Homesick for Lubavitch

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Ep. 30 // "My Struggle With Chitas" w/ Fitz Rabin

May 19, 2024

2:35:46

Before becoming a full time life coach, Fitz Rabin was a master sofer for over a decade. Over the years, Fitz struggled to identify with some of the practices seen as basic to being a Lubavitcher, namely the study of Chitas. Today, he celebrates 1000 days of learning chitas before shkiya. We discuss the feelings of alienation from mass practice, the search for individual connection and the general tension between being true to yourself within a broader community.

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Ep. 29 // “On Lubavitch Community” w/ Mrs. Vivi Deren

May 12, 2024

2:40:47

Mrs. Vivi Deren grew up in Nashville, Tenessee as one of the first children of shluchim in the Unites States. Today she lives in Connecticut where she has been on shlichus with her husband for nearly fifty years. In this episode, she speaks about her parents growing up as chassidim in the United States of the 1920s and 1930s, and about her grandparents who raised them. We speak about how the community of Lubavitch in the United States has changed since, and how the Lubavitch ethic of individualism fits with the growth of community.

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Ep. 28 // "The Price We Pay For Shlichus" w/ Rabbi Yossi Morozov

May 5, 2024

1:15:02

Rabbi Yossi Morozov grew up in Brooklyn and was on shlichus with his family for twelve years in Ulyanovsk, a city one thousand kilometers east of Moscow. After being forced to leave Russia, Yossi moved with his family to the Pomona area in New York and became a life insurance agent. In this conversation we discuss his choices to go on shlichus and then into business and the challenges these choices posed to his own Lubavitch identity.

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Ep. 27 // "The Paradox of Empowerment" w/ Rabbi Simon Jacobson

Apr 14, 2024

1:53:40

Rabbi Simon Jacobson is known today as a bestselling author and founder of the Meaningful Life Center. But for many years he was one of the transcribers and editors of the Rebbe’s Farbrengen. In this conversation we discuss some of the paradoxes he observed over the years, both regarding the Rebbe’s use of technology in sharing the Farbrengen around the world but also in how the Rebbe empowered his chassidim to think for themselves.

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Ep. 26 // "The Lack of Atmosphere" w/ Rabbi Ruvi New

Apr 7, 2024

1:15:41

Rabbi Ruvi New grew up in Melbourne, Australia and is a shliach today in Boca Raton, Florida. In this conversation, we discuss the changing dynamics of Lubavitch identity in the decade between his and his oldest's brother, Moshe New, cross Pacific journeys to 770. We also discuss how over those years there seemed to be a tipping point of an "arum," or atmosphere, that brought more and more of Lubavitch into a powerful core, and where that leaves us today. Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/bentziavtzon

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Ep. 25 // "The Line Between Good and Bad" w/ Eli Nash

Mar 31, 2024

1:24:24

Eli Nash is a businessman and philanthropist who grew up in Crown Heights and lives today in South Florida. Starting with his efforts to raise awareness about sexual abuse and then porn addiction, Eli has become very active in different causes surrounding mental health in the community. In this episode, we discuss his own journey away from (and back to?) Lubavitch, the individuals who pointed him back to his roots, and the challenging work of finding the good from the bad.

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Ep. 24 // "Lubavitch Sense of Worthiness" w/ R' Chaim Itche Drizin

Mar 25, 2024

1:37:34

R' Chaim Itche Drizin was one of the first shluchim to set out in the late 60s, directing Chabad of Northern California from his Chabad House in Berkeley. Today he works as a therapist who in the course of his work speaks with many young men and women in the Lubavitch community. In our conversation, we speak about his growing up as the youngest son of the famed chossid, R' Avrohom Maayor, the gap between him and his father's generation, a how this "gap of translation" persists to this very day.

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Ep. 23 // "Should We Still Be Yearning?" w/ Rabbi Moshe Gourarie

Mar 17, 2024

1:57:02

Rabbi Moshe Gourarie grew up in Detroit and is shlichus today in Toms River, New Jersey. He is also the co-founder of Project Likkutei Sichos. Growing up, his plan was always to complete mesivta in Detroit and then "get to Heaven" in Crown Heights next to the Rebbe. These plans came to an abrupt halt at one evening in mesivta where the boys were told that the "Rebbe had fallen." In this conversation, we discuss how a teenage Bochur processed the "rug being pulled from beneath him" and how his feelings about holding on to the past and moving into the present have evolved since.

