Soulful Jewish Living: Mindful Practices For Every Day

Please fill out this short survey. Go to: ⁠⁠⁠unpacked.bio/podsurvey⁠⁠⁠. We want to hear from you! What does it mean to feel at home — in a place, in your body, in your life? Rabbi Josh Feigelson draws on baseball, the Torah, and the writing of Bart Giamatti to explore home as a state of mind rather than a physical location. The episode closes with a guided breath meditation to help you arrive, rig...

Please fill out this short survey. Go to: unpacked.bio/podsurvey. We want to hear from you! Rabbi Josh wraps up the Independence miniseries by zooming out to the Jewish concept of brit (covenant) as the framework for true interdependence. Using Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's boat parable, he contrasts American culture's rights-based individualism with Judaism's responsibility-centered worldview, and dr...

Please fill out this short survey. Go to: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠unpacked.bio/podsurvey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We want to hear from you! What's the difference between winning an argument and winning a war? In this episode, Rabbi Josh Feigelson explores persuasion as both a democratic and Jewish value—drawing on chavruta study, Hasidic Torah mysticism, and Professor Jeremy Engels's On Mindful Democracy. Plus: a simple practice for t...

Please fill out this short survey. Go to: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠unpacked.bio/podsurvey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We want to hear from you! Rabbi Josh Feigelson takes on one of America's most cherished myths: the rugged, self-made individual. In the fourth episode of the Independence miniseries, he argues it's not only historically ironic but profoundly un-Jewish. Drawing on Torah's laws of the field, he makes the case that our succes...

What does citizenship really mean—and what does Judaism have to say about it? In this third episode of the Independence miniseries, Rabbi Josh Feigelson reflects on the difference between a rights-focused mindset and a responsibility-focused one, drawing on the Jewish concept of mitzvah and Professor Jeremy Engels's Mindful Democracy. He closes with a practical week-long havruta accountability pra...

Please fill out this short survey. Go to: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠unpacked.bio/podsurvey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We want to hear from you! What do cutting-edge biology and a 2,000-year-old Talmudic teaching have in common? Rabbi Josh Feigelson explores how a newly discovered body system mirrors the Jewish idea that we are all deeply bound to one another and guides listeners through a mindfulness practice to help them feel that truth...

Please fill out this short survey. Go to: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠unpacked.bio/podsurvey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We want to hear from you! This Memorial Day, Rabbi Josh Feigelson reflects on mindfulness, democracy, and interdependence. The episode launches a new series as the US approaches its 250th anniversary, exploring how true independence is rooted in community and mutual responsibility. It closes with a guided meditation on gra...

To close out the five-part series on uncertainty and anxiety, Rabbi Josh turns to an unlikely teacher: the 19th-century composer Franz Schubert. Drawing on Rabbi Tarfon's ancient insight that it is not your job to finish the work, the episode invites listeners to release their grip on perfection, and to simply sit with what's unfinished. A guided mindfulness practice leads the way.. Be in touch at...

What if the silence isn't judgment? Rabbi Josh shares a powerful moment from a silent retreat that reveals how anxiety turns strangers into threats. Using the Jewish concepts of ayin hara (the evil eye) and ayin tova (a generous perspective), he shows how shifting your inner filter can transform fear into openness and offers a practical meditation to help you do just that. Be in touch at josh@unpa...

Rabbi Josh Feigelson reframes the experience of waiting by drawing on the Jewish wisdom of the mezuzah. Using a personal story about meeting President Clinton at the Oval Office, he distinguishes between the "waiting room" mindset rooted in anxiety and the "hallway" mindset rooted in presence and agency. The episode closes with a short guided breathing practice. Josh with Clinton: https://drive.go...

What do you do when anxiety about the future threatens to unravel everything? Rabbi Josh Feigelson found his answer in an unexpected moment during rabbinical school: "Just plan the next five minutes." In this second episode of the uncertainty miniseries, he connects that wisdom to the biblical story of Manna, the daily bread that couldn't be hoarded or saved. Stop reaching for tomorrow's answers t...

When a generator failure grounded his transatlantic flight on Christmas Day, Rabbi Josh discovered his meditation practice kept him calm while everyone around him spiraled. In this episode he explores why our brains struggle with uncertainty, and how the Hebrew verse Shiviti Hashem L'negdi Tamid offers a practical spiritual anchor for anxious moments. Includes a guided meditation you can use anywh...

Rabbi Josh Feigelson explores Shemittah, the Jewish sabbatical year, as a radical practice of release — from debt, from striving, and from the grip that money and status can have on our hearts. Drawing on a Japanese folk tale and the Torah's reminder that the earth belongs to God, not us, he shows how letting go is not a loss but a liberation. Includes a breathing meditation to help you loosen you...

