Is Botox kosher?

What about filler, extensions or hair dye? Can a good Jew be too vain? And does Judaism value beauty? 

A listener reaches out for help when her two daughters are horrified to discover their feminist mom has a secret desire for luxurious lashes. 

Rabbi Shira and Hanna help her navigate personal vanity, Jewish values and 21st century parenting. And they reveal their own insecurities and zoom primping rituals. 

Read more about Joseph & beauty in the Torah

Read more about hospitality, vanity and beauty

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We’re back for Season 7!

Purim is a time to reveal the hidden, unmask your shadow self and, perhaps, get super sloshed. But a listener wonders about having a psychedelic experience on Purim.

Rabbi Shira and Hanna get advice from Rabbi Zac Kamenetz, the founder of Shefa, an organization working to integrate safe and supported psychedelic use into the Jewish spiritual tradition.

Learn more about Shefa

Read about the shadow self

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Chutzpod is coming back with new episodes and new real-life questions February 25th!

Rabbi Shira and Hanna will talk about using psychedelics on Purim, whether it’s ok to be vain and how synagogues can be more inclusive to trans members. 

Subscribe to automatically get all new episodes. And submit your own questions to be featured on an episode!

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Did you know that 29% of American Jews struggle to make ends meet? 

What you are about to hear is a session from the 2025 Jewish Federation of North America General Assembly,  the JFNA GA, entitled Redefining Jewish Life Through the Lens of Economic Reality. 

In this session, we examined 2025 data on Jewish poverty in America, and discussed how our communal narratives about money and class obscure the real experiences of Jews across the economic spectrum. The first speaker you’ll hear is Rachel Sumekh, Entrepreneur and CEO of Together Ending Need. You’ll also hear from Jon Hornstein, Program Director at The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, and our own Rabbi Shira. To see some of the data referenced in this episode, go to togetherendingneed.org/ga

New episodes of Chutzpod will be back February 25th! Send your questions and comments to [email protected]. Make sure you're subscribed, spread the word, and we’ll talk to you then! 

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Rabbi Shira and Hanna end the season with a torah study jam packed with family dynamics, sibling rivalry, maternal manipulations, nation-building and birthright.

Read Parashat Toldot

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Rabbi Shira and Hanna help a listener who was invited to a family wedding in Israel, but doesn’t want to go. 

How important are weddings? And what if your conflicting feelings and grief are just too painful? This is a must-listen for anyone experiencing a shift in Jewish identity when it comes to a relationship with Israel.  Rabbi Shira and Hanna help a listener navigate his changing feelings and conflicted opinions about Israel.

Text on importance of going to Jewish weddings 

Read more about Hachnasat kallah: the importance of preparing a bride for her wedding 

Read more about the mitzvah of bringing joy to people getting married

Suggestions for traveling to Israel right now:

MEJDI Tours

Green Olive Tours 

Follow our Instagram to join the conversation this week: How do you feel about traveling to Israel right now? 

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As many of you are traveling for Thanksgiving this week, we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes. 

Dogs on a plane are kosher, but are they annoying? Rabbi Shira and Hanna discuss the Jewish ethics around animals. And, is the Torah ableist? 

If you have any interesting Jewish travel moments, let us know!

Read more about Jewish pet names

Read more about Rosh Hahanah LaBehemah 

Learn about ableism in the Torah 

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Our Chutzsquad sends in so many great questions about death and dying. Today, Hanna and Rabbi Shira attempt to answer as many as possible. 

Why, how and when do we say Mourner’s Kaddish, and for whom? What happens when you don’t have access to your loved one’s body and what’s the Jewish approach to a eulogy?

Listen to Death With Dignity episode

Read more about the Mi Sheiberach 

Read more about the Jewish afterlife

Read more about Tahara

Read more about the Jewish approach to giving a eulogy

Read more about what to do when you can’t or don’t want to grieve through prayer

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Ever wish you could listen in as a group of rabbis kibbitz about their jobs–the good, the bad and the ugly? Rabbi Shira hosts a roundtable for her rabbinic friends where they can laugh, commiserate and get some things off their chests. 

We’re joined by Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt of Adas Israel in Washington D.C. and Rabbi Seth Goldstein of Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia, Washington.

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Everyone loves to play Jewish geography, right? But what if you find the practice exclusive, confusing or even offensive? Is it time to reconsider and leave “bageling” in the past?

Why don’t you ask a convert to tell their story?

Sing-a-long to “Wherever You Go”

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A listener tells Rabbi Shira and Hanna that her rabbi uses AI to write sermons…and she doesn’t like it. 

What are the Jewish ethics of AI? And how does Shira utilize this new technology?

Read more about “the law of the land is the law”

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