A conversation with Chanie Krasnianski, a seasoned educator and shlucha on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, NY, about the beauty of the Jewish perspective on sexuality, mikvah, and marriage. Explore the spiritual depth of physical attraction, the beauty and struggles that can arise with the laws of family purity, how to navigate religious differences in a relationship, and the deep potential for holiness and profound connection within our most intimate spaces. To inquire about sponsorship & advertising opportunities, please email us at [email protected] To support our work, visit humanandholy.com/sponsor.Find us on Instagram @humanandholy & subscribe to our channel to stay up to date on all our upcoming conversations ✨ Human & Holy podcast is available on all podcast streaming platforms. New episodes every Sunday on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00:00 - The Bedroom is the Holy of Holies 0:00:41 - Partner With Human & Holy 0:01:57 - Guest Introduction: Chanie Krasnjanski 0:03:01 - Welcome Chanie 0:03:27 - Topic: Holy Intimacy 0:03:33 - Chanie’s Background 0:05:53 - Bringing Holiness to Marriage 0:07:07 - You Want to Fix the World, Fix Your World 0:08:05 - In Times of Crisis, Strengthen the Home 0:09:11 - The Art of Holy Intimacy: Connection 0:09:42 - How Do You Begin This Conversation? 0:10:27 - Reclaiming Your Sexuality 0:12:48 - Boundaries as Protection, Not Restriction 0:14:08 - What is the Jewish Perspective on Sexuality? 0:14:28 - The Physical Reality Mirrors the Spiritual Reality 0:15:11 - The Kabbalistic Understanding of Male & Female Attraction 0:18:22 - Attraction Outside of Marriage 0:19:05 - The Torah's Perspective Keeps You Honest 0:20:27 - You Choose How to Satisfy Your Hunger 0:22:13 - Halacha Is Not a Checklist 0:26:39 - Accepting the Imperfections in Our Relationship with G-d 0:27:48 - Judaism is Not a Religion 0:28:17 - A Child Learns Faith In Infancy 0:30:36 - Reframing Your Understanding of the Mikvah 0:31:10 - The Spiritual Significance of Mikvah Immersion 0:33:01 - Femininity is a Divine Vessel 0:34:42 - You Can't Override the Spiritual Level of Your Spouse 0:35:59 - Building a Relationship with G-d 0:38:26 - Overcoming Personal Discomfort with Mikvah Ladies 0:41:42 - Your Triggers are Signals 0:43:41 - When Your Spouse Wants Something But It Isn't the Highest Halachic Standard 0:46:07 - When You Feel Uncomfortable Speaking to a Mentor About Intimate Topics 0:52:02 - Religious Guilt Around Sexuality 0:55:11 - G-d as a Loving Father 0:56:40 - You Are Not Your Spouse’s Rabbi 0:57:10 - When a Spouse Is Resistant to the Other's Spiritual Growth 01:02:58 - Your Spouse is a Mirror 01:04:09 - When Niddah Draws You Apart 01:08:21 - The Seasons of Marriage 01:10:49 - There’s Usually a Deeper Reason 01:12:30 - Differentiating Between Law & Custom (Halacha & Chumra) 01:15:13 - Strengthening the Mitzvah of Family Purity 01:19:13 - The Jewish Ideals of Sexual Intimacy Are Designed to Encourage Connection 01:23:24 - Seeking Out the Right Rabbi or Mentor 01:25:24 - Inviting G-d into Our Bedrooms 1:27:31 - Through Intimacy, We Become G-dlike 1:28:02 Host's Outro