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Ep. 22 // "How Far Can Video Take Us?" w/ Rabbi Elkanah Shmotkin

Mar 10, 2024

1:57:56

FOR TECHNICAL REASONS, AUDIO FOR LAST TWENTY MINUTES IS LESS THAN OPTIMAL. APOLOGIES - B Rabbi Elkanah Shmotkin is the executive director of JEM, which is responsible for creating tens of thousands of hours of video content of and about the Rebbe. All Lubavitchers have watched something made by JEM, and in many ways the "Rebbe video" has become a staple of the Lubavitch way of life. In this episode, we discuss how the idea originated, the limitations and possibilities in video, and where exactly the videos take us.

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Ep. 21 // "Moving Beyond Process" w/ Rabbi Dovber Pinson

Mar 3, 2024

1:29:38

Rabbi Dovber Pinson is a shliach, scholar and prolific author. Spinning off from a previous off-the-podcast conversation, Rabbi Pinson presented a hypothesis about the unique similarities between the Rebbe and the Baal Shem Tov, and what it might mean to us. This led to an eye-opening conversation about the radical turn of Dor Hashvii in Lubavitch thought and some of its far reaching implications.

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Ep. 20 // "But I Want A Smile" w/ Mrs. Sandy Weinbaum

Jan 28, 2024

1:55:15

Mrs. Sandy Weinbaum lives in London, England where she, together with her husband, Dr. Bunim, directs the London Jewish Family Center. Mrs. Weinbaum's story begins sixty years ago with a shliach knocking on the door of her father's office and comes full circle today with her having raised fourteen children, many of whom are themselves shluchim. Over the years, the Weinbaums have been involved in many of Lubavitch's initiatives in London, even if they never assumed official titles or positions. In this episode, we discuss her journey from traditional London family to becoming a Lubavitch matriarch, how she managed to raise a large family and be involved in her many activities, and above all how she thinks about living up to what can sometimes feel like the Rebbe's impossible expectations.

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Ep. 19 // "In Defense of Gezhe" w/ R' Mendel Duchman

Jan 21, 2024

1:20:26

R' Mendel Duchman lives in Los Angeles and is a businessman, business coach and motivational speaker. He is also, to my mind, one of today's most outspoken motivators and cheerleaders for shluchim and Lubavitch around the world. But while R' Mendel very much lives in "today," he is also a staunch defender of the idea of "gezhe," or the value of holding on to one's past that can be traced to the old home back in Russia. While "gezhe" has come to mean all kinds of things today, in our conversation we discuss how the past is an important part of today's story and something that needs to be better understood, even celebrated.

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Ep. 18 // “When Did We Stop Asking Questions?” w/ Rabbi Mendel Zirkind

Jan 14, 2024

2:34:14

Rabbi Mendel Zirkind has taught for over a decade in the Wilkes-Barre and Jets yeshivas. Not having planned to become an educator, Mendel shares the lessons he's learned from his time spent in these so-called "outlier" yeshivas and how the discussions and questions taking place there have so much to teach everyone. We discuss the seeming changes in Lubavitch regarding the asking of introspective questions, what may have led to these changes and where they leave us today.

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Ep. 17 // "To the Promised Land" w/ Zevi Slavin

Jan 7, 2024

1:41:58

Zevi Slavin is a student of philosophy and mysticism and host of a YouTube channel on this topic, Seekers of Unity. He is also the son of shluchim in Sydney, Australia and a proud chossid. On this episode, we discuss if and how Zevi manages the tension between his intellectual pursuits and his Lubavitch identity. We also discuss his thoughts on the collision of Lubavitch with modernity and where it leaves each of us.

