plus dating experiences. We’re here to discuss it all with our guests: the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to shidduchim. And we’ve thrown in some of our shidduch horror stories for f...

Shidduchim! (To the tune of “Tradition!”). This is a two-part episode devoted to the search for normal frum men. ;-) In this episode we talk with Professor Naomi Klapper, deputy chair of the department of psychology at Lander College. Professor Klapper also maintains a private practice in the Upper West Side and has a passion for guiding singles through shidduchim and dating. At the end of today’s...

Normal frum women (and men, for that matter) have normal frum struggles. It’s normal. (Did we say that already?) And the mitzvah or societal norm that we struggle with may not be the ones you struggle with. We’re all on our own religious journeys and in our own unique relationships with Hashem. In this episode you’ll hear: - The religious struggles of some awesome normal frum women - The inspirati...

We’ve all heard the inspiring stories of hashgacha pratis and self-sacrifice of BTs who have done whatever it takes to make the sometimes huge change to a life of Torah observance. But what happens after that initial decision to become observant? How do BTs navigate their new world which is full of unspoken rules that can’t exactly be found on Aish.com? We speak with Liv Sher, an undergrad at NYU,...

School is out, it’s hot and muggy outside, and we’re feeling some summer vibes! Today’s episode is all about road trips! And we’re not just talking about the cross-country types. Any time you get in the car to do something fun -- by yourself or with the family in tow -- counts. And we’ve learned lots of tips and tricks from our guest, Jodi Fried, founder of Love. Adventure. Mom and host of the To...

So this week’s episode is a biggie: We’re tackling marriage. Or, as much as we can tackle in 45 minutes. The only expertise that we have on the topic is that we are each married, so whatever experience that comes with is what we’re bringing to the table. But, good news, we’re bringing on marriage coach Kayla Levin to give us the lowdown on some common issues and struggles she helps women deal with...

Last episode, we asked everyone in our takeaway to think about if life turned out the way you dreamed it would as a teenager, and what you would tell your teenage self about your future. We were really thinking ahead about today’s episode. So here we are: You’re an adult, and this is your life. There are going to be disappointments and dissatisfactions. It’s normal. But now what? How can we be con...

A lot's been said about self-care in the world of frum media. Based on all the passionate (and indignant) letter writers out there, it seems that the topic of what is self-care and what it isn’t, why we need it and how to do it, can get controversial at times. So we wanted to have the discussion right here on the podcast, Normal Frum Women-style! In today’s episode we’ll be discussing: - What self...

You know how when you listen to a podcast and start feeling connected to the hosts and then think, “Hey, I would really like to know more about them! So many questions!” Well, we’re hoping you’ve had similar thoughts listening to Normal Frum Women! So to give our listeners more of a sneak peak into who we really are, we interviewed each other, and asked some pretty deep questions (as well as the 5...

We had a lot of extra content from our conversations with Chamie Haber and Yocheved Goldberg that we weren’t able to fit into the final cut for the Normal Frum Rebbetzins episode, and we thought it would be a nice pre-Pesach treat to share those unheard selections with you, so you could listen to them while you clean or pack or procrastinate or whatever it is you’re up to right now. Enjoy our firs...

It’s that time of year again - Pesach is coming. Feeling stressed? We’re here to help and we think our discussion with Meira Spivak, whose new book “How To Make Pesach In Five Days” is taking the world by storm, will help you feel like a queen when you sit down at the seder this year. In today’s episode we’ll be discussing: -Our own experiences making Pesach -Meira’s background and unique skill se...