Chutzpod!

Chutzpod! is a frank and wide-ranging conversation on how to build a good life, using real-life quandaries and millennia-old Jewish wisdom. Each week, Rabbi Shira Stutman and journalist Hanna Rosin bring a Jewish lens to life's toughest questions, asked by our listeners: Do I offer forgiveness to a friend who refuses to apologize? Am I right to be annoyed at all the service dogs on the plane with me? How do we work to heal this broken world? It's a podcast for people of all or no faiths; Hebrew school truants and proud yeshiva graduates; those who want to be inspired but don't want to schlep to synagogue; basically, anyone trying to live a meaningful life during these trying times. One part advice column, one part reflection on what Judaism teaches on how to build a good life, using real-life stories and ancient wisdom.

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31 episodes
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Avg 37 min
English

Episodes 31

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S8 · E9
Yesterday · 45 min
Don't Be So Modest
How do you talk about “modesty” without body shame, rulebooks, or misogyny? Rabbi Shira and Hanna take on this thorny and familiar parenting dilemma. They explore the Jewish value of Tzniut with a listener looking for advice on raising her daughter to respect privacy and modesty, while still feeling empowered when it comes to sex and the body. Read more about modesty Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Chutzpod on YouTube Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S8 · E8
October 28 · 28 min
Interfaith Co-parenting
How would you respond if your child told you “Jesus is God”? Rabbi Shira and Hanna help a listener who is going through a difficult divorce and trying to coparent with her Pentecostal ex. They talk about a Jewish parents’ obligations to their children, how to emphasize what’s positive and different about Judaism, and when to utilize Monty Python during awkward moments. View the 2020 Pew Study on Jewish Americans Read more about the Jewish obligation toward children Read more about interfaith co-parenting Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Chutzpod on YouTube Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S8 · E7
October 21 · 38 min
A Mixed (Observance) Marriage
We’ve all heard about mixed faith families, but what happens when everyone is Jewish, but one person is more observant? When does this become a burden on the rest of the family? And does that matter? A listener asks Rabbi Shira and Hanna for help as he tries to lean into his Jewish observance – including shutting down on Shabbat – without annoying his wife and children. Read more about Shalom Bayit Read more about a Shabbos Goy Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Chutzpod on YouTube Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S8 · E6
October 14 · 30 min
E.T. Phone Shul
An all alien round-up episode! You asked, and we answered: Are aliens kosher? Are angels aliens? And does a belief in extra-terrestrial life strengthen Jewish faith or cause a crisis? Rabbi Shira and Hanna talk about the boundless ways Judaism can stretch to infinity and beyond, with an extra nod to the Jewish roots of the Vulcan salute. Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Chutzpod on YouTube Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S8 · E5
October 7 · 39 min
Jewish Advice for the Election on the Anniversary of October 7th
As we mourn the lives lost on and after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023, Rabbi Shira and Hanna discuss a problem common for many American Jews this election season: Should you support a candidate who aligns with your values on most everything…except Israel? They’re joined by Nicholas Lemann, Dean Emeritus at the Columbia Journalism School and author of Returning: A Search for Home Across Three Centuries. Read “A Profound Question Haunting Jews Today” by Nicholas Lemann Read more about Nicholas Lemann Read El Malei Rachamim by Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld Learn about Values based decision making Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Chutzpod on YouTube Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S8 · E4
September 30 · 32 min
Rabbi Freud
Fun fact: Rabbi Shira is not only a rabbi, she’s also a therapist! So she’s uniquely equipped to answer this week’s listener question: When should you seek counseling from a rabbi and when should you see a therapist? Shira and Hanna debate the merits of both types of counseling and find themselves asking why do Jews love therapy so much?! Listen to Hanna on Radio Atlantic: How American Became Addicted to Therapy: Read a History of Jewish Chaplaincy Read about how Rabbis act as counselors Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Chutzpod on YouTube Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S8 · E3
