This episode originally aired on 9/16/24 but is just as relevant today. Enjoy this replay as we get ready for Yom Kippur. -- Today, I am speaking with Yaffa Moskowitz, the Director of Education at ⁠Midreshet Rachel V’Chaya⁠, a seminary in Jerusalem.  Here’s a little more about Yaffa: She is a native member the Far Rockaway community and was active in that community and the Five Towns for many years. Yaffa, her husband Danny, and seven children made aliya in the summer of 2013 and now live in Mitzpe Yericho. Yaffa served as teacher and Director of Ateres Seminary for women on the Queens College Campus for 13 years and she was also involved in the Neshei Shor Yoshuv community where she gave chaburas for married women. I met Yaffa when I was a student exactly seven years ago at Midreshet Rachel and have continued to learn from her and with her since. She has such a wealth of knowledge and this conversation really turned into the perfect thing to listen to right in the middle of Elul preparing for the chagim. During this time at Midreshet Rachel, the students learn from the sefer, Tomer Devorah, which teaches us about Hashem’s 13 Attributes of Mercy. As we learn about Hashem and understand who He is more, so to speak, we learn how we can emulate Him more in our own lives, and we used that text as the jumping off point for our conversation.  As we spoke, we explored: -What a “sin” actually is in Judaism (it may not be what you think) and how we can always get back on track -How to separate ourselves from the sin and retain our confidence and closeness to G-d through the process -How we can get to the core of what emunah really is on the most basic level and use these foundational concepts to connect to Hashem more deeply -The restraint Hashem has with us every day and how we can apply that concept to our own lives and actions -How to work on letting go of control -Why we should speak to ourselves with more compassion from a Torah perspective -When fear is appropriate in Judaism and what kind of fear that actually is talking about -How we can continue to grow and elevate ourselves year after year …and SO MUCH MORE! To learn more about Midreshet Rachel V'Chaya, click ⁠here⁠.

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I'm Alex Segal and today, I'm speaking with Keshet Starr, CEO of Shalom Task Force. Keshet Starr, Esq. is an attorney, advocate, writer, and nonprofit leader dedicated to building safer, healthier Jewish communities. As CEO of Shalom Task Force—and previously CEO of the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot—Keshet has spent more than a decade addressing some of the Jewish community’s most complex and sensitive challenges, including domestic abuse and Jewish divorce denial. Known for bringing together legal expertise, communal understanding, and practical solutions, Keshet writes and speaks internationally about abuse, advocacy, Jewish law, and creating meaningful communal change.  In this interview, we're peeling back the curtain on Keshet's life both in and out of the office. In our conversation, we speak about:-How she was able to become a CEO at such a young age -How she dealt with imposter syndrome and making big decisions that didn’t always work out -Her opinion on whether social media campaigns are helping the agunot cause -What we can do at home to help the agunot cause, when it’s easy to feel so helpless -How she is redefining what motherhood looks like in her life -How she is redefining what parenthood can look like in the workplace -What a day in her life looks like -Some big decisions and shifts she made at home and with her husband to create a unique dynamic that works for everyone -Her top time management tips …and so much more! This episode is such a great one to kick off the month of Cheshvan with. The holidays are behind us and now, we have routine back. This conversation will help you make the most of it.

Today, I’m speaking with Relationship Expert, Chana Levitan.  Chana is an educator, speaker and marriage therapist with more than 30 years of experience. She has lectured extensively across the globe and has counseled thousands of men and women on dating and marriage. She is the best-selling author of the books That’s Why I Married Youand I Only Want to Get Married Once.  This episode is a long time coming. I met Chana 14 years ago when I went to learn at Neve Yerushalayim for the first time and like so many others, became glued to her advice on relationships and what creates a lasting marriage. I read her first book before meeting my husband and read her second book on marriage after. Now, she has a third book out called Are We There Yet? The Road Trip to a Great Marriagewhich takes her knowledge on couples and relationships to the next level.  In the book, she lets the reader in on the stories of 18 real-life couples. She details the challenges they had, misunderstandings and detours they went through and then how they got back to each other — strengthening their connections, communicating more effectively and building relationships that consistently grow deeper. She talks about her number one top tip for creating a strong, loving marriage and the advice you need on how to get there. It is a must-read and a good one to keep on the shelf to keep coming back to. In our conversation, we speak about: -Why she decided to write a second book on marriage -Why more than half of a couple’s issues are actually not resolvable and what to do about it -Her number one secret to creating a loving marriage that lasts -What healthy disagreement looks like in a relationship -What enduring love looks like …and so much more! To learn more from Chana and to get in touch, you can visit chanalevitan.com.

