Soulful Jewish Living: Mindful Practices For Every Day

This Sukkot, Rabbi Josh Feigelson revisits an episode about mindful presence and self-discovery through the lens of “hineni,” a concept that encapsulates being fully present and attuned to the here and now. 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. -----------...

On Yom Kippur, we’re invited to slow down, turn inward, and open our hearts. Rabbi Josh Feigelson explores an ancient teaching about directing our hearts toward the Holy of Holies and offers a simple mindfulness practice called The Gentle Knock, a way to pause, reconnect, and come home to ourselves with compassion rather than judgment. Be in touch at josh@unpacked.media. This episode is sponsored...

In the final episode of Soulful Jewish Living's ten-part series on feeling at home, Rabbi Josh Feigelson turns to an end of summer teacher: baseball. Using Kirby Puckett's famous walk-off home run and the mishnaic teaching on Sukkot, Josh explores why "home" is less a place than a state of mind, and closes the series with a guided meditation on teshuva as the practice of always finding our way bac...

Home isn't a place with walls, it's the whole earth, and teshuva means returning to that sense of belonging. In the latest episode of his series on home, Rabbi Josh Feigelson opens with Project Hail Mary's longing for home, then draws on Thich Nhat Hanh and Rabbi Alan Lew to reframe Rosh Hashanah, creation's birthday, as an invitation to feel at home in the world itself. Josh also includes a short...

When the bottom falls out, a diagnosis, a loss, the end of a relationship, the home we counted on can crumble. Rabbi Josh Feigelson turns to the Jewish experience of galut, exile, and asks how our ancestors survived displacement and still felt spiritually at home. Drawing on Heschel's image of Shabbat as a sanctuary in time, he offers a gentle breathing practice you can carry anywhere. Be in touch...

What does it mean to feel at home when you’re far from home? Rabbi Josh Feigelson reflects on his childhood motorhome and the idea of a portable home. Drawing on Jewish teachings about the Mishkan and Divine Presence, he explores how we can carry a sense of home with us wherever we go, followed by a mindfulness practice for finding at-homeness in the present moment. Be in touch at josh@unpacked.me...

Can feeling like a stranger actually help you find home? Rabbi Josh Feigelson reflects on the aftermath of 9/11, biblical journeys, and Jewish wisdom to explore how unfamiliar experiences can deepen our sense of belonging. This guided meditation invites you to embrace vulnerability, welcome others, and discover home in unexpected places. Be in touch at josh@unpacked.media. This episode is sponsore...

What makes us feel at home, even when we're far away? Rabbi Josh Feigelson shares the story of saying Kaddish in a small synagogue in Croatia and explores how language can become a spiritual refuge. Drawing on Jewish wisdom and mindfulness, he offers a guided meditation to help you find a word or phrase that grounds you, calms your mind, and brings you home. Be in touch at josh@unpacked.media. Thi...

Please fill out this short survey. Go to: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠unpacked.bio/podsurvey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We want to hear from you! What does it mean to feel home with our families? Rabbi Josh Feigelson explores this question through the story of Jacob, a man whose home life was about as messed up as it gets. Sibling rivalry, deceit, and a nighttime wrestling match with an angel all led Jacob to a surprising blueprint for bu...

Please fill out this short survey. Go to: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠unpacked.bio/podsurvey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We want to hear from you! How many times a day do you check your phone? For the average American, it's about 200. In the third episode of our miniseries on home, Rabbi Josh Feigelson draws on Maya Angelou and the Ba'al Shem Tov to explore what it means to be at home in your mind. Plus a simple Jewish mindfulness practice f...

Please fill out this short survey. Go to: ⁠⁠⁠⁠unpacked.bio/podsurvey⁠⁠⁠⁠. We want to hear from you! What does it mean to be at home in your own body? Rabbi Josh Feigelson draws on Hillel the Elder and the Baal Shem Tov to show why spiritual life starts with syncing our minds and bodies, and guides a body scan meditation you can return to anytime you feel disconnected. Here is a link to Kathleen Ho...

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...