September 23 · 47 min
Hebrew School Dropout
🎶No graduation day for you 🎶 As Hebrew Schools around the country supply their students with lulavs and etrogs for the upcoming Sukkot holiday, Rabbi Shira and Hanna talk about all things religious education. What’s the goal? Is it working? Is Hebrew School just a B’Mitzvah Factory? (and is there anything wrong with that?). Rabbi Rebecca Rosenthal, the Senior Director of Youth and Family Education at Central Synagogue in New York, helps answer these questions and more. Read more on Jewish obligations to teaching children Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Chutzpod on YouTube Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S8 · E2
September 16 · 15 min
Rabbi Shira’s Yom Kippur Sermon: “See It”
Even if you can’t make it to Aspen you can hear Rabbi Shira’s sermon for Yom Kippur this year. Drawing on her own experience visiting the Langa Township in Cape Town, South Africa, the Yom Kippur Haftarah reading and some Ursula LeGuin, Shira urges us all to “shrink the frame” to a human-sized small town of responsibility, practice Teshuvah and reject willful blindness. Watch this sermon Read The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas Read the Yom Kippur Haftarah reading Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Chutzpod on YouTube Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S8 · E1
September 9 · 33 min
Misery Loves Company (Even on Rosh Hashanah)
Chutzpod is back to usher everyone into the New Year! And as we approach 5787, a listener wonders how to show up authentically, even if that means bringing the mood down. Rabbi Shira and Hanna wonder why we feel pressure to have a “happy” new year and encourage everyone not to bring the Jewish equivalent of a sanitized Christmas letter to their high holiday celebrations. Read This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared Read about the Unetanah Tokef Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Chutzpod on YouTube Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
September 2 · 1 hr 16 min
The Long Arc: 250 Years of Jews and America
Listen to this special bonus episode recorded live at Aspen Jewish Congregation on August 12, 2026. As America approaches 250 years, this conversation looks at the enduring relationship between Jewish life and the American experiment. Through historical reflection and contemporary insight, speakers will explore how Jewish tradition and democratic ideals have shaped one another—and what that long story asks of us now. This conversation features Rabbi Sharon Brous, Founder and Senior Rabbi of IKAR, Eric Cohen, President and CEO of Tikvah, and moderator Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief, The Atlantic. Chutzpod will be back with new episodes September 9th! Need advice from Hanna and Shira? Submit your questions to chutzpod@gmail.com. And make sure you're subscribed. Listen to Rabbi Brous on Chutzpod! More AJC conversations Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
August 26 · 1 min
Coming Soon...Chutzpod Season 8!
Chutzpod is coming back with new episodes and new real-life questions September 9th! Rabbi Shira and Hanna will talk about when to see a rabbi over a therapist, how to navigate a mixed-observance marriage and is believing in aliens Jewish?? Subscribe to automatically get all new episodes. And submit your own questions to be featured on an episode! Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S7 · E9
April 22 · 39 min
A Whole Lotta Leviticus: Our Traditional (Untraditional) Torah Study for Season 7
In our Season 7 finale, Hanna again poses as a yeshiva bocher. Shira takes her through a very special double Torah portion: Achrei Mot-Kedoshim Leviticus 16:1–20:27. She talks about why Leviticus is such a grab bag of rules and laws with seemingly no real narrative order, some of the more controversial laws on sex, homosexuality and female impurity and how to view this part of the Torah as a guide to holiness in daily life, especially in a contemporary world that is often too cruel. Read Achrei Mot-Kedoshim Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S7 · E8
April 15 · 37 min
Ol' Dirty Money
What does Judaism say about accepting “dirty” money? A listener has been watching the online debate about how her alma mater should handle money from a prominent donor associated with Jeffery Epstein. She asks how does Jewish tradition handle this moral predicament? And at what point are institutions complicit spiritually and ethically when they accept tainted funds? Rabbi Shira and Hanna talk about when tzedakah becomes murky and how to be accountable morally and practically. Listen to Responsa Radio’s “Can Nonprofits Accept Money from Crooks?” Read about accepting and using stolen money Read about using a stolen lulav Read Rabbi Sharon Brous’ sermon on the stolen beam Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S7 · E7
