Today, I’m speaking with Rebbetzin Miriam Katz. Rebbetzin Katz is a mother of seven children, bli yin hara and lives in Jerusalem with her husband, Rabbi Doniel Katz who is a well known teacher on meditation and psychology through the lens of Kabbalah and Chassidus.

She has a degree in elementary education, but explains she has learned the most about children by raising them. She has become a treasure trove of wisdom and has turned her teachings into a Substack newsletter called Mother 2 Mother where she shares insights from her two decades of motherhood. It’s both practical and spiritual, relatable yet inspiring and it has been such a pleasure to be a part of her community and learn from her writings.

We are approaching Mother’s Day — at least in the States — and while it may be a holiday you gloss over, it’s also a good opportunity to simply reflect on all you do as a mother. As we speak about in our interview, there’s so much invisible work when you’re a mother, keeping things running on a day-to-day basis — and it’s important to make the invisible visible whether it’s with your spouse, with your kids or without anyone else involved — just to yourself.

In our conversation we speak about:

-How Rebbetzin Katz found and connected to Orthodox Judaism

-The crazy story of how she met her husband

-How to figure out what we really need when it comes to our unique mothering journeys

-How we can place more value on our role as a mother, if it’s not something that comes easily to you

-What a deep connection to Hashem can look like through mothering

-How to feel better about the mental load motherhood comes with and ways to reframe it

-Something you can do at home to cultivate more gratitude

…and so much more!

To reach out to Miriam, you can email her at Miriamkatz613@gmail.com.

Please leave a rating and review, share the episode with a friend, family member or coworker who you think might enjoy it as well. 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!

Today, I’m speaking with Esther Wein, Torah educator extraordinaire.

For more than 35 years, Esther has guided students of all backgrounds in Torah learning. Along the way, she became increasingly aware that even well-educated learners were often working with over-simplified explanations or incorrect ideas about the core ideas of Judaism and the unfolding story of Am Yisrael. Critical tools for navigating today's complex world were therefore missing.

Because of this, she created an entirely new program called Torah Unlocked, and its upcoming flagship course, Reishis, where students will take a fresh look at the story the Torah is telling. Esther’s approach allows the many Torah ideas we have all learned to fall into place within their true context, and many longstanding questions begin to resolve on their own. The result is renewed pride, enthusiasm, clarity and devotion to the role one can play right now in Am Yisrael's story.

While Reishis is not out yet, it is launching in the next couple of months, so if you visit estherwein.com, you can sign up for updates and get notified once it’s officially out.

In this episode, we speak a lot more about:

-The course Esther created

-Some of the core conflicts of the Torah and how they relate to what we’re going through both as a people and individually today.

-The religious world — both as a way to focus more on its positive attributes and recognize what we can all work on to create growth and improvement.

-What we can take from the Pesach story as she reframes the it in a way that will change how you view the entire Jewish people and our place in this world.

-The omer period — what is really going on at this time that we are in and how practically, we can maximize its potential.

-The one thing that brings more bracha to Am Yisrael than anything else.

...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!

Today, I’m speaking with Anat Ishai, otherwise known as the Challah Mom on Instagram. Anat is known for her challah dance parties both in her kitchen and on tours with communities around the world. Whether you are reveling in challah again after Pesach, are looking for inspiration to get back into the mitzvah, or just are learning about it for the first time, this episode is for you.

You will not look at the mitzvah of challah the same way after hearing Anat speak. I completely fell in love with her in this episode — she is so well spoken and articulate and as you will hear, I was continuously blown away by her wisdom.

In our conversation, we speak about:

-Why she feels so connected to the mitzvah of challah and where it all began

-How to reframe happiness as a goal in life and have a new perspective on what that word even means

-Her journey making Aliyah and how her relationship with Hashem evolved through the process

-How the act of making challah mimics reality — what we can learn from the entire experience and how we can bring more of ourselves into that experience

-Messages to carry you from Pesach through the transition back into bread and the year ahead — not sure about you but it’s always so weird to me to go from completely banning chametz to fully making challah again. Lots of beautiful gems here

-How she models strength and perseverance in her home and connects with her children through mitzvot in a way that is authentic and doesn’t wear her out

…and SO much more.

To get more from the Challah Mom, visit her below:

@challah.mom on Instagram

Anat Ishai on Facebook

thechallahmom.com