What can Torah teach us about anxiety, grief, resilience, shame—and the work of healing a shattered heart?

On this episode of Search for Meaning, I sit down with Rabbi Dr. Tal Sessler, author of Torah for Mental Health: Jewish Wisdom for Psychological Growth. A rabbi, philosopher, spiritual counselor, and psychotherapist-in-training, Tal has spent his career exploring the intersection of Jewish wisdom, philosophy, and the human search for meaning.

His new book begins with a striking Jewish idea: brokenness is not an aberration. According to the Kabbalistic teaching of shevirat ha-kelim—the breaking of the vessels—it is woven into the very fabric of creation. From there, Tal brings Torah into conversation with contemporary psychology, exploring Moses’s despair, Jacob’s wrestling, Joseph as a “wounded healer,” and the extraordinary human capacity for resilience and growth.

We talk about what rabbis can learn from therapists—and therapists from rabbis; the difference between surviving trauma and growing through it; and whether faith and religious practice can actually help heal what the Psalmist calls the “shattered heart.”

We also discuss a particularly moving connection between Tal and Rachel Goldberg-Polin. At the beginning of her memoir about her son Hersh, When We See You Again, she quotes three words from Tal: “Words are redemptive.” We explore what those words mean in the aftermath of unimaginable loss—and why telling our stories can itself become part of the work of healing.

It’s a conversation about brokenness and resilience, Torah and psychology, the power of language, and what Jewish wisdom can teach us about becoming more whole.

Learn more about Tal at https://www.rabbisessler.com

Rabbi Yoshi’s derash from Beach Shabbat, delivered on Shabbat Nachamu — the Sabbath of Comfort that always follows Tisha b’Av.

Beginning with a personal story from his own wedding thirty years ago, Rabbi Yoshi explores what it means to love God “b’chol levavcha” — with all of your heart — and why our tradition asks us to bless God not only in the good times, but in the painful ones too. Drawing on this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Vaetchanan, the Mishnah’s teaching on gratitude, and a hidden echo of the Book of Lamentations found in our daily prayers, this message speaks to the moment we’re living through — a “Golden Age” of American Jewish life now shadowed by rising antisemitism — and points toward Tu b’Av, the festival of love, just six days away.

🎥 Recorded at Stephen Wise Temple’s Beach Shabbat, Santa Monica

Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback welcomes back civil rights attorney and Zioness founder Amanda Berman for her second appearance on Search for Meaning. Recorded days after Tisha B'Av, the conversation opens with the atmosphere in New York following Mayor Mamdani's video calling Prime Minister Netanyahu a war criminal, the mayor's Tisha B'Av statement, and a stabbing on the Upper West Side — and what it feels like, right now, to be a visible Jewish activist in the city.

From there, Amanda unpacks the framework she's spent years refining: the distinct categories of Jews, Judaism, Israel, and Zionism, and why collapsing them into one another fuels both antisemitism and bad-faith political attacks — including on committed Zionists like Rahm Emanuel. She makes the case against binary language like "pro-Israel" and "anti-Israel," and argues for why Zionism still matters as a living movement even 78 years after Israeli statehood.

The second half turns to hope: the Black-Jewish coalition work Amanda has built alongside Rabbi Zweiback and Bishop Michael Fisher, including their trip to Israel timed to the Ethiopian holiday of Sigd, the "wedge issues" that complicate Black-Jewish solidarity today, and what real, non-transactional coalition-building actually requires.

Learn more or get involved at zioness.org.

What really happened to hatred in America after World War II?

Most of us were taught that defeating Hitler marked a turning point — that America emerged from the war more tolerant, more unified, more committed to its democratic ideals. Historian Steven J. Ross is here to tell us that story is a myth. And he has the documents to prove it.

In this episode, Rabbi Yoshi sits down with one of America's most compelling Jewish historians to discuss Ross's new book, The Secret War Against Hate: American Resistance to Antisemitism and White Supremacy — a USA Today bestseller that uncovers a hidden chapter of postwar American history. When the war ended, antisemitism and racism didn't recede. They surged. Organized hate groups more than doubled between 1940 and 1946, and a network of domestic terrorists set about — in their own words — finishing the job Hitler had begun.

