This episode originally aired April 8, 2024.

Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and I am so excited about this conversation with Rebbetzin Yehudis Golshevsky. We’re in a difficult time for the Jewish people. We just marked 180 days since October 7 — six whole months since Israel and the Jewish people were attacked on Simchat Torah. It’s hard to believe. It’s so hard to know that every single day, 134 hostages still remain in captivity, our soldiers are still fighting and our people are at risk

There is increased antisemitism around us. Incredible gaslighting about what Israel is doing in self-defense and just to survive and protect its people, our people. It’s truly a painful moment and it can be confusing to know where to turn or where to find hope. This conversation with Rebbetzin Golshevsky, I hope will help you find some comfort.

In our conversation, we speak about:

-Rebbetzin Golshevsky's path to becoming a profound Torah teacher

-How to connect to Nisan and Pesach during this unique time we're in and how we can extract so much meaning out of it

-How to become joyful at this time

-Why things may look so gross and ugly on the outside right now and what that means for the Jewish people

-The process of redemption — what we can look to for hope

-How to free yourself from something personal you're working on

...and so much more!

If you would like to learn more about Rebbetzin Golshevsky and SHIVITI and get on the school's mailing list for classes, visit https://shiviti.org.il/.

To reach out to Rebbetzin Golshevsky directly, you can email her at [email protected].

More about Rebbetzin Golshevsky:

Rebbetzin Golshevsky founded and is the director of SHIVITI, a school in Jerusalem for women. She holds primary and secondary teaching certifications from Yavne Teacher's College in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as a BA from SUNY Buffalo in Classics-Judaic Studies. Rebbetzin Golshevsky has been a well-known Torah educator in Jerusalem and abroad for twenty-five years, with students all over the world. She is also published author, editor, and translator.

To nominate a woman for the podcast, please send me an email at [email protected] or send me a DM on Instagram at @chaionlifemag.

Thanks for listening!

I am so excited about today’s guest because it is Chanie Apfelbaum of Busy in Brooklyn.

If you are not already familiar, Chanie is a food writer and photographer who has a really unique way of blending traditional Jewish foods with modern flavors. She started her blog, Busy in Brooklyn, in 2011 so it’s been giving us delicious recipe ideas for all occasions for nearly 15 years now. She is also the author of two cookbooks, Millennial Kosher and Totally Kosher where you can get even more recipe ideas from Chanie as well as tons of tips about cooking, how to stock your kitchen, plan a meal and more.

As we all know, Pesach is a stressful time on the Jewish calendar, but the more I get into making and hosting Pesach, the more I’m determined to take the stress out of the process. This episode with Chanie will do that for you. It’s genuinely fun. I felt lighter and excited after recording it and had that same feeling after listening through again and editing it. It just got me actually excited to cook for Pesach and feeling blessed for the opportunity to do so versus overburdened with chores. 

In the episode, we talk a bit about:

-Chanie’s background and how her spirituality has evolved over the years especially throughout various challenges she has gone through

-Then, about halfway through, the ideas start FLOWING when it comes to easy foods you can make this Pesach mainly out of fruits, vegetables nuts and seeds and it is both mouth-watering and easier than you think.

-She also shares tips that can help you in the kitchen and streamline your cooking experience.

-We go through how to plan a meal — whether it’s seder night or a third day lunch and it’s just so awesome to see how her brain works in that way.

Her ideas are simplified yet do not skimp on the flavor. In fact, they are bursting with flavor and because so many of the ingredients are just fruits and vegetables or repurposing something you have, you will be saving tons of money not having to buy all the processed pantry products and too many extras because as we all know Pesach can get really expensive really quickly.

To help you out further, I made a companion document where I typed up all the ideas for easy access — view it here!

Wishing all of you a beautiful Pesach.

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, we have Debbie Sassen, business coach, money mentor and host of the Jewish Entrepreneur Podcast joining us. She helps established entrepreneurs scale from six to seven figures with high-ticket offers, leveraged business models, and smart CEO strategies—all in alignment with Jewish values.

Debbie is the go-to expert for business owners ready to charge more, raise their prices, and sell high-ticket offers with confidence—without feeling pushy or sleazy. She believes that money is intimately woven into every part of business, and that clearing money blocks makes growth, marketing, and sales infinitely easier.

Her signature coaching program, Wired for Wealth, helps entrepreneurs scale sustainably with her 10-step leverage plan, Power of 1 method, and Sacred Sales Conversation process. Through her coaching, clients master their CEO mindset, leverage their time, and implement simple systems to create consistent $20K-$50K months—without sacrificing their faith, family, or freedom.

Debbie believes that no woman - or man - should undercharge, undersell, or dim their light to build financial sustainability for their family.