Get a free download of Human & Holy's conversation cards for your Sukkah by becoming a monthly supporter of Human & Holy at humanandholy.com ❤️ * * * * * * * The sukkah is called the "shade of faith," but what happens when we sit inside it and feel nothing? What if we are entering Sukkos feeling more tapped into the uncertainty of life's winds, than the certainty of G-d's hug? Today, we explore Sukkos as a full-body experience of faith, absorbed simply by showing up to be there. Shoshana shares how she envisioned herself in the Sukkah's embrace when she was curled up inside the radiation machine for cancer treatment, and teaches the deeper Torah behind how we can carry the Sukkah's lingering touch through the inevitable joy, uncertainty, illness and hiddenness that we experience in daily life. * * * * * * * Shoshana Judelman is passionate about learning and growing through Chassidus. She is the founder of Nekaveh Lecha women’s seminary. She gives shiurim in Chassidus for women across Israel and in Midreshet Rachel V’Chaya in Jerusalem. Her shiurim can be found on Spotify and SoundCloud (Shiurim with Shoshana Judelman). Shoshana is also a guide at Yad Vashem and leads journeys to Poland and other countries for JRoots. She can be contacted at [email protected] To inquire about sponsorship & advertising opportunities, please email us at [email protected] To support our work, visit humanandholy.com/sponsor. Find us on Instagram @humanandholy & subscribe to our channel to stay up to date on all our upcoming conversations ✨ Human & Holy podcast is available on all podcast streaming platforms. New episodes every Sunday & Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. * * * * * * * TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 — Introduction 01:48 — Welcome to Human & Holy 02:24 — Why Sukkos is Shoshana’s favorite holiday 03:25 — Entering the sukkah and reenacting the Clouds of Glory 05:17 — How lockdown changed the way Shoshana’s family celebrates Sukkos 06:19 — Intellectual versus embodied knowing 08:27 — Why do we celebrate Sukkos after Yom Kippur? 09:09 — The Golden Calf and the departure of the Clouds of Glory 10:21 — Yom Kippur, forgiveness and returning to relationship with Hashem 11:39 — The deeper embrace that follows rupture and repair 13:09 — Sukkos as a bridge between Yom Kippur and ordinary life 15:50 — A mitzvah rooted in presence rather than constant action 16:36 — Learning to see life through the lens of Hashem’s reality 18:00 — Building a reservoir of emunah for a random Tuesday in February 20:11 — The storm that destroyed Shoshana’s sukkah 22:42 — How the community rebuilt the sukkah within hours 24:00 — What a temporary structure teaches us about uncertainty 25:22 — The sukkah as the shelter of trust and haven of faith 27:33 — When it feels as though the Clouds of Glory have holes 28:02 — Life as a spiritual training ground 30:25 — Can painful experiences really be understood as expressions of love? 31:31 — Turning the sukkah into an “emunah gas station” 33:19 — Receiving a breast cancer diagnosis shortly before Sukkos 35:53 — Carrying the sukkah’s embrace into treatment 37:11 — Did Shoshana feel Hashem’s presence during radiation? 38:31 — The different “flavors” of Hashem in celebration and hiddenness 39:30 — “I don’t like it, but I know that this is also You” 40:55 — Practical ways to experience the sukkah more deeply 41:25 — The spiritual meaning of the arba minim 43:34 — Drawing embodied knowledge into the heart 44:28 — Bringing Divine love into our eyes, speech, posture and emotions 47:11 — How deeper Torah transforms our experience of a mitzvah 48:54 — Slowing down and using imagination while shaking the lulav 50:04 — Spending more time in the sukkah without pressuring ourselves to feel 52:11 — Shoshana’s message: believe that you can grow and change 53:05 — Growth is happening even when we cannot see it 54:02 — Carrying hope into the new year 55:00 — Closing and ways to support Human & Holy