But that's only half the story. The other half is about the people who fought back: the citizen-spies recruited by the ADL, the American Jewish Committee, and the Anti-Nazi League, who infiltrated these groups at great personal risk and brought their dangerous work to light. Their names have been largely forgotten. Ross gives them back to us.

Rabbi Yoshi and Steve talk about the history, what it illuminates about this moment in American Jewish life, and — in true Search for Meaning fashion — where a man who has spent his career in some of the darkest chapters of human experience still finds hope and meaning.

About Steven J. Ross

Steven J. Ross is Dean's Professor of History at the University of Southern California and the Myron and Marian Casden Director of the Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life. The first person in his family to go to college, he holds degrees from Columbia, Oxford, and Princeton.

His books include Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Los Angeles Times bestseller; Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics, winner of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Film Scholars Award; and Working-Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America, nominated for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

His latest book is The Secret War Against Hate: American Resistance to Antisemitism and White Supremacy (Bloomsbury, 2026).

More at his USC Dornsife faculty page: https://dornsife.usc.edu/profile/steve-ross/

Learn about the book at https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/secret-war-against-hate-9781635578003/

In this urgent follow-up to their conversation from June 2025, Rabbi Yoshi sits down again with Ambassador Gary Grappo — former U.S. Ambassador to Oman, Chief of Staff to the Middle East Quartet, and one of America's most seasoned diplomatic voices — to make sense of the Iran MOU signed just days before this recording. Together they examine what the deal actually does and doesn't do, why the Strait of Hormuz provision troubles so many observers, and what meaningful nuclear verification would require from a regime that has never won a war and never lost a negotiation. Ambassador Grappo speaks candidly about what disappoints him in this moment — a war he believes was unnecessary, a strategy that attacked Iran at its strongest rather than its most vulnerable point, and an MOU so loosely worded that either side can walk away from nearly any commitment it contains. And yet he finds reason for genuine, if cautious, hope: the Iranian government has never been weaker since 1979, its economy is in desperate straits, and the pressure from ordinary Iranians on their leadership to deliver relief may yet prove to be the most powerful force in the room. Drawing on nearly four decades of experience in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Israel, and Oman, Ambassador Grappo brings clarity, candor, and hard-won realism to one of the most consequential moments in the modern Middle East.

Recorded June 24, 2026. Released July 3, 2026.

In this episode of Search for Meaning, Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback speaks with author Ralph Shayne about his graphic novel Hour of Need: The Daring Escape of the Danish Jews during World War II, illustrated by Danish comics artist Tatiana Goldberg.

Inspired by the childhood experience of Shayne’s mother, the book tells the remarkable story of the 1943 rescue of Denmark’s Jewish community. When the Nazis moved to deport Danish Jews, ordinary citizens—neighbors, teachers, clergy, fishermen, and members of the resistance—risked their lives to help more than 7,000 Jews escape across the Øresund Strait to safety in Sweden. 

Developed in partnership with the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, Hour of Need brings this extraordinary chapter of Holocaust history to life through powerful storytelling and evocative illustrations. 

In their conversation, Rabbi Zweiback and Shayne explore family memory, Jewish identity, the moral courage of ordinary people, and the unique power of graphic storytelling to bring history to new generations. The episode also reflects on the enduring lessons of Denmark’s rescue effort—and what it means for societies today when individuals choose courage over indifference.

Learn more and explore the resources connected to this story:

Book: Hour of Need: The Daring Escape of the Danish Jews during World War II
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Hour-of-Need/Ralph-Shayne/9781499813579

Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
https://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org

Educators' Guide

Reza Farahan is known to millions as the breakout star of Shahs of Sunset. In this candid and moving conversation, Reza joins Rabbi Yoshi to discuss his new book, Memoirs of a Gay Shah, and the remarkable journey that shaped him—from fleeing Iran as a child during the revolution, to navigating life as the son of a Jewish father and Muslim mother, to coming out as a gay man in a deeply traditional culture. 

