episode list
should I join my temple board?
Ever wondered what an actual rabbi thinks about the temple board? What makes some temple communities work and others fail? Rabbi Shira and Hanna help a listener figure out whether or not to join her temple board.
the jewish way to a good life
Hanna talks to Rabbi Shira about her new book The Jewish Way to a Good Life. She distills thousands of years of Jewish wisdom into practical, time-tested strategies for living a more meaningful life and reminds us: You don’t have to be Jewish to do Jewish. And she tells us how.
purim for grown-ups
Rabbi Shira makes a passionate plea to reclaim the holiday of Purim away from just the kids. But what does Jewish debauchery even look like? And why does it give Hanna the ick?
Rabbi Shira and Hanna talk to “Sabbath Queen” Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, co-founder of LabShul, about his family story, drag and finding Jewish joy in dark times…even for us adults.
What's Up, Doc?
Rabbi Shira and Hanna read a letter from a listener who has been nagging her husband to go to the doctor for over a decade. What does Judaism say about being responsible for your partner? And are we commanded to be good patients?
WTF, God!?
We hear from a listener who spent a lifetime looking for love, hoping to become a parent. Now, single, childless and in his 70s he is asking WTF, God!?
5.01 Should You Give Your Kid a Super Jewy Name?
Rabbi Shira Stutman and Hanna Rosin are back with new episodes for Season 5 of Chutzpod. They kick things off by answering a question from a listener named Moshe. His mother insisted he receive a “super Jewy name,” but what does Judaism say about this? What makes a name Jewish? And can we just name our kids Tom, Dick or Harry?
4.10 Calling Dibs
Saving seats at services is almost as old as Judaism itself. But should you do it? A newly converted Jewish listener bristles at this convention and wonders if it’s ok to make her friends and family fend for themselves if they can’t make it on time.
4.09 Jewish Wedding: The Sequel
Should second weddings be modest? Or is it kosher to go full bridezilla? A listener asks for advice on how to deal with her sister’s seemingly over-the-top requests for her second Jewish wedding.
4.08 Bubbe's Pickle
A Grandma asks Rabbi Shira and Hanna how to share Jewish traditions with her grandchildren. How can she share these traditions without overstepping? How can she be a Jewish grandparent at a distance?
4.07 When the End of the World Isn't My Problem
The news is awful, and everything feels terrible. Now go celebrate! A news-obsessed listener asks for advice on how to be less negative at home. Is it ok to check out and still be a good Jew? And could Debbie Downer have been Jewish?
4.06 Rabbi Shira’s Yom Kippur Sermon
The next best thing to being in the synagogue with Rabbi Shira…Tune in to hear her sermon for the New Year.
October 7th: One Year Later
A special episode on October 7th:
A year after the attack by Hamas on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, Rabbi Shira and Hanna mourn the loss of life and talk about what else has been lost in the trauma of ongoing war with an uncertain future.
A young Jewish listener asks for advice on how to navigate tension between her two friend groups on opposite sides of the Israel debate.
4.05 Live from D.C., It's Saturday Night
Rabbi Shira and Hanna are answering your real life questions live at a special event in Washington D.C. – a city known for its scandal and intrigue. A married listener is having an affair and has no plans to stop. Should he still repent on Yom Kippur?
4.04 All By Myself
After her wife of more than two decades passed suddenly, our listener is struggling how to spend time by herself again, and how to tell her wonderful, well-meaning community to give her space.
4.03 Amen Effect
Rabbi Shira and Hanna are joined by Rabbi Sharon Brous to talk about what she calls the “The Amen Effect” – what it means to be heard and seen during times of joy and grief and how a deeper connection to the Jewish community can actually help us cross tribal lines. Rabbi Brous is the founder of IKAR, an influential progressive Jewish congregation in Los Angeles and the author of The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World.
4.02 Practical Rabbinics
Rabbi Shira and Hanna help a new rabbi navigate her first high holiday season – what she calls “her Oscars and big debut.”
4.01 Dogs on a Plane
Dogs on a plane are kosher, but are they annoying? Rabbi Shira and Hanna kick off a new season and Elul with a Rosh Hashanah LaBehemot celebration. What are the Jewish ethics around animals? Is the Torah ableist? Bring your apples, honey, and dog biscuits and tune in.
3.28 Celebrating the (Sometimes Racist, Sexist, and Homophobic) Torah
Rabbi Shira and Hanna close out Season 3 with by celebrating Shavuot, which commemorates the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. But how do you celebrate a sacred text that's often problematic?
3.27 Racism or Antisemitism? One Couple's quandry
A listener in an interfaith and interracial relationship asks for advice on how to navigate conversations about antisemitism, race and Israel. Rabbi Shira and Hanna are joined by antiracist educator Rachel Faulkner from the National Council of Jewish Women.
3.26 Friendship FOMO
Do you suffer from Friendship FOMO? Heartburn, fatigue, painful stabs of jealousy while looking at Instagram? Rabbi Shira and Hanna will provide some relief. Podcast host and producer Lauren Ober writes in. And Shira lets out her inner mean girl.