The Living Jewishly Podcast

“I did not transition from a woman to a man. Society perceived me as a woman. I was born female, but I’ve always been a man in my eyes.” — Micha Yehudi What does it mean to grow up transgender and Jewish — and how do these intersecting identities complicate the challenges faced by this group?  As the connections and differences between biological sex and gender have sparked new debates in the publ...

“What does it mean to be healing through a process of bringing trauma, and bringing really difficult things to our awareness and to our consciousness?” — Ganga Devi Trauma does not merely live in the past. It lives in our bodies… until we do the work of healing. Tammuz, the fourth month in the religious Jewish calendar, holds and commemorates the memory of a lot of the pain, trauma, and destructio...

“If we’re going to harm somebody because they’ve done something wrong, we should do it because we expect good things — better things — to come from it.” — Professor Adam Kolber As humans, we have strong feelings about right and wrong. But our individual opinions regarding what constitutes justice — or even what constitutes a crime, in many cases — may vary. Our culture remains deeply divided on th...

“Something about a dance class is very ritualistic; it’s very meditative, it’s exhilarating and joyful, but also very soothing.” — Jody (Kerzner) Bruner Prepare to hear a great excuse to turn up the volume on your favourite album or playlist. This episode of The Living Jewishly Podcasts is an instalment of What’s In Your Toolbox?, a podcast about mental health and the tools we use to heal. In this...

“It’s very important that I not conflate my position as a support beam for people in the community with real therapy… if someone needs real therapy, I need to turn them in that direction.” — Rabbi Yoni Rosensweig When a community views mental health problems — and the professionals who treat them — with suspicion, what does that do to its members who may deal with these issues? While the stigma ar...

“We received the Torah in this month. This month brought us a very big gift, and now that we have it, there’s a question of: where does it lead us to?” — Bluth Welcome to Sivan, a time of ripening and movement! This episode of the Living Jewishly podcast is an instalment of Scared Time, a podcast that explores the healing art of the Jewish calendar. It revisits last year’s episode dedicated to the...

“If the Torah is to bear a message for all generations… its revelation has to be a dynamic process, a gradual unfolding that reveals its ultimate significance incrementally, only through time.” — Tamar Ross The giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai reads something like a fairy tale, and to take the story at face value requires a high level of credulity. How is it possible for an invisible, unknowable...

“When I came into recovery from alcoholism, I didn’t know all the issues that were driving me into that behaviour.” — Mark Collings Sometimes, the tools that we use to manage our own mental health can have amazing effects on others. This episode of the Living Jewishly Podcasts is an instalment of What’s In Your Toolbox, a podcast about mental health and the tools we use in our daily lives, and fea...

“The beauty of the cyclical nature of our Hebrew calendar is that as we move through the seasons and holy days and months, we revisit universal themes each year as new people.”  — Bluth This episode of the Living Jewishly Podcasts is an episode of Sacred Time, a podcast that explores the healing art of the Hebrew calendar as it relates to our lives today. This is a replay of our Iyar episode, expl...

“In general, modern liberal societies trade on the idea that there is no one way to be a person.” — Akiva Malamet Nation, state, country… these concepts may seem straightforward and synonymous, but they contain a great deal of nuance.  Can nationalism be just a simple love of one’s country, or does it always imply a level of prejudice? Can a state be truly multinational or must it contain dominant...

“Doctors are doing their very best, but they are not all-knowing and they certainly are only beginning to scratch the surface of mental health.” — Angela Tsounis What do you do when your family’s lives are turned upside down by a surprise medical diagnosis… and you can’t seem to find any real help? This episode of the Living Jewishly Podcasts is an episode of What’s in Your Toolbox?, a podcast abo...

“To me, addiction is a cancer. Because I don’t believe that cancer can be beaten. I don’t believe that addiction can be beaten. But it CAN be put into remission.” — Randy Eckler How do you solve a problem that you aren’t ready to admit exists? When it comes to alcohol and substance addiction, the problem of denial isn’t confined to the person suffering the addiction. Denial can affect their friend...

“There is such a kindness in this calendar. There is so much opportunity to truly heal, to truly shift how we relate to ourselves and our world.” — Ganga Devi As we enter the month of Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew calendar, we enter a time of freshness, new beginnings… and bold possibility. With Nisan comes springtime, with its beautiful themes of renewal and life. As we look forward with a...