Today, I’m speaking with Hadassah Eventsur. Hadassah is an occupational therapist, educator, transformational coach, Mishpacha Magazine contributor, speaker, and the founder and CEO of MindfullyYou, an educational and support platform dedicated to helping neurodivergent individuals better understand their brains and build lives that work with—not against—them. In her program, she helps women who feel overwhelmed by daily chores and responsibilities, those who are struggling time management and organization and others who simply want more peace, structure and confidence in their daily lives. While she targets her work toward those who struggle with executive functioning skills, there are tips and strategies both in her course and in this episode that can help anyone. This episode is like a giant deep breath. It will remind you to actually examine what you can handle and dial it back vs getting caught up in the just one more thing mindset or the feeling of needing to try every new recipe or that fancy one that looks super impressive.  If you want to sign up for the Mindfully You program that is starting after Sukkos, (on Monday, October 5) you can register here. To reach out to Hadassah personally, you can email her at [email protected].

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal, and today, we are talking all about friendship. I’ve wanted to do a podcast on friendship for awhile now and this conversation was sooo cathartic and therapeutic. A lot of what we discussed are topics that I think are on a lot of our minds yet hard to speak about openly. Laura Marder was the perfect person to have this conversation with. She is a trained clinical social worker and the Director of the Circles Facilitators at CORE, an organization aimed at fostering meaningful relationships between Jewish women through authentic conversation and connection. As a note, reference Shasta Nelson’s Ted Talk on friendship, coined as "Frientimacy," in the episode, so if you’re looking to watch that entire video, you can click on the link in the show notes. Whether you’re trying to make new friends, working to nurture or deepen existing friendships, wanting more time for friendship in your life, or anything else in that realm, this episode is for you and I am so excited for you to hear it. If you want to get in touch with Laura, you can email her at [email protected].

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, I have Elisheva Liss, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist on the show.  Elisheva works with individuals and couples to help improve their quality of life and relationships — most commonly treating depression, anxiety, relationship problems and anything dealing with intimacy. She has a collaborative approach, which means she looks at her work as a partnership with each client. In this episode, we basically have a mini (or honestly, extended) therapy session about a lot of common issues women may be dealing with in the religious community, outside of it and in the unique time we’re living in. As frum Jewish women, we live a beautiful life with holy values. We plan and often host Shabbat meals every week, opening our homes to those who need it. We bake challah, daven, say Tehillim, try to do chesed when we can, often work outside of the home, raise children, try to be a giving and loving wife, find time to learn and grow as people, find time for our own wellbeing and self-care with exercise, preparing healthy meals, maybe even our own therapy, we prepare simchas for our families, make time for friends to nourish ourselves and focus on what’s going on in their lives, and so much more — the list goes on. Even just crafting this list — which I’m sure is still missing a lot — shows me just how much we may have on our plates at any given time. So especially when you lean more to the overachieving, perfectionist side of the mental health spectrum, it can often feel like you’re not measuring up. We are taught that Hashem gives us time to partner with Hashem in this world, and the worst feeling is to feel like we’re not utilizing that potential. How do we know when it’s enough? How do we feel okay with just not being able to do it all? So I brought on Elisheva Liss to help me work through this concept. She is a beautiful, well-spoken therapist who actually has her own book called “Find Your Horizon of Healthy Thinking: Hack Your Thoughts and Improve Your Mood” which really was a perfect match for this topic. In our conversation, we speak about the pressures frum women face today, how to feel more comfortable with where we’re at in this exact moment and how to use our brains to develop a healthier way of thinking and honestly, enjoy the lives that we’re leading. Here, the books she shares in the episode: 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam The Rhythm of Life: Living Every Day with Passion and Purpose by Matthew Kelly Slowing Down to the Speed of Life — by Richard Carlson and Joseph Bailey Bittersweet by Susan Cain Follow Elisheva on Instagram here. Join her weekly newsletter here.

