The Jewish Psychedelic Podcast

Rabbi Zac speaks to Dr. Roman Palitsky, Director of Research Projects for Emory Spiritual Health and a Research Psychologist for Emory University School of Medicine. Zac and Roman discuss the launch of a joint research project between Emory and Shefa, Jewish Journeys, the first population study of Jewish attitudes, practices, and needs towards psychedelics, generously funded by Common Era.

Dr Roman Palitsky's Bio: Roman Palitsky, MDiv, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Director of Research Projects in Spiritual Health at Emory University, and he is faculty in the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality. His research applies a bio-psycho-social-spiritual approach to improving behavioral interventions by ensuring that the treatments we offer are responsive to care seekers’ cultural needs and strengths. His work in psychedelic treatment research reflects these commitments by seeking to make psychedelic therapies rigorous, effective, and accountable to the many patient populations who might benefit from them, and to support those care seekers who may experience adverse effects.

This podcast is offered as a free community resource by Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support. If you feel moved to donate to support this work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you may do so on⁠ our website⁠.⁠⁠⁠

Our intro and outro music is an excerpt of the song ⁠Ein Od⁠ by ⁠Yosef Goldman⁠.

This episode is apart of Awakening Consciousness: Shefa’s High Holiday Beit Midrash

This podcast is offered as a free community resource by Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support. If you feel moved to donate to support this work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠you may do so on⁠ our website⁠.⁠⁠

Our intro and outro music is an excerpt of the song ⁠Ein Od⁠ by ⁠Yosef Goldman⁠.

This episode is apart of Awakening Consciousness: Shefa’s High Holiday Beit Midrash

This podcast is offered as a free community resource by Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support. If you feel moved to donate to support this work, ⁠⁠⁠you may do so on⁠ our website⁠.⁠

Our intro and outro music is an excerpt of the song ⁠Ein Od⁠ by ⁠Yosef Goldman⁠.

This episode is a part of Awakening Consciousness: Shefa’s High Holiday Beit Midrash.

This podcast is offered as a free community resource by Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support. If you feel moved to donate to support this work, ⁠⁠you may do so on⁠ our website⁠.

Our intro and outro music is an excerpt of the song ⁠Ein Od⁠ by ⁠Yosef Goldman⁠.

This episode is apart of Awakening Consciousness: Shefa’s High Holiday Beit Midrash

In the memory of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and all those innocent lives who have been lost, Rabbi Zac shares some of his psychedelic torah to end this year and look out to the next.

Rabbi Zac speaks to Robert Ansin, CEO of Healing Hearts Changing Minds, about his experience of awakening to love and unity after high-dose psilocybin experiences, and his commitment to support marginal communities in the psychedelic field.

Rabbi Zac speaks with psychologist, author, researcher and podcaster Dr. Hillary McBride. Zac and Hillary speak about the notion and practice of embodiment, connecting with Divinity, and working with psychedelics  as means of coming into relationships with one’s body. You can read more about Hillary's work and buy her amazing books here.

Dr. Hillary McBride's Bio: Hillary McBride, PhD, is a Registered Psychologist, researcher, podcastor, and author, but underneath all of that she is a human, who loves asking questions about what it means to be human, how we heal and grow, and what it means to be a body. She publishes written works for community and academic audiences about embodiment, trauma, eating disorders, mental health and spirituality; her bestselling book The Wisdom Of Your Body was released in 2021, Practices for Embodied Living was released in early 2024, and her next book Holy Hurt: understanding and healing from spiritual trauma will be released in spring 2025. Her award winning CBC podcast Other People's Problems was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times as essential listening, and she is on faculty with the Psychedelic Somatic Institute, and the co-developer of Katalyst Mental Health Ketamine Assisted Therapy program. What makes her feel alive is her daughter's laugh, her love for her partner and close friends, asking unanswerable questions, and spending time in or near the ocean.

This podcast is offered as a free community resource by Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support. If you feel moved to donate to support this work, ⁠you may do so on our ⁠⁠website ⁠⁠here.

Our intro and outro music is an excerpt of the song ⁠Ein Od⁠ by ⁠Yosef Goldman⁠.

Rabbi Zac speaks with Dr. Leor Roseman, a leading interdisciplinary psychedelic researcher. Zac and Leor speak about the potential for healing through psychedelic use from many perspectives--the role of visualization, the experience of “breakthroughs,” and the importance of groups and communities in healing work.

Dr. Leor Roseman's Biography:

Leor Roseman is a Senior Lecturer and Psychedelic Researcher at the University of Exeter, and the chair of RIPPLES, a new non-profit for psychedelic-assisted peacebuilding. He has previously worked at the Centre for Psychedelic Research, Imperial College London, under the mentorship of Prof. Robin Carhart-Harris and Prof. David Nutt, supporting the foundational work of an emerging research field. His interdisciplinary research covers neuroscience, psychology, phenomenology, anthropology and conflict resolution, using various research methods such as fMRI, quantitative, qualitative, micro phenomenology, ethnographic, and participatory research.

Currently, Leor is investigating relational processes and group dynamics in psychedelic rituals. He is interested in how psychedelics enhance connectedness, group bonding (communitas), and sociality and can serve as a social cure. Furthermore, together with Palestinian and Israeli activists and researchers, he is developing a praxis of research & action which utilizes the potential of psychedelics for peacebuilding, liberation and justice. They hope to create a participatory approach that focuses on personal and societal healing and considers action and healing intertwined.

Dr. Rachel Yehuda, one of the world’s foremost experts on epigenetic trauma and psychedelic-assisted therapies, joins Rabbi Zac for a conversation about the significance of the Jewish story as a foundation for processing ancestral traumas. They speak about Rachel’s upbringing, the history of trauma research, and the future of MDMA-assisted therapy.