Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, we are diving into the month of Shevat, specifically focusing on Tu B’Shevat which is coming up THIS WEEK. It is on Thursday — Wednesday night to Thursday and if you’re anything like me, Tu B’Shevat is kind of a holiday you acknowledge, but maybe gloss over on a deeper level. This year, I am putting a stop to it.

Yehudit Refson (@the_jerusalem_farmhouse) is the director of grounds, arts and renovations at Neve Yerushalayim. She is an amazing person who has totally transformed Neve’s campus in the time since she moved over there. We actually did an interview nearly four years ago for the Chai on Life website which I am linking in the show notes where you can learn more about how and why she got into the entire gardening journey and how she transformed the earth into a space that was beautiful already, but now is bursting with plant and animal life.

Now, the girls at Neve don’t just learn Torah inside the classroom, they really enhance their learning outside of it. Instead of just learning about shemitta, they’re living it with the plants around them. On Rosh Hashanah, they’re touching actual pomegranates and other simanim from their own garden. They’re doing tashlich in their own pond. They plant the arba minim for Sukkot. It’s really a full interactive experience that undoubtedly leaves you with so much more than you would get just from hearing about these things.

In our conversation, we go even deeper:

-She speaks about the land’s connection and parallels to women

-The root word of land in Hebrew, adamah, and how the word itself shows our connection to the earth

-We talk about the power of being in nature in regards to our five senses and the impact on our mental health as a result

-We go deep into Shevat as I referenced and how the energy of this time is all about renewal

-At the end, we discuss practical ways to live a cleaner, greener life and how to just jump into gardening

I left our conversation feeling really excited and invigorated to get started with something when it comes to gardening and actually being with the earth and I have a feeling you may feel the same way afterward. I love this episode so much and can’t wait for you to hear it.

Resources:

How to make a Tu B'Shevat Seder via Aish.com

Follow @the_jerusalem_farmhouse on Instagram

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, I’m speaking with Rebbetzin Sarah Feldbrand.

She is a former principal of adult education programs in the U.S. and Canada and has taught Jewish philosophy and history for decades. Her teaching evolved into 40 books on Jewish philosophy and history as well as biographies, and historical fiction for adults and children. Currently the Rebbetzin is the moderator of a Mechanchos Forum and also provides Torah counseling via email at asktherebetzin@gmail.com.

We decided to focus on her two volume series called Towards Meaningful Prayer and really get into some of the common issues women have when it comes to connecting to tefilah and how to solve them.

Prayer is something that hopefully we all do everyday. Because it’s every day it has the power to connect us like nothing else but also because it happens every day it can become rote or something we do quickly to then get on with our day versus a mitzvah that only comes one time a year.

We all know prayer has immense power but sometimes it’s just hard to seize that — you may feel like you’re lacking in connection. So in this conversation, we speak about why davening and prayer is such a powerful tool for women, how to change your practice if things are feeling rote or uninspired, how your mindset has everything to do with tefilah and how to set yourself up for success mentally, which prayers specifically may help you connect more deeply and so much more.

If there is someone you want to see on The Chai on Life Podcast, email me at alex@chaionlifemag.com or send me a DM @chaionlifemag. Thanks again, see you next week!

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal, and today, we have Gitty Normile on the podcast to talk about all things emunah.

Gitty is tackling a challenge in Judaism that I think a lot of people are subject to. Maybe you’ve been living this life for awhile now — maybe your entire life — and you’ve lost the spark of emunah or sadly, have never been taught it in a way that truly lights you up.

That was her story. It wasn’t until later in life that she really grasped the concept of emunah in a way that made sense to her and guided her toward living an inspired life. Now, she channels that energy and passion into her writing in a weekly parsha email and a book that was just released this past fall, aptly called Emunah in the Parsha.

In this episode, we speak about:

-Gitty’s journey to connecting more to Hashem and how Hashem played a big part in her career and life journey every step of the way even if she didn’t realize at the time

-Why she wanted to write a book about emunah and why specifically emunah through the lens of the parsha

-Why sages say this generation is lacking emunah more than others

-How material prosperity plays into a Torah life and how we may be getting sidetracked with it all

-Why immediate gratification creates risks and challenges with our emunah

-How to overcome fear in your relationship with Hashem if it’s present — especially with all the difficult news going on these days — and turn it into true comfort and trust

...and SO much more.