She is also, the mother of eight children bli ayin hara, so she has a LOT to share with us. I was really excited to dig into a conversation about money because I feel like it’s a topic not often discussed. Even with close friends it can be awkward or weird to go into let alone people you know less well yet it’s such an important and vital part of our lives. It’s also one that a lot of people have a lot of feelings around. We all have attachment styles to money the same way we do with relationships and it’s something we have to manage and encounter multiple times a day.

In the Jewish world, there are extra expenses — Shabbos, kosher food, Pesach of course which is rapidly on its way, two sets of dishes, tuition, generally having more kids and of course so much more.

In this episode we speak about:

-The relationship Debbie had growing up to money and how that has developed and changed into how it is now

-Women taking time off of a career for motherhood and how that impacts her involvement in household finances

-Re-entering the workforce during motherhood and how so many women often underestimate themselves and their skills

-Money and marriage — how to speak about it with your husband, designate certain roles if you would like to and maintain and gauge that trust and partnership in the relationship

-We talk about spirituality within all of this — how Hashem comes into the picture with work, money and giving and how that all can contribute to a more secure attachment with our finances

…and SO MUCH MORE

Debbie is a wealth of knowledge — pun intended — and honestly, we cover so much and also just skimmed the surface. She has a ton of additional resources available which are all included in the show notes if you’d like to learn more or get in touch with her.

Website: https://debbiesassen.com/

Podcast: The Jewish Entrepreneur Podcast https://debbiesassen.com/podcast/

Book, The $1K Investor: Simple Smart Steps to Start Investing with $1K or Less https://debbiesassen.com/book (links to Amazon)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbiesassen/

Instagram: @debbiesassen

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debbiesassencoaching

 Free resource: Your Money Mindset Workbook: https://debbiesassen.com/mindset/

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, I am speaking with Rivka Lerner. Originally from Switzerland, she works as a software developer and coach as well as a kallah teacher, but her love is in teaching and discussing profound ideas with Jews from all walks of life. 

After teaching with her husband Rabbi Simi Lerner in London for a few years, Rivka came back to Israel long term, and is now an educator in Tel Aviv for the anglo community, as well as in Midreshet Rachel V’Chaya. Above all else, a mother to her awesome four boys.

I love this episode so much. We are really going deep into Purim. While Jews have never really had it “easy” this is a particularly tough time for the Jewish people everywhere and it feels a bit strange to be focused on joy when there is so much devastation around us. We talk about that. We speak about what happiness really means, how you can redefine it for yourself and how you can truly feel it this Purim.

We also speak really practically about what Purim can look like for you. Is it super overwhelming? Do you not really like it as much as you feel like you “should”? Do you feel like you’re missing out on that joy? We speak about ways you can access it and how you can transform your preparation and day even in just a few conversations that can be really life-changing.

We talk about the megillah, parts of the megillah you may not have noticed before and intentions about the megillah that can change your experience while listening to it.

At the end we speak about the comparison between Purim and Yom Kippur, or Yom HaKipppurim and what it really means that Yom Kippur is a day “like” Purim. 

There is so much depth in this episode, it is so rich with meaning and wisdom and profound takeaways and I am so excited for you to hear it and G-d willing for it to enrich your holiday this year in new ways.

If there is someone you want to see on The Chai on Life Podcast, email me at [email protected] or send me a DM @chaionlifemag. Thanks again, see you next week!

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast — but not just any episode, the one year anniversary episode!

I am so proud of how far we've come and how far I've come personally on this journey to building Chai on Life. I have learned so much from so many absolutely incredible women and it has all changed my life for the better.

In this episode, I reflect on some of the behind-the-scenes things that have been going on for me throughout the past year as well as go through some of my favorite moments from the last 42 episodes. I share what has stuck with me, what I'm still doing, how I have changed from the teachings and more.

A special thank you to all of you who have listened, supported and been there along the way. The chizuk means everything. Another special thank you to all the amazing guests because it's your wisdom that is helping us all become more Chai on Life!

Also, enter the giveaway! To do so, all you have to do is write a review for the podcast and send me a screenshot of it and then I will choose someone randomly from that to win a $150 Amazon gift card. If you've already rated and reviewed, that counts too and can be used to enter! My email is [email protected] or you can DM me on Instagram @chaionlifemag.

Here, the episodes mentioned in the podcast for easy access to go back and listen!

