M54 Podcast

Summary: In this milestone episode recorded exactly 24 years after their arrival at Brandeis University, Rabbi Peretz and Chanie Chein introduce their revolutionary new initiative: Chabad Brandeis 360°. Joined by Koby Gottlieb, a senior, they discuss this comprehensive educational program that transforms the traditional Chabad house model from hospitality-focused to education-centered. Key highlig...

The M54 podcast returns with a fresh perspective on the importance of insourcing, or Avoda Pni mit, as a means of personal growth and understanding in an age overwhelmed by external influences. Chanie and Peretz reflect on their hiatus and discuss how the demanding nature of their work limited their ability to engage in podcasting. They emphasize the need for individuals to internalize wisdom rath...

The obstacles, the stakes, the joys.  What does a magical conversation that lasts through the night until 9 am, look like? Growing up and changing requires insourcing - what are the obstacles it encounters, and how to overcome them?  The stakes of not growing up are huge but what emerges from change is spectacular.  Learn what it looks like in this episode.

Navigating life isn't easy. Often we go, go, go and feel like we can't catch our breath. And when we do need help, we often outsource our solutions to others. Taking time to reflect on our own lives in order to gain agency is crucial. Making choices to increase our lives vibrancy doesn't need to be outsourced. Everyone can learn how to do it. This podcast will help you learn how. Thank you for lis...

Over the past 14 months, since we published our last podcast, we have been hard at work developing, applying, and teaching the pedagogy and skills of self-reflection and growth through language and finding voice. This will be the last episode of a New Conversation with Chanie and Peretz. Moving forward our podcast will be called the Torah of Conversation! This episode, recorded in front of a live...

Grab a drink of your choice and join us in the Chein living room! In this episode you will hear exactly what a conversation using the three steps of ‘let-it-land’, ‘tell- me-more’, and ‘name the thing’ can sound like. Through a real conversation about concerns surrounding the upcoming Passover holiday, we move away from the abstract to explicitly model what happens when using these three tools and...

‘Naming the thing’ is critical in taking a conversation to a new level and greater depth.  In this episode, we share what naming the thing has done to our relationships with others and each other. ‘Naming the thing’ is about putting forward what is unsaid but fully present, taking up space, or weighing heavily on either of the participants. We explore what prevents “naming the thing” and what...

In this episode, we share three simple words that can make any conversation deeper, more thoughtful, and more productive: Tell Me More. When you invite someone to “tell me more,” you’re inviting them to look within themselves and open up another layer to the conversation. The listener’s role becomes less about offering advice or solutions to a problem but supporting the other’s own exploration. No...

Think about a recent conversation you had with someone. Did you find yourself formulating a response in your head before the other person finished their thought? In this episode, we talk about the value of “letting it land” - taking in what someone is offering to you in a conversation, pausing, and then engaging with a response.  We also discuss how important it is to have conversations with...

What prevents someone from having a conversation? Often people want easy life fixes; they turn to self-help books or TED Talks or lectures telling them how to solve their problems. This keeps someone from looking inside themselves, considering their reality, and engaging with it alongside another person. In this podcast, we discuss these conversation preventers and others. Instead of turning to ot...

Chanie and Peretz continue the conversation about approaching Judaism and life from a healthy, wholesome perspective. Chanie shares what has driven her to speak on this topic - her upbringing in a community that often demanded her identity be completely centered around Jewish expectations, as well as her current roles as a mother, a wife, and a mentor. Both also share how their approach to engagin...

In this episode, Chanie and Peretz frame an ongoing conversation about what it means to consider the interplay of life and Judaism. They suggest that for many, the demands of life can take priority, relegating Judaism to the backseat. The opposite also occurs - Judaism is the only way one knows how to approach the world, which can prevent them from taking an honest look at the dynamics in their li...

The raw intimacy between a committed couple nurtures their overall relationship and also reflects it, for better or worse. In this episode we reflect on conversations we had with committed couples exploring this critical yet often insufficiently discussed topic. A video recording of this conversation can be viewed at www. M54.co . We welcome your thoughts and feedback.

In this episode titled, 'Our Narratives', we begin a new series of conversations on topics we’ve explored with various groups, or as we call them pods, in M54.  Our narratives guide us through life and usually enter the room before we do. The narratives handed to us are layered with the ones we create on our own. Some we adapt and others we discard. Our navigation through them is perhaps the...

We've not published a podcast since the onset of Covid-19 in March. At first, like many, we were bewildered and living in a sort of haze. Then in the later weeks we began exploring something we've been dreaming of for some time. Here is that story. A video recording of this conversation can be viewed at www.m54.co.

Being in a healthy relationship with someone demands that the character of the people be present and vibrant. Paying someone to begin a relationship with Judaism taints the potency of it. In this podcast we discuss our drive and commitment to nurture people’s characters in order to be in a healthy relationship with Judaism. * OT  [Our Thoughts] are episodes in which Chanie and Peretz discuss...

Rabbi Beryl Gershenfeld is a pioneer in Jewish college student engagement who introduced a new, yet old method, to engage college students in Jewish learning. Namely, to pay them. His success has spawned other organizations, including Chabad, to imitate it. We disagree with this approach and in this episode the issue is debated.

Community is deeply formative in people's lives and how we navigate it plays a large part in forming who we are. Identifying its complexities is vital in knowing how to harness its benefits and avoid its landmines. In this episode we explore it from our personal observations and experiences. * OT  [Our Thoughts] are episodes in which Chanie and Peretz discuss the previous episode’s conversati...

Listen to the story of a person belonging to a prominent Talmudic and Chassidic family, and deeply immersed in Torah learning and Mitzvot observance, whose Jewish void was filled by Chabad. For anyone who cares to understand Chabad beyond the hugs and chicken soup, his tale is a window into the undercurrent of Chabad. 

Engaging in an immersive Jewish learning experience can be transformative but at times also unhealthy. It also seems off putting to the average individual who desires to engage in immersive Jewish learning. An institution that can dance between being immersive but not yet transformative does not exist. It's hight time it does. Perhaps this will bridge the enormous gap between the huge number of st...

The stampede towards a career begins with college graduation, and perhaps even earlier. Andrew Jacobson ’19 stepped out of that rush and dedicated a year to Torah study.  What was his calculation? What does he fear about this decision? Why is he so unconventional amongst today’s young adults?

A view under the hood of the making of a New Conversation with Chanie and Peretz as we conclude our first year and two seasons of podcasting.

Often, for both the frequent and infrequent visitors to the synagogue, it feels more like entering a classroom where you’re expected to follow the instructions of the Prayer Book and Rabbi, than a place of spiritual connection to the Divine. Listen to a new language that transforms the experience from a classroom to a playground. Have fun!

To renew is to be excited about life and ultimately to grow. A prerequisite though is commitment. With its combined power and pain it provides us the ability to bring our whole self forward in ways otherwise not possible. We share our reflections and personal experience on commitment and its impact.

In our desire to grow, and even become more attractive, we easily fall for the enticing assumption that it’s to be achieved by highlighting what seems appealing about ourselves. In fact though Teshuva teaches us that in the parts which we bury and hide is where the power for growth and life exists.