What should you look for when shul shopping besides “that feeling”? How do you know a synagogue is right for you? And what role should a temple play in our modern lives? As we celebrate Sukkot and Simchat Torah, Rabbi Shira and Hanna offer one congregation consumer their advice.

Rabbi Shira and Hanna welcome former White House speechwriter and author Sarah Hurwitz for a conversation about her latest book As a Jew, an urgent exploration of how antisemitism has shaped Jewish identity,  the complexities of modern Jewish life, and what lessons Sarah learned from being a hospital chaplain.

Shana Tova Chutzsquad! Welcome 5786 with Rabbi Shira’s annual high holiday message. 

We're back with new episodes for the new year!

A self-professed “nice Jewish boy from New York City,” Jake Cohen is the New York Times bestselling author of Jew-ish and I Could Nosh, star of A&E’s Jake Makes It Easy. He talks about his new book Dinner Party Animal, why Jews are so obsessed with food and helps us all with our food and entertaining questions. 

Listen to a special live event held at Aspen Jewish Congregation on August 13, 2025. 

In a time of deep division, what does it really mean to belong to the Jewish people? And how do we stay in community when our beliefs, priorities, and red lines conflict? This session draws on the idea of the “big tent” as both a moral aspiration and a real-world challenge, exploring how we navigate differences while maintaining a sense of Jewish peoplehood.

This conversation features Hebrew College President Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, Shalom Hartman Institute President Yehuda Kurtzer, and the Executive Director of the Harvard Hillel Jason Rubenstein. 

Listen to a special live event held at Aspen Jewish Congregation on August 13, 2025. 

The Jewish experience has always been bigger than survival. Yet too often, the public stories we tell center on trauma and loss. This session explores how we might reclaim stories of resilience, creativity, and contribution, and how new narratives could help us build a future rooted in strength.

This conversation features Dasi Fruchter, Founder & Spiritual Leader of the South Philadelphia Shtiebel, Mark Oppenheimer, Creator & Host of Unorthodox podcast and Dara Horn, Author and Founder & President of Mosaic Persuasion.

Listen to a special live event held at Aspen Jewish Congregation on August 6, 2025. 

For decades, American Jews enjoyed unprecedented safety, success, and cultural influence. But beneath that prosperity, many became disconnected from Jewish tradition and meaning. Was that truly a golden age, or just the foundation for what could come next? This session reckons with the story of Jewish life in America and asks what a deeper, more meaningful era might look like.

This conversation features The Atlantic's Franklin Foer, spiritual leader and scholar Mijal Bitton, and Senior Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue.

Back by popular demand, Rabbi Shira and Hanna cap off this season with a Shavuot celebration and Torah study Back by popular demand, Rabbi Shira and Hanna cap off this season with a Shavuot celebration and Torah study. They help a young listeners preparing for his Bar Mitzvah and lead us us through Sh’lach L’cha, which Rabbi Shira loves because it’s one of the stories that has the most to teach us about our lived experience today.

Back by popular demand, Rabbi Shira and Hanna cap off this season with a Shavuot celebration and Torah study Back by popular demand, Rabbi Shira and Hanna cap off this season with a Shavuot celebration and Torah study. They help a young listeners preparing for his Bar Mitzvah and lead us us through Sh’lach L’cha, which Rabbi Shira loves because it’s one of the stories that has the most to teach us about our lived experience today.

Beyond face masks and candles is there such a thing as “Jewish Self-Care”? Rabbi Shira and Hanna admit they are allergic to the lavender-scented concept and respond to a listener who wants to know more about Judaism’s notion of taking care of oneself. 

A listener tells us she loves the show – it’s funny, it’s wise (aww shucks), but oy such language! She says feh to the vulgar cursing and prompts Rabbi Shira and Hanna to wonder what Judaism says about “working blue.”

A listener’s friend committed a heinous crime and is now in prison. She wonders if remaining friends and visiting him dishonors his victim’s memory. Tune in to hear Rabbi Shira and Hanna’s advice.

Rabbi Shira shares her live conversation with New York Times' Opinion columnist David Brooks. And on Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) she talks about the importance of voting in the World Zionist Congress.

On the eve of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Rabbi Shira asks a surprising question: Do we actually have to teach our kids about the Holocaust? (Spoiler Alert: She didn’t.)

She looks back at her own choices about Holocaust education and finds a way forward.