1. Rivkah Fox on All Things Dating
2. Frum Minimalism: Meet the Woman Who Decluttered Her Entire Home For Good
3. Debbie Greenblatt: Secrets to Building a More Connected Marriage
4. Chana Deutsch: How to Articulate Your Needs, Wants and Desires to Create More Love in Your Marriage
5. Miriam Goldberg: A Deep Dive Into the Mystical World of Mikvah
6. Leora Blumenthal: Simplify Your To-Do List and Feel Like a Queen
7. Hilla Aboody: Strengthening Ourselves Through the Three Weeks, Nine Days and Tisha B'Av
8. Danielle Renov of Peas Love N Carrots: Building Bitachon, Choosing Happiness and Sharing Her Life with Others
9. Faigy Blumstein: Is Cheshvan the Month of Moshiach? Gaining More Clarity
10. Rivka Segal: Transform Your Tehillim Experience

As always, if there is a guest you want to see or a topic you want covered, you can always reach out. Thanks so much for listening, see you next week!

Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal, and today I am speaking with Raquel Kirszenbaum, a well-known teacher in Israel and now author of the book, “Stop hurting, Start Healing.”

The book is based on her personal journey which has been really fraught with hardship in many ways. The goal is to show that those difficulties do not define her. In her book, she details the emunah that she had to draw on to overcome those challenges and hard relationships. She hopes in her vulnerability, she can help others feel seen, heard and understood; to accept, forgive, let go and strive for greatness.

She is a baal teshuva herself. She was born in Venezuela and moved to Panama when she was six. After high school, she went to Israel and that started to change her life.

In our conversation, she speaks more about that backstory — she then got married and after struggling for many years had children but things unfortunately didn’t turn out in her marriage as hoped.

She doesn’t go into the details of everything that happened as a way to respect her kids and still respect her ex-husband which is astounding, and which of course, I completely respect. For context in the episode, she was in a very difficult marriage yet stayed in it believing it would get better when all of a sudden, something occurred and he left the home. So overnight essentially, she was divorced and became a single mother.

Of course, this is heavy stuff. This episode gets REAL, it gets really deep. She really takes us there into all of her emotions, the trauma of going through a divorce that happened so suddenly. The pain and challenge of being fully alone as a single mother with little to no family help around her. Helping her kids through their own traumas as they cope with losing their father from their lives at the same time as she lost her husband.

She speaks about how others can also help in a real way that is dignified and respectful which I think is such an important topic to discuss. Everyone has challenges in life, and some are objectively harder than others. It’s an important reminder to look around, remember who needs help, even if it’s just something super small and how something so little can make a huge difference in someone else’s world.

While our interview is heavy, I really came out of it feeling inspired. Raquel is such a beacon of strength. She has fought for her relationship with Hashem and continues to regularly. She does not let her challenges define her, rather she is using them to propel her to an even higher level of greatness.

Follow Raquel on Instagram.

Email Raquel at [email protected].

Get her book, "Stop Hurting, Start Healing."

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal, and today we have Rebekah Saltzman on the show. Rebekah is an organizing wizard who is going to help all of us get into the decluttering and organization mindset today.

Rebekah holds a degree in fashion design from Parsons School of Design, and for many years worked as a graphic designer. Rebekah’s passion for the environment and helping people improve their lives drove her to change careers and create her brand, Balagan Be Gone.

Rebekah’s straightforward approach to managing “stuff” and her no-nonsense ability to get to the heart of what is important combines with her people skills to help people take control of their lives through organization. She is the author of Organized Jewish Life and the podcast host of Journey to Organization (linked here!)

In the episode, we speak about organization and decluttering from a mindset approach as well as a practical one. I love what she says when it comes to clearing out your space to make room for shefa and abundance to flow into your life. We speak about getting rid of the “just incase” mindset and what our relationship with Hashem has to do with decluttering.

We also get to tachlis questions like what to do with the plethora of kids projects and toys that may come into your home, whether to involve kids in the process or not and how to do so, what to do if you’re feeling overwhelmed at getting started and how to break free of that, what to do with seasonal items in your home and soooo much more.

Also, I hate to bring up Pesach – and don’t worry we have time! But it is coming and while you certainly do not have to declutter and organize your whole house for Pesach, there is something about this time of year with spring coming that makes you want to feel lighter, clean things out, and just get control of everything after a long winter where things may have built up. There is the phrase, spring cleaning, after all. So Rebekah has a special program called Painless Pesach which is a 36-day decluttering challenge that starts on February 23 (That is next Sunday) and just $36, so a dollar a day.

The program is really smart because it’s broken down into really small steps so every day of the 36-day challenge, you’ll get a video prompt in your inbox with something to do that takes just 15-30 minutes per day. There is live support via WhatsApp and Facebook and a workbook included so you can track your progress. By the end of the 36-day challenge, your whole house will be decluttered and you will just arrive at the seder table feeling like a lighter, clearer version of yourself and what could be better than that? 

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE PAINLESS PESACH PROGRAM!