Together, they explore identity, belonging, resilience, and the search for authenticity. Reza reflects on the loneliness of growing up feeling caught between worlds, the pain of rejection, the transformative power of embracing his Jewish identity, and the impact of October 7 on his connection to the Jewish people and Israel. Along the way, he shares hard-earned wisdom about perseverance, gratitude, and his conviction that even life’s greatest hardships can become unexpected gifts. 

As Pride Month invites us to celebrate the dignity and worth of every human being, Reza’s story is a powerful reminder of the courage it takes to live truthfully and the freedom that comes from embracing every part of who we are. His journey—from secrecy and fear to self-acceptance, love, and purpose—offers hope to anyone who has ever wondered whether they truly belong. 

This is an honest, heartfelt conversation about courage, self-discovery, and what it means to live fully and unapologetically as yourself. Happy Pride. 

https://www.amazon.com/Memoirs-Gay-Shah-Persian-Bubble/dp/1464218277

In this episode of Search for Meaning, Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback welcomes Rabbi Michael Zedek back to the podcast on the occasion of his second book, People Are Like…: Stories for Young Readers and Readers Who Wish to Stay Young. A beloved teacher, storyteller, and rabbi, Rabbi Zedek joins Rabbi Yoshi for a warm and thoughtful conversation about the wisdom hidden in everyday life—and why some of life’s deepest truths are often best conveyed through simple stories.

Drawing from the book’s memorable parables about porcupines, dogs, redwood trees, monkeys, and more, the two rabbis explore themes of empathy, connection, resilience, kindness, and spiritual growth. Rabbi Zedek reflects on what children can teach adults, how stories shape moral imagination, and why compassion and community remain at the heart of a meaningful life.

The conversation also touches on Rabbi Zedek’s decades of leadership, teaching, interfaith work, and public dialogue, including his many years hosting Religion on the Line. Filled with humor, heart, and gentle wisdom, this episode is both uplifting and deeply grounding.

https://ascendbooks.com/publications/people-are-like/

In this episode of Search for Meaning, Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback sits down with actor and painter Lisa Edelstein and artist Robert Russell to discuss their powerful new exhibition, A Palace in Time, at the Skirball Cultural Center.

Inspired by Abraham Joshua Heschel’s timeless vision of Shabbat as “a palace in time,” the exhibition explores memory, ritual, Jewish identity, family, love, and the holiness embedded in ordinary moments. Through Russell’s luminous still lifes of ritual objects and Edelstein’s evocative paintings drawn from family photographs, the couple creates an intimate meditation on what we choose to remember—and why.

Their conversation with Rabbi Yoshi touches on the relationship between art and spirituality, the emotional impact of October 7, the role of nostalgia in Jewish life, and the experience of creating art as partners in both marriage and creativity. Together, they reflect on how beauty, ritual, and storytelling can help us navigate grief, deepen connection, and reclaim moments of sacred presence in an anxious world.

Thoughtful, moving, and deeply human, this episode is an exploration of how art can become both memory and sanctuary.

In this episode of Search for Meaning, Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback sits down with speaker, author, and advocate Brandon Farbstein for a deeply honest and moving conversation about identity, resilience, and what it truly means to belong.

Born with a rare form of dwarfism, Brandon shares what it was like growing up facing bullying and exclusion — and how those early experiences shaped his sense of self. With candor and insight, he reflects on the inner work it took to move from feeling defined by others’ perceptions to embracing his own voice and purpose.

Together, they explore the difference between visibility and belonging, the emotional reality of resilience, and the responsibility that comes with being seen as an inspiration. Grounded in questions of dignity and human connection, this conversation challenges us to reconsider how we see one another — and ourselves.

This is a conversation about turning pain into purpose, and about discovering strength in the very places we once felt most vulnerable.

https://brandonfarbstein.com/