Homesick for Lubavitch

By Homesick for LubavitchReligion & Spirituality Judaism

Homesick for Lubavitch episodes

May 19, 2024 Ep. 30 // "My Struggle With Chitas" w/ Fitz Rabin
Before becoming a full time life coach, Fitz Rabin was a master sofer for over a decade.
Over the years, Fitz struggled to identify with some of the practices seen as basic to being a Lubavitcher, namely the study of Chitas. Today, he celebrates 1000 days of learning chitas before shkiya.
We discuss the feelings of alienation from mass practice, the search for individual connection and the general tension between being true to yourself within a broader community.
2 hr 36 min
May 12, 2024 Ep. 29 // “On Lubavitch Community” w/ Mrs. Vivi Deren
Mrs. Vivi Deren grew up in Nashville, Tenessee as one of the first children of shluchim in the Unites States. Today she lives in Connecticut where she has been on shlichus with her husband for nearly fifty years.
In this episode, she speaks about her parents growing up as chassidim in the United States of the 1920s and 1930s, and about her grandparents who raised them.
We speak about how the community of Lubavitch in the United States has changed since, and how the Lubavitch ethic of individualism fits with the growth of community.
2 hr 41 min
May 05, 2024 Ep. 28 // "The Price We Pay For Shlichus" w/ Rabbi Yossi Morozov
Rabbi Yossi Morozov grew up in Brooklyn and was on shlichus with his family for twelve years in Ulyanovsk, a city one thousand kilometers east of Moscow.
After being forced to leave Russia, Yossi moved with his family to the Pomona area in New York and became a life insurance agent.
In this conversation we discuss his choices to go on shlichus and then into business and the challenges these choices posed to his own Lubavitch identity.
1 hr 16 min
April 14, 2024 Ep. 27 // "The Paradox of Empowerment" w/ Rabbi Simon Jacobson
Rabbi Simon Jacobson is known today as a bestselling author and founder of the Meaningful Life Center.
But for many years he was one of the transcribers and editors of the Rebbe’s Farbrengen.
In this conversation we discuss some of the paradoxes he observed over the years, both regarding the Rebbe’s use of technology in sharing the Farbrengen around the world but also in how the Rebbe empowered his chassidim to think for themselves.
1 hr 54 min
April 07, 2024 Ep. 26 // "The Lack of Atmosphere" w/ Rabbi Ruvi New
Rabbi Ruvi New grew up in Melbourne, Australia and is a shliach today in Boca Raton, Florida.
In this conversation, we discuss the changing dynamics of Lubavitch identity in the decade between his and his oldest's brother, Moshe New, cross Pacific journeys to 770.
We also discuss how over those years there seemed to be a tipping point of an "arum," or atmosphere, that brought more and more of Lubavitch into a powerful core, and where that leaves us today.
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Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.
Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected]
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1 hr 16 min
March 31, 2024 Ep. 25 // "The Line Between Good and Bad" w/ Eli Nash
Eli Nash is a businessman and philanthropist who grew up in Crown Heights and lives today in South Florida.
Starting with his efforts to raise awareness about sexual abuse and then porn addiction, Eli has become very active in different causes surrounding mental health in the community.
In this episode, we discuss his own journey away from (and back to?) Lubavitch, the individuals who pointed him back to his roots, and the challenging work of finding the good from the bad.
1 hr 25 min
March 25, 2024 Ep. 24 // "Lubavitch Sense of Worthiness" w/ R' Chaim Itche Drizin
R' Chaim Itche Drizin was one of the first shluchim to set out in the late 60s, directing Chabad of Northern California from his Chabad House in Berkeley.
Today he works as a therapist who in the course of his work speaks with many young men and women in the Lubavitch community.
In our conversation, we speak about his growing up as the youngest son of the famed chossid, R' Avrohom Maayor, the gap between him and his father's generation, a how this "gap of translation" persists to this very day.
1 hr 38 min
March 17, 2024 Ep. 23 // "Should We Still Be Yearning?" w/ Rabbi Moshe Gourarie
Rabbi Moshe Gourarie grew up in Detroit and is shlichus today in Toms River, New Jersey. He is also the co-founder of Project Likkutei Sichos.
Growing up, his plan was always to complete mesivta in Detroit and then "get to Heaven" in Crown Heights next to the Rebbe. These plans came to an abrupt halt at one evening in mesivta where the boys were told that the "Rebbe had fallen."
In this conversation, we discuss how a teenage Bochur processed the "rug being pulled from beneath him" and how his feelings about holding on to the past and moving into the present have evolved since.
1 hr 58 min
March 10, 2024 Ep. 22 // "How Far Can Video Take Us?" w/ Rabbi Elkanah Shmotkin
FOR TECHNICAL REASONS, AUDIO FOR LAST TWENTY MINUTES IS LESS THAN OPTIMAL. APOLOGIES - B
Rabbi Elkanah Shmotkin is the executive director of JEM, which is responsible for creating tens of thousands of hours of video content of and about the Rebbe.
All Lubavitchers have watched something made by JEM, and in many ways the "Rebbe video" has become a staple of the Lubavitch way of life.
In this episode, we discuss how the idea originated, the limitations and possibilities in video, and where exactly the videos take us.
1 hr 58 min
March 03, 2024 Ep. 21 // "Moving Beyond Process" w/ Rabbi Dovber Pinson
Rabbi Dovber Pinson is a shliach, scholar and prolific author.
Spinning off from a previous off-the-podcast conversation, Rabbi Pinson presented a hypothesis about the unique similarities between the Rebbe and the Baal Shem Tov, and what it might mean to us.
This led to an eye-opening conversation about the radical turn of Dor Hashvii in Lubavitch thought and some of its far reaching implications.
1 hr 30 min