Rabbi Josh Feigelson draws on Hasidic teaching and personal memory to explore how Passover is the moment when Divine love, or hesed, flows freely, no earning required. Even amid heaviness and uncertainty, the Seder invites us to open our hearts and receive it. Includes a guided meditation for the season. Be in touch at josh@unpacked.media. This episode is sponsored by Jonathan and Kori Kalafer and...

What does it really mean to give, and why is it so hard? In the fourth episode of a series on money, Rabbi Josh Feigelson explores the Torah's radical call to generosity through the Hebrew phrase patoach tiftach , "open, open your hand," and what the Sfat Emet teaches about the two barriers that keep us closed. With a simple embodied practice, Josh invites listeners to literally unfurl a fist and...

In Part 3 of our mindfulness and money series, Rabbi Josh Feigelson reflects on how social comparison, especially in the age of social media, shapes our relationship to money and self worth. Through a story from Venice and a teaching from Jewish morning blessings, Josh invites us to pause, notice the pull of comparison, and return to a simple truth: in this moment, we have what we need for the nex...

Rabbi Josh Feigelson pauses the current series to reflect on the fear and uncertainty many Jews are feeling during the ongoing war. Drawing on Rebbe Nachman of Breslov’s teaching that “the whole world is a very narrow bridge,” he offers a short mindfulness practice to help us notice fear without amplifying it. This episode invites listeners to breathe, soften, and remember that we are not walking...

Impulse buying is easy. Mindful spending takes practice. In Part 2 of our six-part series on money, Jewish wisdom helps us pause before we swipe—and turn everyday spending into a moment of awareness. Be in touch at josh@unpacked.media. This episode is sponsored by Jonathan and Kori Kalafer and the Somerset Patriots: The Bridgewater, NJ-based AA Affiliate of the New York Yankees. --------------- Th...

We all have a little Tevye in us. In this first episode of a six-part series on money, Rabbi Josh Feigelson explores what Judaism and mindfulness teach about wealth and the feeling of “not enough.” Beginning with Fiddler on the Roof’s “If I Were a Rich Man,” he turns to Rabbi Shimon Ben Zoma’s question: “Who is wealthy? One who is happy with what they have.” How can Jewish wisdom and mindfulness h...

In the final episode of this six-part series, Rabbi Josh Feigelson reflects on truth, trust, and responsibility in today’s overwhelming news landscape. Exploring the danger of “spiritual bypass,” he draws on the Jewish concept of emet (truth) to show how mindfulness can ground us — not to escape the world, but to engage it with clarity and care. Be in touch at josh@unpacked.media. This episode is...

How do we face the news without being overwhelmed by it? Rabbi Josh Feigelson reflects on a painful parenting moment to explore how mindfulness can help us meet difficult news with care. In the fifth episode of a series on mindful news consumption, Josh draws on Jewish wisdom to reframe the news as an opportunity for compassion, balance, and grounded engagement. Be in touch at josh@unpacked.media....

How do we survive the 24/7 news cycle without losing our balance—or ourselves? In Part 4 of our miniseries on mindfully engaging with the news, Rabbi Josh Feigelson introduces Shabbat Mind as a Jewish response to nonstop media and constant urgency. Reflecting on the disorientation of an always-on news environment, Josh reframes Shabbat not just as a weekly day of rest, but as a mindset that helps...

This week, Rabbi Josh Feigelson explores the idea of the news bubble—how algorithms, tribalism, and polarization shape what we see and how we react to the news. In Part 3 of a six-episode series on engaging with the news mindfully, Josh draws on Jewish wisdom and a powerful Talmudic teaching about being “soft like a reed and not stiff like a cedar” to reflect on how news bubbles can harden us into...

In Part 2 of our series on mindfully engaging with the news, Rabbi Josh Feigelson explores why the news so often sends us into emotional spirals—and how we can respond with more awareness and compassion. Drawing on the Buddhist teaching of the “second arrow,” Jewish wisdom about hesech hada’at, and a classic Talmudic story about Hillel the Elder, this episode offers a practical mindfulness practic...

Why do so many of us feel compelled to avoid the news—and what does Judaism have to say about it? In the first episode of a new series, Rabbi Josh Feigelson explores News Avoidance Syndrome through Jewish mindfulness and introduces a simple practice to help us engage with the news without becoming overwhelmed. Be in touch at josh@unpacked.media. This episode is sponsored by Jonathan and Kori Kalaf...