Tattoos and Torah

Have you ever made a resolution but didn't follow through? This week, Rabbi Iggy discusses how to rethink goal-setting around the new year, from developing strategies and building an accountability team, to avoiding the pitfalls of magical thinking. If you want to learn how to leverage the new year to take steps toward a more robust recovery and a life of meaning, this episode is for you!

How can the Hebrew month of Elul be a catalyst for personal transformation?The month of Elul is dedicated to reflecting on how we live our lives, the values that drive us, and the balance between accountability, remorse, growth and rejuvenation. This week, Rabbi Iggy ruminates on this essential period and the purpose of the high holidays. By contemplating the values he personally plans to focus on this fall, Rabbi Iggy takes us on a journey of connection, creativity and refection.If you want to learn how to make the most of this crucial moment in Jewish life, this episode is for you!

What role does dating play in modern life, and why is it more complicated and confusing than ever?Rabbi Iggy spoke with Serial Dater Phil and Dating Detoxer Liz, hosts of the Unhinged and Bumbled Up podcast, where they offer a light-hearted, relatable and irreverent look at the world of modern dating. In this week's podcast, you can expect dating do’s, don’ts and disasters, with some spit-your-tea-out-funny personal anecdotes, as they bare all about their dating lives. Rabbi Iggy, Phil and Lizz talk about love, rejection, life choices, and the unique partnership they formed as podcast hosts.If you're curious about the complex world of dating, romance, and connection, and what it says about the modern human condition, then this podcast is for you!

What should we consider when bringing an interfaith approach into our family systems, community and greater culture?In this episode of Tattoos & Torah, Rabbi Iggy speaks with author + journalist Susan Katz Miller about bringing greater awareness to the crucial issue of interfaith life, identity and experiences within the Jewish community and, indeed, all communities of faith.Susan is considered the top expert on interfaith families that follow more than one religion, and has spoken across the country and abroad on this topic. She is author of the book Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family, as well as an interactive book designed to help all families figure out their own best pathway, entitled The Interfaith Family Journal.Rabbi Iggy and Susan talk about the issues and challenges that arise within modern families structures, as well as the advantages of bringing an interfaith approach into communal dynamics. If you’re interested in how an interfaith approach can inform both family and individual identity development, as well as the way it can promote a life of meaning, then this episode is for you!

What does it take to lead a movement that transforms our nation (and world)? Rabbi Iggy spoke with Evan Wolfson, a pioneer for same-sex marriage and advisor for some of the most important social justice movements today. Evan Wolfson is an attorney and gay rights advocate who founded the historic Freedom to Marry nonprofit. He is also author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People’s Right to Marry, which Time Out New York magazine called, “Perhaps the most important gay-marriage primer ever written…”Rabbi Iggy and Evan discuss persistence, grit, determination and how to deal with setbacks and disappointments when you’re going after your mission in life. The conversation traverses identity, human rights and the triumph of right action. If you want to learn about the journey of a social justice warrior, then this episode is for you!

What can we learn from commemorating the destruction of temple in Jerusalem, a structure lost over 2000 years ago? How is it relevant to today’s world? This week, Rabbi Iggy talks about the choices we make (and the consequences of those choices). Examining the intersection of cultural awareness, sovereignty as well as our individual and collective roles in history, he illuminates the modern lesson that has roots in an ancient catastrophe. If you’re interested in zooming in on an example of the past informing our present, then you’ll love this episode

Shannon Smith encapsulates the intersection of recovery, Buddhism and motherhood unlike most contemporary dharma teachers. For Shannon Smith, integrating the dharma and 12-step Recovery that has resulted in more than 25 years of sobriety.In this episode of Tattoos & Torah, Rabbi Iggy and Shannon Smith talk about secular Buddhism and how it supports addiction recovery. They also discuss the importance of pursuing one’s passions, as well as creating the rise of female-led voices in the Buddhist community. If you’re interested in learning more about these intersections and accessing ways to explore these elements in your own life and recovery, then this episode is for you!