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Ep. 16 // “Growing Up a Chossid” with Mrs. Fradel Sudak

Dec 31, 2023

2:14:59

Rebbetzin Fradel Sudak was sent on Shlichus to London sixty years ago with her late husband, Rabbi Nachman Sudak, a”h. She is also my great aunt, and I’ve wanted for years to hear more from her about my great-grandparents, Rabbi Benzion and Esther Golda Shemtov, who also lived in London after they escaped the Soviet Union. Over the course of several hours, I heard all kinds of stories and insights about my great-grandparents, where they came from, what drove them, scared them, inspired them, and held them together. I learned more about where I come from, of course, but also what their dreams had been, and in that sense learned about where we are all going.

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Ep. 15 // “Chabad Munt Pnimius” with Rabbi Dr. Reuven Leigh

Dec 24, 2023

2:00:14

Rabbi Dr. Reuven Leigh is a shliach and affiliated lecturer at University of Cambridge. His recent book, “The Philosophy of Rabbi Sholom Ber Schneersohn: Language, Gender and Mysticism,” endeavors to bring the famous maamorim of 5659 (RaNaT) into dialogue with postmodern thinking. We sat down to discuss what led him to focus on these maamorim, his relationship with Reb Volf Greenglass and other personalities in Montreal, and his lessons about Chassidus and the Chossid persona he carries to this very day.

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Ep. 14 // "Happy Place Lubavitch" w/ Leibel Gniwisch

Dec 17, 2023

1:38:58

Leibel Gniwisch is a lawyer and Ivy League graduate. He is also a good friend who lives in the neighborhood over. Over the past year we've had many discussions about Lubavitch identity, the questions worth asking and avenues of inquiry worth pursuing. More a conversation than an interview, this episode is one of those. We talk about Leibel's growing up in Montreal, what led him to pursue a profession in law and what lessons he has learned along the way.

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Ep. 13 // "The Other Side of Nostalgia" w/ Dr. Tali Loewenthal

Dec 10, 2023

1:26:12

Dr. Tali Loewenthal is a renowned fellow at UCL where he lectures on Jewish Spirituality. But he is also a chossid, whose continued life in academia and philosophy is strictly at the behest of the Rebbe. We sat down to discuss his own reflections on the costs and benefits of engaging in the world of philosophy, if it can be reconciled with the life of chassidus and Emunah, and what he suggests for those who find themselves attracted to the knowledge the "outside world" offers. Going deeper, we discuss the isolation that leads many to look elsewhere in the first place, and his very attainable suggestions that may help people feel less isolated and less nostalgic.

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Ep. 12 // “Winning in the Marketplace of Ideas?” w/ Yanki Tauber

Dec 3, 2023

1:43:00

Yanki Tauber is a writer who lives in Woodmere, NY where for over a decade he has been working on his newly released Chumash, the OpenBook Torah. What makes his Chumash different is the confidence it has that the reader can be brought into the process of commentary, and the more the reader knows about the process the better. We discussed his upbringing in Crown Heights and his special relationship with his grandfather, the famous poet and chossid Zvi Yair, and how this led to the manner in which he approached his Chumash.

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Ep. 11 // "The Cost of Shlichus?" with Rabbi Levi Greenberg

Nov 26, 2023

1:24:16

Rabbi Levi Greenberg is a shliach in El Paso, TX which is also where he grew up as a shliach himself. Continuing the discussion raised in previous episodes, we discuss the challenges of leaving home for schooling at a young age, the cost of raising children in faraway cities, and the metrics of a successful shlichus. Along the way, the conversation veers into familiar territory of the "chassidishe maase," how it has or hasn't changed over time, and what it means to realize some of our heroes, the early shluchim, were also human.

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Ep. 11 // "The Cost of Shlichus?" with Rabbi Levi Greenberg

Nov 26, 2023

1:24:16

Rabbi Levi Greenberg is a shliach in El Paso, TX which is also where he grew up as a shliach himself. Continuing the discussion raised in previous episodes, we discuss the challenges of leaving home for schooling at a young age, the cost of raising children in faraway cities, and the metrics of a successful shlichus. Along the way, the conversation veers into familiar territory of the "chassidishe maase," how it has or hasn't changed over time, and what it means to realize some of our heroes, the early shluchim, were also human.

