In this episode, I spoke with Rabbi Dr. Caryn Aviv, Rabbinic & Program Director of Judaism Your Way in Denver, CO. Rabbi Caryn shares about leaving academia for rabbinic work and the personal experiences and research that shaped her book “Unlearning Jewish Anxiety: How to Live with More Joy and Less Suffering.” We took a deep dive into how her book addresses the ways inherited and vicarious trauma, antisemitism, and internalized shame can contribute to anxiety and affect our sense of worth and belonging, and offers practices for recognizing anxious reactions and responding with more awareness.

R’ Aviv also reflects on my usual questions about spiritual doubt and faith, Jewish texts that rattle or soothe our nerves, and the role of music in her life as a source of spiritual practice and refuge.

The opening and closing music of today’s episode is my new setting of the biblical text “V’ahavta l’rei’acha kamocha” - love your fellow being as you would like to be loved (Leviticus 19:18), accompanied by the statement affirming acceptance of this mitzvah.

After a bit of a hiatus through the High Holy Days, I’m excited to bring you the next episode of my podcast! Episode 8 features Rabbi Amy Grossblatt Pessah, author of Parenting on a Prayer: Ancient Jewish Secrets for Raising Modern Children. This episode drops just in time for the publication of her new book The Wholeness of a Broken Heart: Pathways to Resilience and Renewal, which is scheduled for release on October 13.

Rabbi Amy shares about her path to the rabbinate, through Jewish education, synagogue leadership, and the study of spiritual direction - the art of attentive companionship that helps people refl ect on belief, doubt, meaning, and connection. Her upcoming book, The Wholeness of a Broken Heart, was shaped in part by the death of her son after a brain cancer diagnosis. The book focuses on grief, resilience, and renewal through seven pathways, which she delineates for us in this conversation. R’ Grossblatt Pessah also refl ects on doubt as part of faith, and about Jewish texts that challenge and inspire her. In discussing the centrality of music to her spiritual life, she recounts her experience of producing a series of chants for Mussar practice, one of which is featured in this episode.

I hope you’ll fi nd this conversation as inspiring as I have. You can visit R’ Amy’s website at asoulfuljourney.com

In this episode, Hazan Diana Brewer reflects on Jewish spirituality through singing, listening, and the experience of being told not to use one’s voice. She describes working with students who believe they are tone-deaf, explaining that many can hear differences in pitch but were never given the chance to learn how to turn what they hear into sound. Brewer also speaks about the harm of being chronically silenced and about inviting people to play with their voices without judgment. As the Torah reading cycle moves toward Devarim, she connects these ideas to “Shema,” or “listen,” and reflects on attentive listening, shared sound, and the importance of imagining a space where one’s voice can be heard freely.

In this episode, Ḥazzan Diana Brewer speaks with Rabbi Juliet Elkind Cruz, also known as Juliet the Rabbi, about building an honest and welcoming kind of Jewish spirituality, where doubt, pain, joy, and healing all have a place. Juliet reflects on her path to the rabbinate, her longing for Jewish ritual growing up in an atheist home, and the moments of synagogue, family, and community that drew her more deeply into Judaism.
Rabbi Juliet also discusses her work with women clergy and Tzedek America, including social justice travel and a trip to Montgomery, Alabama that centered civil rights history and lived testimony. The conversation turns to prayer, faith, and hope, and ends with Juliet describing the importance of singing, shared voices, and music as part of Jewish prayer and communal healing.

FEATURED LINKS
jewishgrrrl.substack.com, realrabbinyc.com, julietelkindcruz.substack.com, tzedekamerica.org, jewishwomenclergy.com

Released for Tu b'Av

In this episode, I read "The Company is Divine" — a piece about the long, sometimes reluctant road from spiritual seeking to spiritual practice, and what changes in us when we stay with it. I trace this back to a cherished memory with my daughter, and forward through years of awkward prayer, a nighttime experiment in testing whether I was ever really alone, and a recent episode of Hidden Brain that gave me language — and neuroscience — for what I'd already felt. Referenced in this episode: Hidden Brain, episode featuring Lisa Miller Ahavat Olam — the evening liturgy preceding the Shema Recorded and produced in my home studio, opening and closing with an original melody. If a moment like this has found you too, I'd love to hear about it in the comments.