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Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, we are diving into the month of Shevat, specifically focusing on Tu B’Shevat which is coming up THIS WEEK. It is on Thursday — Wednesday night to Thursday and if you’re anything like me, Tu B’Shevat is kind of a holiday you acknowledge, but maybe gloss over on a deeper level. This year, I am putting a stop to it.

Yehudit Refson (@the_jerusalem_farmhouse) is the director of grounds, arts and renovations at Neve Yerushalayim. She is an amazing person who has totally transformed Neve’s campus in the time since she moved over there. We actually did an interview nearly four years ago for the Chai on Life website which I am linking in the show notes where you can learn more about how and why she got into the entire gardening journey and how she transformed the earth into a space that was beautiful already, but now is bursting with plant and animal life.

Now, the girls at Neve don’t just learn Torah inside the classroom, they really enhance their learning outside of it. Instead of just learning about shemitta, they’re living it with the plants around them. On Rosh Hashanah, they’re touching actual pomegranates and other simanim from their own garden. They’re doing tashlich in their own pond. They plant the arba minim for Sukkot. It’s really a full interactive experience that undoubtedly leaves you with so much more than you would get just from hearing about these things.

In our conversation, we go even deeper:

-She speaks about the land’s connection and parallels to women

-The root word of land in Hebrew, adamah, and how the word itself shows our connection to the earth

-We talk about the power of being in nature in regards to our five senses and the impact on our mental health as a result

-We go deep into Shevat as I referenced and how the energy of this time is all about renewal

-At the end, we discuss practical ways to live a cleaner, greener life and how to just jump into gardening

I left our conversation feeling really excited and invigorated to get started with something when it comes to gardening and actually being with the earth and I have a feeling you may feel the same way afterward. I love this episode so much and can’t wait for you to hear it.

Resources:

How to make a Tu B'Shevat Seder via Aish.com

Follow @the_jerusalem_farmhouse on Instagram

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, I’m speaking with Rebbetzin Sarah Feldbrand.

She is a former principal of adult education programs in the U.S. and Canada and has taught Jewish philosophy and history for decades. Her teaching evolved into 40 books on Jewish philosophy and history as well as biographies, and historical fiction for adults and children. Currently the Rebbetzin is the moderator of a Mechanchos Forum and also provides Torah counseling via email at [email protected].

We decided to focus on her two volume series called Towards Meaningful Prayer and really get into some of the common issues women have when it comes to connecting to tefilah and how to solve them.

Prayer is something that hopefully we all do everyday. Because it’s every day it has the power to connect us like nothing else but also because it happens every day it can become rote or something we do quickly to then get on with our day versus a mitzvah that only comes one time a year.

We all know prayer has immense power but sometimes it’s just hard to seize that — you may feel like you’re lacking in connection. So in this conversation, we speak about why davening and prayer is such a powerful tool for women, how to change your practice if things are feeling rote or uninspired, how your mindset has everything to do with tefilah and how to set yourself up for success mentally, which prayers specifically may help you connect more deeply and so much more.

If there is someone you want to see on The Chai on Life Podcast, email me at [email protected] or send me a DM @chaionlifemag. Thanks again, see you next week!

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal, and today, we have Gitty Normile on the podcast to talk about all things emunah.

Gitty is tackling a challenge in Judaism that I think a lot of people are subject to. Maybe you’ve been living this life for awhile now — maybe your entire life — and you’ve lost the spark of emunah or sadly, have never been taught it in a way that truly lights you up.

That was her story. It wasn’t until later in life that she really grasped the concept of emunah in a way that made sense to her and guided her toward living an inspired life. Now, she channels that energy and passion into her writing in a weekly parsha email and a book that was just released this past fall, aptly called Emunah in the Parsha.

In this episode, we speak about:

-Gitty’s journey to connecting more to Hashem and how Hashem played a big part in her career and life journey every step of the way even if she didn’t realize at the time

-Why she wanted to write a book about emunah and why specifically emunah through the lens of the parsha

-Why sages say this generation is lacking emunah more than others

-How material prosperity plays into a Torah life and how we may be getting sidetracked with it all

-Why immediate gratification creates risks and challenges with our emunah

-How to overcome fear in your relationship with Hashem if it’s present — especially with all the difficult news going on these days — and turn it into true comfort and trust

...and SO much more.

Also, Gitty was deeply involved in compiling the Hebrew names of the hostages for davening and has become quite close with so many hostage families as a result. For an updated list, visit chaionlifemag.com.

If you'd like to get in touch with Gitty or to get on her email list, you can reach her on WhatsApp at 058-413-5852 or via email at [email protected].

For the Rabbi Golumbeck Bitachon hotline she mentions, call 732-719-3898. You can press 1 right away for daily chizuk and bypass the dedications - enjoy!