April 8 · 37 min
Bubbemeises
Is covering your mirrors during shiva a superstition or Jewish law? What about breaking the glass at a wedding? Tashlich? Rabbi Shira and Hanna discuss the ideas of Jewish luck and bad luck and where they fit into law and tradition. And they welcome a VERY special guest – Hanna’s mother Miriam. Her sister has had a string of bad accidents and she wants to know if changing her mezuzah will ward off future health scares. Read more on Jewish superstitions Mezuzah 101 Check your mezuzah Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S7 · E7
April 1 · 45 min
Practically Kosher
Is it Kosher to question Kashrut? A listener writes, “Why do Jews have Kosher rules? And how would you suggest a previously unobservant Jew approach Kashrut, if at all?” Rabbi Shira admits that teaching the laws of kashrut is one of the hardest things she has to do as a rabbi. She does her best to make sense of it all and gives her best pitch for a mindfulness-based Jewish eating practice. FAQ about Kosher laws Read more about keeping Kosher in a non-Kosher world Read Maimonides' commentary on the laws of Kashrut Grow and Behold Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S7 · E5
March 25 · 32 min
A Sober Seder
Wine is central to Jewish ritual, but what if drinking isn’t safe for you? A listener in recovery dreads what used to be his favorite holiday, Passover. He writes that he dreads all the wine talk and dreads having to explain why he's opting out. He asks, "Can I skip the Seder this year?" Rabbi Shira and Hanna are joined by Rabbi Sue Reinhold of the Torah of Recovery to explore why wine matters, how Judaism understands both joy and danger in drinking, the stigma around addiction in Jewish communities and practical ways to participate, or not. Contact Rabbi Sue Reinhold Study Torah of Recovery Find a Seder Read about addiction in the Torah Read about free will in the Torah, Free Will, by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S7 · E4
March 18 · 41 min
Can’t We Just Have a Happy Passover?
With the world feeling particularly heavy, Rabbi Shira and Hanna wonder if, in addition to moments of anger and resistance, they can find a way to bring joy into this year’s Passover Seder. They’re joined by Rav Jericho Vincent, the founding rabbi of Temple of the Stranger, a growing mystical Jewish community in Brooklyn, NY. Listen to Jericho’s podcast Survival Guide for a Spiritual Wilderness Read Jericho’s substack Read Jericho’s scholarship on the Torah of Miriam Watch Debbie Friedman's "Miriam's Song" arranged/produced by Daniel Raijman Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S7 · E3
March 11 · 43 min
Hey A**hole
After a listener misgenders someone at synagogue, a torrent of feelings, recriminations and emails ensue, leading one congregant to email another with the subject “Hey Asshole.” Rabbi Shira and Hanna welcome Rabbi Lily Solochek of The Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London, whose work focuses on creating inclusive Jewish communities, especially for queer and trans people and families. Visit The Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London Learn more about Rabbi Lily Solochek Read about Joseph's ornamented coat Read about Sarah as a tumtum Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S7 · E2
March 4 · 38 min
Is Vanity Fair?
Is Botox kosher? What about filler, extensions or hair dye? Can a good Jew be too vain? And does Judaism value beauty? A listener reaches out for help when her two daughters are horrified to discover their feminist mom has a secret desire for luxurious lashes. Rabbi Shira and Hanna help her navigate personal vanity, Jewish values and 21st century parenting. And they reveal their own insecurities and zoom primping rituals. Read more about Joseph & beauty in the Torah Read more about hospitality, vanity and beauty Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S7 · E1
February 25 · 40 min
The Psychedelic Experience...on Purim
We’re back for Season 7! Purim is a time to reveal the hidden, unmask your shadow self and, perhaps, get super sloshed. But a listener wonders about having a psychedelic experience on Purim. Rabbi Shira and Hanna get advice from Rabbi Zac Kamenetz, the founder of Shefa, an organization working to integrate safe and supported psychedelic use into the Jewish spiritual tradition. Learn more about Shefa Read about the shadow self Support Chutzpod! Submit a question Contact Chutzpod! Subscribe to Chutzstack Follow Hanna on Instagram Follow Shira on Instagram Follow Shira on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Facebook Follow Chutzpod on Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

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