In this episode of In Search of More, Meir and I sit down to reflect on the journey of Ahdama and the inner work that’s shaped it.What started as an idea has become something much bigger, and this conversation is really about where we are in that process. Not just externally, but internally.We talk about what it takes to hold space for other men while doing your own work in real time. The shift from living on the surface to building something rooted. The responsibility that comes with growth, and the parts of ourselves that resist it.We go inside what actually happens in Ahdama, not the activities, but the environment. The safety, the honesty, and the willingness to sit with what most people spend their lives avoiding.From there, we explore how this work impacts everything else: relationships, money, faith, and identity. How stepping into this kind of work forces you to confront yourself, and ultimately become someone who can hold more.This conversation is a snapshot of where Ahdama is right now - still evolving, still deepening, and still asking more from us.See you on the other side,Eli

In this episode of In Search of More, the conversation with Mordy Richler continues, but this time it turns personal.What starts as a discussion about people who run away from money becomes a live exploration of my own relationship with it. Mordy steps into his role as a “financial therapist,” and together we unpack something rarely spoken about: the fear that can come with success.We explore the strange paradox of building something meaningful while secretly wanting to escape it. What happens when success feels less like a dream and more like a responsibility you didn’t choose? When the higher you climb, the more you feel the risk of falling?The conversation moves through themes of fear, jealousy, responsibility, and faith, and the uncomfortable realization that sometimes the thing we resist most is the very thing we may be called to do.We also discuss the difference between delegation and abdication, why money requires precision, and how our relationship with responsibility often shapes our relationship with wealth.This episode is less about financial strategy and more about the internal struggle that can exist on both sides of money, whether someone is drowning in debt or quietly running from success.See you on the other side,Eli

In this episode of In Search of More, I sit down with Mordy Richler from Kosher Debt Help for a conversation that begins with debt and quickly moves into something much deeper. We break down credit cards and what really happens when someone falls behind. There is a lot of confusion around how the system works, and we wanted to bring clarity. But as we talk, it becomes clear that debt is rarely just about math. It is usually about what is happening underneath.Mordy shares his own twenty year journey with money, including the immature beliefs, the risky decisions, and the belief that success should have come easier than it did. Over time he realized his financial struggles were not just financial. They were the tip of the iceberg. We explore how debt can mirror addiction, how shame keeps people quiet, and how many people, some who look fine on the outside, are carrying serious pressure. We also look at the moment we are living in where credit is accessible and leverage is normal. Which means the real work today is not access to money but discipline with it. See you on the other side,Eli

In this episode of In Search of More, I sit down with Rabbi Alon Anava for a deep and honest conversation about money, purpose, and spiritual growth.We begin with something that’s been on my mind a lot lately - our relationship with money. Rabbi Alon shares a powerful framework: food, sexuality, and money as core areas where we’re all being refined. From earning honestly to giving generously, we explore how money can either become an idol, or a tool for elevation.Rabbi Alon also opens up about his past: addiction, crime, jail time and the near-death experience that completely redirected his life. We talk about truth, charity, boundaries in helping others, and what it means to live with urgency in a world that constantly distracts us.This one is real, reflective, and grounded. If you’re thinking about how to live with more intention, especially around money and time, there’s a lot here.See you on the other side,Eli

In this episode of In Search of More, I sit down with Ryan for an unfiltered conversation about money - not how to make it, but how to live with it.

We explore the ways we lose ourselves in our relationship with money. Merging our identity with it. Trying to control it. Withdrawing and pretending it doesn’t matter. None of these paths lead to peace, and most of us move between one, two or all three of these.

We talk about how fear dresses up as responsibility, control disguises itself as wisdom, and why avoiding money is often bypass, not holiness. We get into what building a vessel for money truly means.

This isn’t a conversation about getting rich. It’s about staying whole while in relationship with money without letting it define us or drain us.

See you on the other side,

Eli

In this episode of In Search of More, I sit down with my friend Ryan. We’ve known each other nearly twenty years, but this conversation goes deeper than we’ve ever gone before.We talk about money, success, identity, and the parts of ourselves we’d rather not face. We’ve been through different versions of the grind, from street life to business to family, and we speak honestly about the choices that shaped us. The demons that didn’t take us out. The pressure and silence that often come with money, even when it looks like freedom from the outside.This isn’t a playbook. It’s a real look at what we inherit, what we earn, and what we’re forced to confront when life hands us both. If you’ve ever felt alone in your ambition or unsure what success is costing you, this one might land.A new chapter starts here.See you on the other side,Eli

In this episode, I sit down again with Rabbi Baruch Gartner who presents a clear framework for understanding shame not as a flaw, but as something built into creation, the “orlah”, the protective armor that eventually disconnects us from ourselves, others, and God. Drawing from Rebbe Nachman, Tanya, and the Baal Shem Tov, he explains how facing embarrassment is actually the gateway to joy, creativity, and reconnection.