So...how are we doing? We're ringing in the new Jewish year with a Jewish State of the Union: where have we been this last year and where are we headed? Today, I sit down with four people who each have a finger on a different pulse of Jewish life. ChayaLeah Sufrin, executive director of Beach Hillel and host of the Ask a Jew podcast, walks through the year's defining global stories, reflects on what this moment is asking of the Jewish people and gives us some predictions for the year ahead. Comedian Chani Lisbon joins for a lighter, faster cultural check-in: why comedians are having a moment, what the whole Jewish world got obsessed with this year, and a rapid-fire round of "in or out" on everything from Pesach programs to WhatsApp statuses. Rivki Rabinowitz, a beauty influencer and interior designer whose work has been featured in Architectural Digest, The Wall Street Journal and more, gives modest fashion the real trend report it deserves: what's replacing slip skirts, her one unforgivable fashion sin, and how she holds beauty and depth as the same thing, not opposites. Closing with a brilliant bang is writer and culture shaper Mimi Hecht's reflections on language: why the term "Hashem" is having a comeback, why words like "healing" and "capacity" have worn thin, the return of words like service and collective, and why specificity is rising in our culture's choice of words. Underneath every conversation, one thread kept showing up: this is the year where every Jew just wants to feel like a Yid. * * * * * * * To inquire about sponsorship & advertising opportunities, please email us at [email protected] To support our work, visit humanandholy.com/sponsor. Find us on Instagram @humanandholy & subscribe to our channel to stay up to date on all our upcoming conversations ✨ Human & Holy podcast is available on all podcast streaming platforms. New episodes every Sunday & Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. * * * * * * * TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Segment 1— ChayaLeah Sufrin: The Jewish Year in Review 00:03:31 The five biggest Jewish stories of the year 00:07:35 How to stay informed without living in fear 00:12:54 What is this moment asking of the Jewish people? 00:13:36 A worry people should let go of 00:16:16 What Israel needs from Diaspora Jews right now and vice versa 00:21:18 ChayaLeah's predictions for the new year 00:24:44 Young Jews seeking authentic, substantial Judaism 00:27:00 Segment 2 — Chani Lisbon: A Cultural State of the Union 00:27:59 Why comedians are having a cultural moment right now 00:29:16 Top cultural moment of the year 00:30:06 What everyone got obsessed with this year 00:32:43 Hot take: Why Chani doesn't want a "trendy" rabbi 00:36:15 Rapid-fire "In or Out": pickleball, WhatsApp status, and group tours to Kazakhstan 00:43:11 What people are actually craving 00:45:00 Segment 3 — Rivki Rabinowitz: The Modest Fashion Report 00:46:43 How social media made modest fashion mainstream and immediate 00:52:27 The current "modest girl uniform" 00:52:46 Fashion predictions for the year ahead 00:55:46 Modest makeovers by profile 00:57:01 Rapid-fire 01:00:12 Can aesthetics and depth coexist? 01:04:58 What modesty invites her into creatively 01:09:01 Segment 4: Mimi Hecht on the State of words 01:09:10 Returning to the word "Hashem" 01:15:02 Why we reached for substitute language in the first place 01:18:18 Choosing specific Jewish language as an act of confidence 01:19:34 Why is our culture tired of the word "healing"? 01:26:04 A generational shift in language from self-focus back toward giving 01:32:11 Rapid-fire "Replace the Word" 01:36:29 Defining Chassidic terms in plain language: neshama, mitzvah, and kelipah 01:45:02 Why the term Avodas Hashem makes Mimi emotional 01:46:55 Using words honestly 01:48:43 Host's Outro

A conversation with Chana Kalmenson: shlucha of Chabad of Belgravia in London, poet, and teacher of Jewish mysticism, on the Sefirot of the Omer. Chana walks through each of the seven emotional Sefirot: Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut. What each one is, how they relate to each other, and how they show up in everyday emotional life. The episode also covers how the months of Nissan, Iyar, and Sivan mirror human development from childhood to maturity, why the inner work of the Omer is what prepares us to receive the Torah at Sinai, and how to approach the counting without falling into perfectionism. The conversation goes especially deep on three Sefirot: Hod (humility, gratitude, surrender), Tiferet (compassion, holding paradox, the antidote to shame), and Malchut (dignity, agency, authentic expression). Chana shares what she learned about humility from her father-in-law, the Chassidic teaching on the soul's forgetting at birth, and how to step out of comparison with others. A grounded, accessible introduction to the Sefirot for anyone counting the Omer or wanting to understand the Kabbalistic map of the inner life. * * * * * * * To inquire about sponsorship & advertising opportunities, please email us at [email protected] To support our work, visit humanandholy.com/sponsor. Find us on Instagram @humanandholy & subscribe to our channel to stay up to date on all our upcoming conversations ✨ Human & Holy podcast is available on all podcast streaming platforms. New episodes every Sunday & Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. * * * * * * * TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Opening reflection: loved into existence, loving me as me 00:31 Tonia's Intro 01:58 Welcome, and Chana on women's circles 05:25 What is Sefirat HaOmer, really? Pesach as emergence, Sinai as the destination 11:38 Nissan, Iyar, Sivan — the child, the teenager, the partner 17:45 Walking through each Sefirah: Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malchut 22:10 Why we use consciousness to look at the inner emotional life 29:17 When perfectionism hijacks the practice (and what to do instead) 33:03 On Hod: humility, gratitude, the quiet power of the left leg 40:33 What Chana learned from her father-in-law about humility 46:10 The trauma of forgetting at birth, and the long work of remembering 50:37 On Tiferet: holding paradox, growing up, why compassion is truth 56:09 Self-compassion as the antidote to shame 1:00:14 On Malchut: dignity, agency, and what emerges when everything inside has a voice 1:09:33 Soul to soul

