Show Notes
Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today I’m speaking with Katia Bolotin, the author of Making it Relevant: Timeless Torah Wisdom for an Ever-Changing World which came out at the end of last year. Katia is an author and speaker as well as a pianist, songwriter and composer of contemporary classical music. She is known for inspiring audiences with teachings that are both deeply rooted in Torah as well as being contemporary. Her writing is warm, clear, and emotionally resonant — grounded in real experience rather than theory. As I moved through her book, I really felt that. Each chapter focuses on a different parsha and is relatable and easy to read. It makes the parsha approachable and offers at least one practical takeaway or exercise you can do to really bring the Torah’s teachings immediately into your life. It could be fun to learn with a friend or chavruta for that purpose as well and really motivate each other.
In the episode, we speak about: -Why she decided to write a book on parsha specifically -How we can use the Torah as the greatest self-help book -Why life is more like a ladder and less like a bridge and what that ladder can teach us -How Katia grounds herself through Torah -The dangers of comparing oneself to others and how to work on that in both a physical and spiritual way -What the duality present in the Torah can teach us about the world -What masculine and feminine energy look like through a Torah lens -The best way to transmit Torah to our children ...and so much more!
Get Katia’s book here. Follow Katia on Instagram here and through her website here.
If there is someone you want to see on The Chai on Life Podcast, email me at [email protected] or send me a DM @chaionlifemag. Thanks again, see you next week!
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This episode originally aired on 9/16/24 but is just as relevant today. Enjoy this replay as we get ready for Yom Kippur. -- Today, I am speaking with Yaffa Moskowitz, the Director of Education at Midreshet Rachel V’Chaya, a seminary in Jerusalem. Here’s a little more about Yaffa: She is a native member the Far Rockaway community and was active in that community and the Five Towns for many years. Yaffa, her husband Danny, and seven children made aliya in the summer of 2013 and now live in Mitzpe Yericho. Yaffa served as teacher and Director of Ateres Seminary for women on the Queens College Campus for 13 years and she was also involved in the Neshei Shor Yoshuv community where she gave chaburas for married women. I met Yaffa when I was a student exactly seven years ago at Midreshet Rachel and have continued to learn from her and with her since. She has such a wealth of knowledge and this conversation really turned into the perfect thing to listen to right in the middle of Elul preparing for the chagim. During this time at Midreshet Rachel, the students learn from the sefer, Tomer Devorah, which teaches us about Hashem’s 13 Attributes of Mercy. As we learn about Hashem and understand who He is more, so to speak, we learn how we can emulate Him more in our own lives, and we used that text as the jumping off point for our conversation. As we spoke, we explored: -What a “sin” actually is in Judaism (it may not be what you think) and how we can always get back on track -How to separate ourselves from the sin and retain our confidence and closeness to G-d through the process -How we can get to the core of what emunah really is on the most basic level and use these foundational concepts to connect to Hashem more deeply -The restraint Hashem has with us every day and how we can apply that concept to our own lives and actions -How to work on letting go of control -Why we should speak to ourselves with more compassion from a Torah perspective -When fear is appropriate in Judaism and what kind of fear that actually is talking about -How we can continue to grow and elevate ourselves year after year …and SO MUCH MORE!
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Today, I’m speaking with Torah educator, Goldie Sion. Goldie was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and raised in Hollywood, Florida. She has worked with organizations in the past that include Olami Manhattan, Aish Aspire, Jam Israel and now works for Olami Souled. She is passionate about teaching Torah, giving shiurim, and inspiring others through creativity and connection with her Instagram: @goldiesjournal.