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today I have Gila Levitt on the show.  Gila is aTorah Marriage and Intimacy Specialist with over 20 years of experience empowering Jewish women to create emotionally connected, deeply fulfilling marriages. As the creator of Heart of Marriage: Soul Satisfying Oneness, she blends timeless Torah values with the latest research in emotional intelligence, brain science, and relational well-being. Gila’s work is grounded, warm, and deeply respectful on each woman’s inner world. She offers not just guidance—but clarity, chizuk, and a path forward for the woman who wants to become her best, most authentic self in her marriage. Through mindset shifts, emotional insight, and practical tools, she helps women align with who they truly want to be—in marriage and in life.   This episode was one I wasn’t sure I wanted to do to be totally honest. It covers a really vulnerable topic and one that isn’t often spoken about publicly. That being said, it’s an important one, one that affects every marriage and every woman in some way so when Gila reached out, I really thought it through and it felt like a good opportunity to delve into things a little more. Because intimacy is such a private thing, it can be one women don’t really feel comfortable getting help on or seeking support if they need it and I’m hoping this episode will help break a little bit of that stigma. In the episode we cover a lot — from what intimacy actually looks like in a Torah marriage — the mindset around it and the body-soul relationship to practical ways to achieve more connection to it if it’s something that’s hard for you. We speak about the differences between men and women in general and in this space that could be coming up and realistic expectations to have around its impact on your marriage. For more from Gila, visit heartofmarriage.org or reach out to Gila at [email protected]. For more classes from Gila on Kol Halashon, click here. -- If there is someone you want to see on The Chai on Life Podcast, email me at [email protected] or send me a DM @chaionlifemag.

Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today I am so excited to have Rebbetzin, Author and Speaker, Sara Yoheved Rigler, on the podcast. In this episode, we are talking all about her incredible book, Holy Woman, the woman who inspired it — Rebbetzin Chaya Sara Kramer, and some Shavuot lessons we can all take to enter the holiday in the best mindset we can. Rebbetzin Rigler has become someone I’ve really learned a lot from in my own Jewish journey. I am a member of her weekly marriage webinar run through Jewish Workshops, where she helps women around the world work on themselves and improve their marriages; and I’m also someone who has really benefitted from her books. Even though Holy Woman is technically a biography, it reads like a novel and you become riveted from early on. Plus, Rebbetzin Rigler writes it with takeaways along the way so you can think about your own struggles and choices in life and become more prepared to tackle them. In the episode, we speak about: -Chaya Sara Kramer’s life — the prophetic nature she was born with and how she nurtured that  -The immense challenges she encountered along the way -How Rebbetzin Rigler met Rebbetzin Kramer and the relationship they developed following -What defines being in a good place versus a bad place in life — this was really life-changing -What we can learn from Rebbetzin Kramer about passing our own tests in life -How Rebbetzin Kramer lived every day with true simcha and what we can all learn from that -Creating more of a Oneness between us and Hashem -What it’s like to live with bitachon versus just living with emunah -What Judaism really says about guilt -The main lesson Rebbetzin Rigler applies to her life daily that she learned from Rebbetzin Kramer …and SO MUCH MORE. The reason we are doing this episode now is because it is the 20th yahtzeit of Rebbetzin Kramer and because she didn’t have any biological children — something you’ll learn more about — she was always concerned no one would light a candle for her.  So the goal with this is that all those listening will learn more about her and light a candle for her on her upcoming yahrzeit — gimmel Sivan, which starts on the night of 29th of May and goes into the following day, May 30. The full name for prayer is Chaya Sara bas Mendel Yosef. More about Sara Yoheved Rigler: Sara Yoheved Rigler is the author of seven books on Jewish spirituality: Holy Woman; Lights from Jerusalem; Battle Plans: How to Fight the Yetzer Hara (with Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller); G-d Winked: Tales and Lessons from My Spiritual Adventures; Heavenprints; and Emunah with Love and Chicken Soup: The Story of Rebbetzin Henny Machlis, the Brooklyn-born Girl who became a Jerusalem Legend. Her newest book, I’ve Been Here Before: When Souls of the Holocaust Return, is the product of 8 years of research into reincarnated souls from the Holocaust. She gives a weekly Marriage Webinar for Jewish women on a spiritual approach to marriage, with hundreds of members throughout the world. She lives in Jerusalem. Her website is: sararigler.com. Her YouTube channel is "From Within the Walls of Jerusalem", where she relates stories, presents gems of Jewish wisdom, and teaches practical life tools.

