Homesick for Lubavitch

By Homesick for LubavitchReligion & Spirituality Judaism

Homesick for Lubavitch episodes

November 20, 2023 Ep. 10 // "America Is Nisht Andersh" with Rebbetzin Bassie Garelik
Rebbetzin Bassie Garelik is one of the earliest shluchim, having been sent to Italy over 60 years ago.
She was also born in the United States, growing up in Pittsburgh, which is why I wanted to have her on the podcast to discuss what it was like to grow up in America before Lubavitch - and indeed Yiddishkeit - was established here the way it is today.
We discussed what it was like to grow up in her parent's home, and what has and hasn't changed in the generations since.
1 hr 30 min
November 13, 2023 Ep. 9 // "From Lubavitch to Gateshead and Back" with Rabbi Moshe Leib Gray
Rabbi Moshe Leib Gray was a teenage Lubavitch yeshiva student when he found himself in the renowned yeshiva of Gateshead just a year after Gimmel Tammuz.
This would not be the last time he'd find himself somewhere unexpected: Never expecting to go on shlichus, today he is the shliach at Dartmouth University.
In this podcast he tells us his amazing story and the lessons he learned along the way.
1 hr 59 min
November 10, 2023 Ep. 8 // "Empower the Individual" with Rabbi Moshe New
Rabbi Moshe New is the senior rabbi of the Montreal Torah Center and a shliach for over forty years.
In this episode, we talk about his upbringing in Australia and the changing Lubavitch landscape he observed as he travelled to the United States and finally to Montreal.
We also discuss how the landscape continues to change and how it might point in a more positive direction, namely with a more specific focus on empowering the individual.
1 hr 50 min
November 09, 2023 Ep. 7 // "Do I Really Belong Here?" with Captain Mendy Avtzon
Captain Mendy Avtzon is my brother and currently serves as a JAG lawyer in the United States Air Force.

In this episode, we discuss his rocky journey from shlichus in Hong Kong to yeshiva continents (and universes) away.

We discuss some things he wished he had found in yeshiva and also those things he hopes he will never lose.

*Any views expressed are personal and do not represent the views of the DoD or USAF.
1 hr 15 min
November 08, 2023 Ep. 6 // Emergency Podcast "Wartime Changes Everything Including Lubavitch" with Rabbi Shmully Hecht
Rabbi Shmully Hecht is the founder and senior Chabad rabbi at Yale, and co-founder of Shabtai, the global Jewish leadership community.
We discuss how everything changed this Simchas Torah and where we might go from here. Not only the world around us but also Lubavitch itself.
1 hr 43 min
October 16, 2023 Ep. 5 // "Does Shlichus Have Anything To Do With Me?" with Sholom Jacobs
Sholom Jacobs grew up on shlichus in Glasgow, Scotland and is today a successful real estate developer in Long Island where he lives with his family.
In this episode, we discuss his journey into business, how the Lubavitch perspective around business has changed over the years, and what he has carried with him from his days growing up on shlichus.
1 hr 18 min
October 09, 2023 Ep. 4 // Emergency Podcast "How Can We Think of Responding?" with IDF Veteran Leibel Mangel
Leibel Mangel is an IDF veteran who grew up on shlichus in Blue Ash, Ohio.
In this conversation, we discuss his perspective on the recent events in Israel as an IDF veteran and how one might respond in these uncertain times.
57 min
October 02, 2023 Ep. 3 // "Chinuch vs Shlichus" with Rabbi Shmuel Wagner
Rabbi Shmuel Wagner is a teacher at Lubavitcher Yeshiva Ocean Parkway.

We discuss the changing attitudes towards teaching and becoming a teacher.

We also discuss how one of his own teachers had a profound impact on how he dealt with his six year journey through infertility.
1 hr 34 min
September 26, 2023 Ep. 2 // "Am I a Lubavitcher?" with Eldad Drori
Eldad Drori is a Lubavitcher dentist who grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is also an avid powerlifter who has been working on his strength and fitness for more than thirty years.
We discuss how he reconciles his gym identity with his lubavitch identity, and how the identity that comes out of it is something both traceable to his family's past and yet entirely his own.
1 hr 15 min
September 15, 2023 Ep. 1 // "Is Lubavitch Identity in Question?" with Rabbi Yossi Nemes
Rabbi Yossi Nemes is a Shliach for more than thirty years in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans.

In our conversation, we discuss what it was like for him to learn in 770 back in the 80s, and what kinds of discussions about Lubavitch identity were taking place already back then.
1 hr 22 min