“We are, in many ways, slaves to the grind — grind culture and being defined by our productivity.” — Bluth Is the idea of “freedom” clear-cut and universal? How closely do we examine the chains that bind us — and how can the Sedar help us to gain new perspective?  Slavery is not a grim chapter in our history that we can consider closed. It’s an ongoing problem that still occurs today, in many part...

“There are some things that are off-limits to a legitimate religion that is supposed to have divine authority to it.” — Rabbi Eugene Korn The atmosphere during Passover is usually a blend of fun and family, but the story narrated at the Seder table contains dark overtones, as the trials and tribulations of a group in exodus are prolonged and exacerbated by their powerful G-d.   Do these plagues an...

“I think I’d been meditating my whole life, without even realizing I was meditating.” — Diana Aziz You cannot outrun mental health issues, of course. But for many people, being in motion can help you stay centred — no matter the season. From exploring the slopes in Beaver Valley during the cold winter months to perfecting her stance while stand up paddleboarding during the summer, Diana Aziz, the...

“How do we integrate in the way that we are constantly living in relationship to these sweet, high moments that we have?” — Bluth How do we integrate the experiences of Purim into our every day? And what lessons can we learn from the month of Adar II? This year, we celebrate two months of Adar, the last month of the Hebrew calendar. It is a month of laughter and joyful chaos, one that holds the in...

“There is tremendous power in knowing your worth that no amount of cosmetics and no amount of beauty products and no amount of surgery can replace.” — Adrienne Gold We are constantly told, and tell each other, that true beauty lies within. Yet, there are inarguable advantages to possessing external beauty. We see this not only in our modern world, but in ancient texts such as the Megillat Esther,...

“‘The good guys and the bad guys’: it’s a day where there’s a lot of clarity and a lot of energy focused on that… We really are going to fight evil on this day and yet, at the same time, we’re undoing part of our rigid perspectives.” — Ami Silver During Purim, we’re encouraged to drink to the point of intoxication — in fact, up until we perhaps have trouble distinguishing between good and evil. Wh...

“As I get older, Esther, for me, continuously changes… In many ways, she is a fascinating example of making lemonades out of lemons, with a lot of different layers to that.” — Nechama Goldman Barash Purim may be a joyful time of feasting, imbibing, and gift-giving, but the history behind the holiday as told in the Book of Esther deserves closer examination. Known as the Festival of Lots, Purim com...

“The tool is power lifting… I can go to the gym and I can use anger, whatever anger I have, and take it out on the weight.” — Michael Bandler The “gains” that you can achieve in the gym go far beyond simply having bigger biceps or the ability to carry all of your groceries inside in just one trip. For many people, lifting weights is a powerful way to improve not only their physical strength, but a...

“What I ask myself and what I want to ask other people is: what do you need more time for?” —Ganga Devi Mishenichnas Adar marbim b'simcha! As Adar enters, we increase in joy. This episode of the Living Jewishly Podcasts is an instalment of Sacred Time, a podcast that explores the healing art of the Hebrew Calendar, and it celebrates the month of Adar… twice, in this case. Adar Aleph, the Jewi...

“There is tremendous power in knowing your worth that no amount of cosmetics and no amount of beauty products and no amount of surgery can replace.” — Adrienne Gold We are constantly told, and tell each other, that true beauty lies within. Yet, there are inarguable advantages to possessing external beauty. We see this not only in our modern world, but in ancient texts such as the Megillat Esther,...

“I’m not going to say that ‘greed is good.’ Greed can be made to DO good, but we’ve got to get the institutional designs right.” — Jason Kuznicki When people think of freedom, they usually associate it with the idea of being able to do whatever they want… as long as their actions don’t harm others. The political ideology of Libertarianism is particularly concerned with institutional restrictions o...

“It’s not about us giving each other support, it’s about knowing we have the support. It’s kind of like a river — I don’t need to pull the fish out of the river to know there’s fish in there.” — Rabbi Yossi Sapirman Introducing the newest member of the Living Jewishly family of podcasts! This episode of Living Jewishly is the inaugural instalment of What's in Your Tool Box?, a new monthly Liv...