From there, we explore money, one of the more challenging subjects. We talk about transformative giving, the relationship between business and Torah learning, and how money can either drown a person or elevate them, depending on the quality of their connection.

We then zoom out to the collective: baseless hatred, unity, exile, and healing. Rabbi Gartner shares a bold idea, that small pockets of genuine unity and sincerity can shift the larger story, not through perfection, but through real connection.

This conversation doesn’t fit neatly into a category. It’s part vulnerability, part mysticism, part challenge, and part personal struggle, an honest exploration of the blocks within us and the hunger for something more alive and true.

See you on the other side,

Eli

In this episode, I sit with Benji Elson, author of Dance of the Omer. His work lives at the meeting point of Torah, psychology and sustainable living. His own path from a strict yeshiva world, through ashrams and silent retreats in India, and back into a renewed relationship with Judaism, creates the backdrop for the conversation. Through that journey he opens a way of reading Torah that is rooted in land, in seasons, in the body. And he keeps naming that this is only one face among the seventy, one interpretive layer that can stand alongside many others without canceling them out.

We explore how the core Jewish holidays can function like an annual tune-up of our relationship with the physical world. Pesach as a reset around grain and simple food. Shavuot as a check-in around fruit, milk and our use of animals. Sukkot as a conversation with water, climate and the shape of our cities. Benji shows how mitzvot such as the four species, bikurim, meat and milk, city greenbelts and Shabbat boundaries can form a kind of spiritual ecology that shapes how we eat, build, consume and live on land with more clarity and care.

We also speak about disillusionment with religious authority, and why stepping away is not always a trauma script. Sometimes it is simply the next honest step. And we look at how greater awareness around food, animals and place can become part of our inner work rather than a lifestyle performance. If you are curious how Torah can be read through the lens of nature while still making space for psychological, spiritual and relational depth, this conversation offers a fresh way of seeing.

See you on the other side,

Eli

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To connect with Benji

Website | www.elson-psychotherapy.com

Email | [email protected]

Instagram | @benji_elson

Link to the book "Dance of the Omer" by Benji Elson on Amazon | https://a.co/d/fO5QH1V

In this episode, I sit down with Eric Samra, a man who flipped the script. Instead of grinding toward some distant retirement, he started by asking a different question: What does my dream life actually cost? Then he built the financial structure to support it. Not later. Now.We talk about what happens when a man stops accepting the default narrative and starts living by design. We talk money, yes, but also the mindset behind it. The courage to choose clarity over convention.We also talk weed. Eric shares the arc of his long, mostly “functional” relationship with marijuana and why, in the end, it felt like the opposite of the freedom he was working so hard to build. We explore that blurry line between “I’m good, I’m managing” and “This thing owns me.” And what it really takes to cross back over.Health. Family. Spirit. Men’s work. For me, the 12 steps. These aren’t abstract ideas. They’re practical tools for waking up.If you’re wrestling with money, rethinking your relationship to substances, or starting to wonder how it’s all connected, this one’s worth a listen.See you on the other side,Eli

What if the essence of Judaism was never meant to be about behavior alone, but about dveykus, a deep soul-level connection to the Divine?

That is what this conversation is about.In this episode of In Search of More, I sit down with Rabbi Doniel Katz, founder of the Elevation Project, who has been on a mission to revive the spiritual technologies of Torah that most of us were never taught. Doniel is not interested in making Judaism more modern or palatable. He is trying to make it real again. To bring back the tools like meditation, breathwork, and inner refinement that our tradition always had but buried out of fear, trauma, and exile. We talk about what dveykus actually means, not a vague spiritual buzzword but a lived experience of radical presence and attachment to God.

We explore how Judaism lost that fire and how Elevation is working to restore it. Doniel has faced pushback, even being called a heretic and written off by segments of the ultra-Orthodox world who would rather preserve the image of holiness than wrestle with what holiness really demands.

Together we dig into how to navigate criticism without alienating supporters and how to stay focused on the mission instead of getting lost in endless battles.

One of the parts of our conversation that stayed with me was Doniel’s take on psychedelics. While he stopped short of claiming they are found in Judaism as some suggest, he was willing to explore the role these experiences might play in the larger search for the Divine. Hearing that from someone so rooted in Torah made me pause and consider how broad and inclusive our spiritual conversations can really be.

For me this was not only an interview but also a mirror. I walked away asking myself how much of my own energy goes into fighting battles instead of building what I set out to build. That is why I believe this episode will challenge you, not just to think differently about Judaism, but to reflect on your own search for more.

See you on the other side,

Eli