In this episode, I share a story about a book my husband handed me that cracked something open, and how discovering the legacy of Rebbetzin Devora Leah gave me language for a mission I’ve been living without knowing.

The name I carry has introduced me to parts of my soul I’ve only recently come to understand. I also reflect on what it means to honor the "animal soul" within us and why it may be the missing piece in the sacred work of marriage, motherhood, and inner connection.

For those learning that the journey to finding G-d starts with a journey inward into understanding ourselves, this one’s for you.

Thank you for listening,
 Lea

Subscribe to the More to the Story Podcast: www.youtube.com/@MTTSPodcast
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Listen to the More to the Story Podcast:
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In this episode of More to the Story, I talk about what it really means that Avraham believed. Not only that he believed in Hashem, but that he believed in his own ability to hear truth. He trusted what he received. He didn’t make himself small. That kind of faith is what begins every healing journey.

I also speak about why the first mitzvah Avraham is given is on the body. Hashem asks him to bring holiness into the most physical and vulnerable place. We are not meant to rise above our bodies, but to invite G-d into them.

Lech Lecha is said to every soul every year. Leave what you know. Go toward the part of you that is your promised land, and each year, take a deeper dive inward.

Thank you for listening,
Lea

Subscribe to the More to the Story Podcast: www.youtube.com/@MTTSPodcast
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Listen to the More to the Story Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | https://shorturl.at/JtdA9
Spotify | https://shorturl.at/DF2Ro

In this episode of More to the Story, I look back at last week’s Parsha and ahead to the one that’s coming, and I find myself standing right in between them. I talk about what it means to live with the Parsha, to feel that each week carries its own heartbeat, its own invitation to grow and return.

For me, connecting to the Parsha is not about studying alone. It is about being part of a living, breathing story that moves through time and through us. Each week offers its own light, its own work. Sometimes it fills us. Sometimes, like this week, it cleanses us.

Thank you for listening,

Lea

Subscribe to the More to the Story Podcast: www.youtube.com/@MTTSPodcast
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Listen to the More to the Story Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | https://shorturl.at/JtdA9
Spotify | https://shorturl.at/DF2Ro

In this episode of More to the Story, I talk about the very first Rashi in the Torah and how it is also Rashi’s own introduction to himself. Rashi asks why the Torah begins with the creation of the world instead of with the first commandment. The answer, he says, is that Hashem started with creation so that when the world accuses us of taking what is not ours, we can remember who the true Creator is.

The Rebbe takes it further. He explains that the land of Israel is not only a place on a map. It is also the most physical, resistant part of each of us, the part we are meant to conquer, inhabit, and make holy.

For me, this teaching is not only about land or politics. It is about healing. About not transcending darkness but meeting it, entering it, and finding G-d there. The world will tell you to rise above your pain. The Torah tells you to transform it.

If you have ever tried to escape your own shadows, this episode is an invitation to stop running and start revealing the light that is already inside them.

Thank you for listening,

Lea

Subscribe to the More to the Story Podcast: www.youtube.com/@MTTSPodcast
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Listen to the More to the Story Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | https://shorturl.at/JtdA9
Spotify | https://shorturl.at/DF2Ro

This episode was recorded just before Yom Kippur. It is about Teshuvah, but not in the way I once understood it. Like much of my life, its meaning keeps evolving. I reflect on how the language of repentance has often felt like a weapon, and how I am learning to reclaim it as something tender and true.

Like many of my offerings, this one is unpolished and raw. It is a voice memo of the soul, shared from the middle of the process. I speak about what Yom Kippur means to me this year, the questions I am still holding, and the version of G-d I am finally beginning to feel at home with.

If you have ever felt like you could not show up to Yom Kippur because of where you are or what you carry, this episode is for you.

Thank you for listening,

Lea

Subscribe to the More to the Story Podcast: www.youtube.com/@MTTSPodcast
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Listen to the More to the Story Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | https://shorturl.at/JtdA9
Spotify | https://shorturl.at/DF2Ro

In this Q&A, I speak from the place I’m still in, where clarity and doubt live together. I talk about nearly walking away from my marriage and what helped me stay. I share what it means to carry something too heavy alone and what becomes possible when both people keep showing up.

We talk about the power of the 12-step world and the places it cannot reach. I speak about the depth of plant medicine and the quiet strength of women I’ve met along the way. I share what it means to let go of self-contempt and begin to reclaim the parts of me that once had to disappear.

This is not about having answers. It is about staying open when the dark feels louder than the light.

If you’ve ever wondered if healing is still possible, I hope this conversation meets you gently and reminds you that you are not alone.

Thank you for listening,
Lea

Subscribe to the More to the Story Podcast: www.youtube.com/@MTTSPodcast
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Listen to the More to the Story Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | https://shorturl.at/JtdA9
Spotify | https://shorturl.at/DF2Ro

In this first episode of More to the Story, I return to where it all began. Not just the beginning of healing, but the beginning of me. I talk about growing up in Crown Heights in a large Chabad family, shaped by strong voices and quiet expectations, and the inner world I carried through it all.

I share what it was like to fall in love, become a mother, and then watch the life I had built start to crack open. I speak about discovering my husband’s addiction, how it stirred memories I had buried, and how I began reclaiming the right to tell my own story.

This episode is not about having answers. It is about being real. About learning how to hold pain and love at the same time. About what happens when silence starts to lift and shame no longer gets the last word.

I speak about therapy, body-based healing, plant medicine, and learning to see Chassidic and Kabbalistic texts not just as ideas, but as sources of personal healing.

If you have ever carried shame or silence, if you’ve questioned whether healing is possible, I hope this episode reminds you that you were never alone.

Thank you for listening,
Lea

Subscribe to the More to the Story Podcast: www.youtube.com/@MTTSPodcast
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Listen to the More to the Story Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | https://shorturl.at/JtdA9
Spotify | https://shorturl.at/DF2Ro