Also, Gitty was deeply involved in compiling the Hebrew names of the hostages for davening and has become quite close with so many hostage families as a result. For an updated list, visit chaionlifemag.com.

If you'd like to get in touch with Gitty or to get on her email list, you can reach her on WhatsApp at 058-413-5852 or via email at gitty1215@gmail.com.

For the Rabbi Golumbeck Bitachon hotline she mentions, call 732-719-3898. You can press 1 right away for daily chizuk and bypass the dedications - enjoy!

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal, and today I’m speaking with Shira Fruchter, a social worker and Internal Family Systems certified psychotherapist who holds a private practice in Jerusalem.

Shira counsels couples and individual women specializing in relational trauma and interpersonal conflict. She also runs IFS mini workshops for personal development and growth.

Shira also released a book at the end of last year all about IFS, speaking about the therapy through the lens of Torah and helping others in the observant world connect more deeply to the modality.

In our conversation, we speak about:

-What IFS is and how it works

-Why Shira wanted to write a book for the Jewish community about it and how it makes the modality more accessible

-What parts we are all made up of and how to use those to better understand yourself and how to heal

-How this all connects to Judaism and Torah...and more!

To demonstrate the work of IFS, we actually go through a real simulation where I am the patient and share a little bit about one of my parts and she walks us through how I can understand that in a different way and not feel threatened by it. Instead, she taught me how certain questions you can ask yourself can change the way you look at it and treat both yourself and certain situations with more compassion, ultimately approaching life in a healthier way.

Full disclosure, I have really felt a change in myself since our conversation. It sounds crazy but I have begun to question my insecurities or overthinking tendencies since going through the modality with her a little bit more in the simulation and it’s changed the way I think about certain situations. Instead of ruminating. I’m really amazed by what just a little bit of IFS work can do and so grateful that I have this tool now in my back pocket.

Shira can be contacted through email at shifruchie@gmail.com or WhatsApp at 347-255-3514.

You can get her book on Amazon here.

Thanks for listening, see you next week!

Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, I am speaking with Rebecca Ashkenas, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over a decade of experience as a therapist.

She specializes in treating teens and adult women facing anxiety, depression, and OCD. She has expertise in reproductive mental health challenges, including perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, infertility, and pregnancy loss. She serves as a clinical supervisor as well as the Director of the Women’s Health Track at Achieve Behavioral Health in Monsey, NY. Rebecca also offers compassionate therapeutic support for adolescents and adults through her virtual private practice.

In our conversation we speak about all of those things listed so if anything that she focuses on may be a trigger for you feel free to skip this episode. That being said, we get real about those topics and she gives such great advice on what to do if you find yourself going through something like infertility, pregnancy loss, or on the flip side, a difficult postpartum period or a more serious perinatal disorder.

We also speak a lot about how to support a friend in those situations. As women moving through life, we know how common all of these things are and talking more about them is the best way to be aware and bring everything to light so we’re not afraid to ask for the help we need and also offer it to someone else around us.

We also speak about the general pressure and load that women take on in any stage and how we can really work to manage all of that with our sanity intact, what true self-care may look like and ensure that we’re really living a life according to our values, not just our growing to-do lists.

Hope you get a lot out of it!

If you want to reach out to Rebecca, you can email her at Rebecca.ashkenaslcsw@gmail.com.

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 Ruchi Koval on to speak all about her latest book, Soul Purpose.

Ruchi is a parenting coach and motivational speaker who has inspired personal transformation in thousands of people. She is the co-founder and Associate Director of the Jewish Family Experience, an innovative shul and outreach community in Cleveland, Ohio. She has been a Jewish educator for two decades, leading self-development mussar groups for adults and teens, and mentoring educators around the world. Ruchi is also a musician, author, mother of 7, and grandmother. She is a Momentum Educator, inspiring thousands of women on their journeys in Israel. She is also the author of three books: "Conversations with God," “Soul Construction,” and her newest book, “Soul Purpose,” as we mentioned which was just released a couple months ago.

Find Ruchi on Instagram; on her blog at outoftheorthobox.com; and her two podcasts. Download her “Ruchi Koval” app to listen to many of her lectures online.