Human & Holy is on a season break for the rest of the summer! During this time, we're airing your favorite moments from the past few seasons. Watch the original episode in full here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3u2c4ErF-4 In this excerpt, we discuss why being "chosen" isn't a status, but a responsibility to model moral clarity for a world that's lost it. Why the Lubavitcher Rebbe called Shabbos candles a campaign, a mitzvah, an army, and why that language matters more after October 7th than it ever has before. Why the Haggadah spends almost no time on our slavery and nearly all of it on our freedom, and what that says about the story we choose to live inside of right now. This is an episode about the difference between reporting on darkness and building light, and why Inbal chooses the second one, every single day. Inbal Levin is a writer, former fashion model, and social media director for Chabad on Campus. You can connect with her via instagram @itsinbal. * * * * * * * To inquire about sponsorship & advertising opportunities, please email us at [email protected] To support our work, visit humanandholy.com/sponsor. Find us on Instagram @humanandholy & subscribe to our channel to stay up to date on all our upcoming conversations ✨ Human & Holy podcast is available on all podcast streaming platforms. New episodes every Sunday & Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. * * * * * * * TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 — Being chosen means holding up a mirror 07:21 — The Seven Noahide Laws and moral clarity for everyone 09:02 — The Baal Shem Tov's answer to "Moshiach, when are you coming?" 11:24 — Trusting Hashem in the long security line and the delayed flight 14:15 — How every Jewish girl, age three and up, started lighting Shabbos candles 18:03 — The menorah they wouldn't let into Auschwitz 20:14 — Why the Rebbe used military language for mitzvahs 23:25 — Choosing to build light instead of reporting on darkness 26:15 — What Dara Horn's People Love Dead Jews gets right 26:56 — The Rebbe never said the word "antisemitism": what the Haggadah teaches about what you choose to emphasize 30:53 — Closing thought: you're not just living a story, you're choosing which one it is

A short excerpt from this week's Human & Holy pre-Yom Kippur morning in New Haven, CT. A poem, a conversation with Sara Rosenstein about returning to Hashem after years of disconnection, original music by Rivka Fenton about finding safety in leaning into God, and personal notes on being carried by God by our host, Rosie Gurevitch. * * * * * * * To inquire about sponsorship & advertising opportunities, please email us at [email protected] To support our work, visit humanandholy.com/sponsor. Find us on Instagram @humanandholy & subscribe to our channel to stay up to date on all our upcoming conversations ✨ Human & Holy podcast is available on all podcast streaming platforms. New episodes every Sunday & Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts.

A conversation with a practicing marriage and family therapist about the limits of therapeutic language. Fraida establishes the enormous gifts of therapy in giving people the ability to come face to face with their humanity and inner healing, and suggests that as Jews, we don't have to stop there. We can weave the reality of our divine souls and infinite potential into the story of our vulnerability and humanity. The women's siddur is back in stock and available for purchase on humanandholy.com/shop. We love hearing your feedback! Email us at [email protected] sponsor an episode, reach out to us via email or visit ⁠humanandholy.com/sponsor⁠.Become a monthly supporter of the podcast on ⁠patreon.com/humanandholy⁠.

When nothing is large enough to hold the enormity of your emotions, where do you go? This episode is Chani's story of finding solace in the weekly Parsha, how the emotional wisdom of the Torah became her mirror and comfort as she grieved the loss of her older sister, Raizel. A moving reflection on what it means to bring the full emotional range of our inner experiences to our study of the Torah. The women's siddur is back in stock and available for purchase on humanandholy.com/shop. We love hearing your feedback! Email us at [email protected] to get in touch. To sponsor an episode, reach out to us via email or visit ⁠⁠humanandholy.com/sponsor⁠⁠. Become a monthly supporter of the podcast on ⁠⁠patreon.com/humanandholy⁠⁠. You can find us on instagram @humanandholy.

Adelle's personal journey through infertility over the last eight years, the impact it has had on her relationship with Hashem, and how she has turned the pain of her experience into something that supports others on a similar journey. You can get in touch with Adelle via her website, oneworldawareness.org and her instagram account @oneworld.awareness. The women's siddur is back in stock and available for purchase on humanandholy.com/shop.We love hearing your feedback! Email us at [email protected] to get in touch.To sponsor an episode, reach out to us via email or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠humanandholy.com/sponsor⁠⁠⁠⁠.Become a monthly supporter of the podcast on ⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/humanandholy⁠⁠⁠⁠.You can find us on instagram @humanandholy.