In this episode, I reflect on the powerful connection between the story of Purim and Parshas Ki Tisa.

The Torah brings us to one of the most painful moments in Jewish history: the sin of the Golden Calf. Why would the Torah preserve this story so publicly, our greatest betrayal, recorded for generations?

Through the courage of Esther and the leadership of Moshe, we explore a deeper truth: that even after failure, the relationship between G-d and the Jewish people can be rebuilt with greater love.

I speak about the feminine voice that rises through Esther, the courage to reclaim our voice in the face of darkness, and why Amalek always tries to silence that voice.

From the holiness of the Mishkan to the rhythm of Shabbos, Ki Tisa teaches us that serving G-d is not only found in spiritual moments, but in the physical details of everyday life.

Lea

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In this episode, I explore Parshat Tetzave and what it means that the Kohen is clothed before he serves. The Torah details every thread, every stone, every garment, and through it, teaches us something about dignity, identity, and spiritual agency.

I speak about 7 Adar and Moshe Rabbeinu as the archetype of redemption within us. I reflect on Amalek as the voice of doubt that weakens us from the inside, and on the teaching that we are no longer meant to serve G-d from being crushed, but from abundance.

Tetzave invites us to reconsider our relationship with clothing, food, and the ordinary rhythms of life. Holiness is not only found in elevated spaces, it waits for us in the mundane.

Lea

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In this episode, I explore what it means to build a Mishkan, not only in the desert, but within ourselves.

The Torah begins Terumah with the invitation: “Take for Me a contribution from every person whose heart moves them to give.” I reflect on the power of ratzon, our will, as the foundation of marriage, adulthood, and divine service. A sanctuary cannot be built from obligation alone. It must come from the heart.

We walk through the vessels of the Mishkan and their parallel within the human body: the Aron as the heart, the Menorah as the mind, the Shulchan as nourishment, the beams as our inner structure. I speak about reclaiming desire, maturing beyond our younger parts, and building a home where G-d can truly dwell.

Terumah is not only about gold and wood. It is about becoming a vessel that wants to give.

Lea

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In this episode, we return to Har Sinai, but not to the thunder and revelation, but to what came next.

Parshas Mishpatim moves us from the ecstasy of receiving the Torah into the detailed laws that shape a holy society. I explore what it means that immediately after Sinai, we are given laws about slavery, dignity, financial responsibility, protecting the vulnerable, honoring parents, and guarding the integrity of our communities.

These laws can feel technical or even uncomfortable. But beneath them is something deeply tender: G-d showing us the structure required for His presence to dwell among us.

Mishpatim asks: What kind of world are we building? Are we creating space for compassion, accountability, and protection of the widow, the orphan, and the convert? Are we strong enough to hold both the fire of revelation and the discipline of law?

Lea

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In this episode, I explore Parshas Yisro and what it truly means to receive the Torah. Not as an abstract moment in history, but as a binding marriage between God and the Jewish people.

I speak about why this Parsha is named for Yisro, what his arrival makes possible, and how structure and boundaries are not limitations but the conditions that allow intimacy to survive. I explore Moshe’s leadership, the cost borne by Tzipporah and their children, and why safeguarding the Jewish home is foundational to revelation.

We look at what it means to heed God’s voice not only through mitzvot, but through listening in real time, and why the Torah is given first to women, entrusted to the feminine heart to carry it into the home and into the next generation.

Yisro is not only about receiving the Torah. It is about learning how to hold holiness in the body, in marriage, in leadership, and in daily life.

Lea

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In this episode, I sit with Parshat Beshalach and share what its stories are teaching me about fear, trust, and timing. I reflect on what happens when faith collapses under pressure, how silence can be either oppression or power, and why learning when not to react is a form of spiritual maturity.

I speak about miracles that only arrive after movement, the difference between prayer and action, and what it means to walk forward before the path is clear. I explore the feminine capacity to hold discomfort, the danger of ignoring fear, and how trust is rebuilt one day at a time through daily dependence, like the manna in the desert.

I end with a personal reflection on vulnerability as a doorway to miracles, how God often speaks through people, and what it means to lead with an open heart even when certainty is absent.

Lea

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In this episode of More to the Story, I learn Parshas Bo and reflect on what happens when redemption finally turns from concept into movement. We walk through the last of the plagues and the first of the mitzvos, especially sanctifying the moon and Korban Pesach - the moment we leave Egypt with our families and reclaim our voice.

But Bo also reads like an inner map: redemption begins when we’re willing to face Pharaoh, the darkest chamber we’ve avoided, and say yes to G-d before we feel clean, ready, or worthy. I share what it means to move beyond “trust” as an idea and begin living with G-d as a felt reality by reclaiming our senses, clearing what numbs us, and letting the soul come fully home in the body.

Lea

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In this episode I reflect on the story of the plagues, not as history but as an inner map. Egypt is not only a place we once left, it is a state of constriction that lives inside us. Va’eira is the moment when redemption begins to touch what has been numb, defended, or frozen.

I explore how the plagues are not random punishments, but precise corrections to a worldview that separates G-d from nature, spirit from body, masculine from feminine. Each plague confronts a different form of coldness, indifference, denial, misplaced passion, and invites warmth, presence, and responsibility back into the system.

Va’eira teaches that healing does not begin by escaping the physical world, but by allowing divinity to enter it. Redemption starts when we stop outsourcing truth, stop blaming ourselves, and become a clear portal for what wants to move through us.

Lea

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0:00 Part 1 – Overview of the Parsha
1:09:28 Part 2 – Deep Dive + Commentary

In this episode, I explore why this Parsha is called “Names,” and what it means to hold onto your identity in a place that wants to reshape you. I talk about faith and scarcity, how money, food, and “security” can either strengthen trust in Hashem or feed exile-mindset. I reflect on how exile only has power when we internalize it, and how unity, especially guarding our speech, becomes a spiritual protection.

From there I touch on the confusion of masculine and feminine roles, what it does to the soul, and why returning to our design matters. I end with what felt like the beating heart of this Parsha for me: children, redemption, and the cost of bringing life into a world that feels unsafe, including a personal share I’ve never said out loud before, and what it means to trust prayer even when the process includes detox, discomfort, and waiting.

Lea

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In this episode, I explore Parshat Vayechi, the final Parsha of Sefer Bereishit, the moment where exile quietly begins. As Yaakov and Yosef prepare to leave this world, the Torah shifts us into a new phase: one where G-d is no longer revealed from above, but discovered from within.

I reflect on Yosef’s descent into Mitzrayim as the original map for Jewish exile, and on the role of Rachel as the hidden mother who accompanies her children through darkness. Through Midrash and Chassidic teachings, I look at how Yosef learned to see G-d in the pit, in betrayal, and in displacement, and how that vision becomes the foundation for our survival in golus.

We explore Yaakov’s insistence on burial in the land of his fathers and the blessing of Menashe and Efraim as two stages of avodah: restraint and transformation. I also reflect on the idea that tzaddikim do not truly die, and what it means to live with inner vision even when the light feels concealed.

This episode is an invitation to approach exile not as a punishment, but as a compassionate path through which the soul learns to see more clearly.

Lea

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