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Ep. 10 // "America Is Nisht Andersh" with Rebbetzin Bassie Garelik

Nov 20, 2023

1:29:56

Rebbetzin Bassie Garelik is one of the earliest shluchim, having been sent to Italy over 60 years ago. She was also born in the United States, growing up in Pittsburgh, which is why I wanted to have her on the podcast to discuss what it was like to grow up in America before Lubavitch - and indeed Yiddishkeit - was established here the way it is today. We discussed what it was like to grow up in her parent's home, and what has and hasn't changed in the generations since.

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Ep. 9 // "From Lubavitch to Gateshead and Back" with Rabbi Moshe Leib Gray

Nov 13, 2023

1:58:30

Rabbi Moshe Leib Gray was a teenage Lubavitch yeshiva student when he found himself in the renowned yeshiva of Gateshead just a year after Gimmel Tammuz. This would not be the last time he'd find himself somewhere unexpected: Never expecting to go on shlichus, today he is the shliach at Dartmouth University. In this podcast he tells us his amazing story and the lessons he learned along the way.

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Ep. 8 // "Empower the Individual" with Rabbi Moshe New

Nov 10, 2023

1:49:28

Rabbi Moshe New is the senior rabbi of the Montreal Torah Center and a shliach for over forty years. In this episode, we talk about his upbringing in Australia and the changing Lubavitch landscape he observed as he travelled to the United States and finally to Montreal. We also discuss how the landscape continues to change and how it might point in a more positive direction, namely with a more specific focus on empowering the individual.

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Ep. 7 // "Do I Really Belong Here?" with Captain Mendy Avtzon

Nov 9, 2023

1:14:42

Captain Mendy Avtzon is my brother and currently serves as a JAG lawyer in the United States Air Force. In this episode, we discuss his rocky journey from shlichus in Hong Kong to yeshiva continents (and universes) away. We discuss some things he wished he had found in yeshiva and also those things he hopes he will never lose. *Any views expressed are personal and do not represent the views of the DoD or USAF.

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Ep. 6 // Emergency Podcast "Wartime Changes Everything Including Lubavitch" with Rabbi Shmully Hecht

Nov 8, 2023

1:42:21

Rabbi Shmully Hecht is the founder and senior Chabad rabbi at Yale, and co-founder of Shabtai, the global Jewish leadership community. We discuss how everything changed this Simchas Torah and where we might go from here. Not only the world around us but also Lubavitch itself.

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Ep. 5 // "Does Shlichus Have Anything To Do With Me?" with Sholom Jacobs

Oct 16, 2023

1:17:20

Sholom Jacobs grew up on shlichus in Glasgow, Scotland and is today a successful real estate developer in Long Island where he lives with his family. In this episode, we discuss his journey into business, how the Lubavitch perspective around business has changed over the years, and what he has carried with him from his days growing up on shlichus.

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Ep. 4 // Emergency Podcast "How Can We Think of Responding?" with IDF Veteran Leibel Mangel

Oct 9, 2023

56:03

Leibel Mangel is an IDF veteran who grew up on shlichus in Blue Ash, Ohio. In this conversation, we discuss his perspective on the recent events in Israel as an IDF veteran and how one might respond in these uncertain times.

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Ep. 3 // "Chinuch vs Shlichus" with Rabbi Shmuel Wagner

Oct 2, 2023

1:33:07

Rabbi Shmuel Wagner is a teacher at Lubavitcher Yeshiva Ocean Parkway. We discuss the changing attitudes towards teaching and becoming a teacher. We also discuss how one of his own teachers had a profound impact on how he dealt with his six year journey through infertility.

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Ep. 2 // "Am I a Lubavitcher?" with Eldad Drori

Sep 26, 2023

1:14:09

Eldad Drori is a Lubavitcher dentist who grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is also an avid powerlifter who has been working on his strength and fitness for more than thirty years. We discuss how he reconciles his gym identity with his lubavitch identity, and how the identity that comes out of it is something both traceable to his family's past and yet entirely his own.

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Ep. 1 // "Is Lubavitch Identity in Question?" with Rabbi Yossi Nemes

Sep 15, 2023

1:21:36

Rabbi Yossi Nemes is a Shliach for more than thirty years in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans. In our conversation, we discuss what it was like for him to learn in 770 back in the 80s, and what kinds of discussions about Lubavitch identity were taking place already back then.