Soul Purpose takes the teachings of Pirkei Avot and makes them way more approachable. Each day in the 365-day daily reader takes a line from Pirkei Avot and explains it in layman’s terms, helping anyone understand its meaning more coherently and effectively. Each entry ends with an intention so you can really go into your day thinking about the idea further and applying the teaching to your own life in a practical way.

If you want to listen to Ruchi read each entry, you can join the WhatsApp group she mentioned here:

https://chat.whatsapp.com/FSylDrVqdFRBpw0bkF2qyX

If there is someone you want to see on The Chai on Life Podcast, email me at alex@chaionlifemag.com or send me a DM @chaionlifemag. Thanks again, see you next week!

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal, and today we have Mrs. Devorah Kigel on the podcast! I am so excited to speak with Devorah, it really feels like a long time coming. I have known Devorah for maybe close to 11 or 12 years now and she definitely made a big impact on my own religious journey as she has for countless others speaking about her experience in the dating world and on other Jewish-related topics like her journey to becoming observant and dressing modestly.

Now, Devorah is a successful dating and marriage coach (she has helped well over 300 women marry their bashert) a sought-after Kallah teacher, and continues to be a popular speaker. She holds her B.A. from Hamilton College, where she majored in French and minored in women’s studies, and her M.A. in French from Middlebury College. Mrs. Kigel spent more than two years living in Paris and wrote her masters thesis on anti-Semitism in France.

Devorah just released her brand new book this fall called “Marry a Mensch: Timeless Jewish Wisdom for Today’s Single Woman” and in this conversation we are going to speak about all of that and more.

She has been featured in Newsweek, The Jerusalem Post, Meaningful Minute, Torah Anytime and on aish.com.

In the episode, we get into her journey to becoming a dating coach, have her answer real listener dating questions like what happens when you can’t find someone on your exact religious level, how to know you’re ready or not ready to start dating, trusting your gut, why you should never settle and more.

We also speak about marriage in the latter half of the episode — the one change that has made the biggest difference in her marriage, how to create better communication, how the 5 love languages can help all of us, and more there too.

Plus, at the end we get into a really interesting conversation about working versus stay at home with your kids. Devorah has spoken openly about this in the past including a time early on when their kids were young and they were going through immense financial struggle and it was really insightful to get into a deeper discussion about her choice to stay home and how it’s impacted her life now.

Just a disclaimer: This in no way is telling anyone what to do or how to live their life, that is a personal choice and I really believe something that is so unique to each individual situation and there is a whole spectrum in between but as a mom myself and as someone who knows many other mothers who struggle with the balance of managing so many things, it’s always an interesting topic to delve into further.

For more on Devorah and to get in touch with her, visit www.devorahkigel.com or on Instagram @devorahkigel.

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, I am speaking with Mrs. Rivka Segal, a leader in adult Jewish education who has taught Torah to women and girls of all ages for more than thirty years.

Before making Aliyah from Baltimore, MD, she taught in Bais Yaakov High School and Maalot Baltimore and was the director of the Women’s Institute of Torah. After moving to Israel in 2005, she founded the L’Ayla Women’s Initiative in Jerusalem. She is a sought-after speaker, known for her creativity and ability to excite and engage audiences of all ages. For the past fifteen years, she has made Tehillim come alive for thousands of people. She is currently in the process of completing a five-volume series entitled Living Tehillim. To date, three volumes have been published and let me tell you they are so good and will change the way you see and understand the Tehillim that you’re saying or even inspire you to start saying them.

I interviewed Rivka nearly four years ago for the Chai on Life website and the article we did together continues to be the top performing article today. I think it’s because people are searching for more connection in their prayers. They want to connect, they want to daven, they want to fee, to bring Redemption into this world and they’re looking for more answers.

In the episode, we speak about how Rivka got into Tehillim and how it became a new purpose and passion in life, why Dovid HaMelech was the one who wrote Tehillim and what we can all learn from his greatness, how to connect in your native language to the words of Tehillim, the special connection between Tehillim and Chanukah and really so much more.

To find out more about the “Living Tehillim” initiative or to register for her online zoom series, visit her website at www.livingtehillim.com.

Learn more from Rivka in our previous interview.