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, we have the amazing Rachel Rosenberg on the podcast.  Rachel is a certified mindset, health, and behavior change coach who helps women break free from emotional eating, binge cycles, and the exhausting all-or-nothing mindset. Blending neuroscience, CBT tools, and over 12 years of experience, she guides her clients to build a healthy relationship with food — and with themselves. Her work isn’t about more control. It’s about freedom. It’s about peace. It’s about learning to trust your body again. This was a topic I was excited to explore more deeply — while it’s focused on creating a healthy lifestyle, there is so much more around that that we delve into when it comes to building the life you want to be living and the habits that support it. We speak about letting go of perfectionism on that journey, how to navigate what a healthy lifestyle actually looks like for you and then the emotions that may come up along the way when getting there. As women, our relationship with food can be layered and it’s one that comes up multiple times a day. Rachel works with women to get to a much freer place when it comes to choosing what to eat every day and just how to approach this aspect of our lives with a lot more calm. These days, weight loss drugs are a hot topic as well and it feels that conversations around weight loss really run the gamut — first, we’re focusing more on body acceptance and not wanting to change to focusing on everyone doing weight loss drugs and how we feel about that to maybe feeling shame about wanting to lose weight and speaking openly about that to also wanting to love ourselves the way we are! — there can be feelings across the whole spectrum at different times in our lives and sometimes all at the same time. In this conversation, we speak about a lot of that. How you can feel confident and okay with wanting to lose weight if that’s your goal AND also work on loving yourself as you are. Rachel has a new group opening up in July so reach out now! You can follow her on Instagram at @coach rachel rosenberg or connect via email at [email protected].

Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today we have Rebbetzin Ruthi Lynn on the show.  Ruthi is a Marriage and Family therapist. For more than 15 years, she has conducted seminars, lectures and online classes for parents. As a therapist, Ruthi specializes in parenting, teens and relational issues within the family. Her ultimate goal is to help parents have amazing relationships with their kids, to see themselves as leaders to their children and to build the next generation strong, moral and passionate. She is also the mother of 8 kids bli ayin hara so she has a little experience herself in the thick of it. Ruthi has worked closely with Rebbetzin Sima Spetner, the renowned chinuch expert from Eretz Yisrael, and has become a teacher of her work. She was basically like an apprentice and went around Israel with her for years, eventually even taking over some of her classes. Now, she’s continuing to bring that wisdom to others. She is running a 10-week seminar based on Rebbetzin Spetner’s teachings this summer and it starts tonight, Monday June 16, via Zoom to anyone around the world. To sign up, contact Rivky Weiss at 216-965-4107. If you happen to be listening to this once the class is started, you can still reach out and catch up on the recordings that you missed. In our conversation, Ruthi and I speak about  -how she became so connected with Rebbetzin Spetner and what that relationship looked like at that time -How to get back in touch with your intuition when it comes to parenting and why it gets lost for so many of us -How to know when a kid’s behavior is important to respond to or you can let go a little bit more -How we can bring Hashem consistently back into our parenting -How Ruthi achieved such a beautiful relationship with her own kids with one of the main things she credits that to -How to get through hectic and changing summer schedules and any upcoming travel you may be taking -What a realistic life looks like when you have multiple children of various ages and genders under one roof …and so much more! This episode is informative, relatable and just so necessary when it comes to all we’re dealing with consistently as parents. I hope that Ruthi will help you take some of the pressure off and really allow you to have fun and enjoy the summer with your family. Enjoy!