Asking For A Friend - Timely Issues. Timeless Torah.

A wide-ranging conversation with Dayan Posen exploring the mitzvah of bikur cholim in today’s world, from the halachic foundations of visiting the sick to mental health, trauma response, community support, and the balance between practical help and genuine human presence. The discussion covers what meaningful care really looks like in an age of constant communication, and how small actions can make a profound difference to patients...

Tzedakah today looks very different to how it once did. But has that change improved the way we give, or complicated it?

This episode addresses real-world dilemmas: If your child has a negative experience with an institution, can you redirect your support elsewhere? Do you need to verify every collector, or can you rely on communal trust? Is giving smaller amounts to many causes a practical solution, or does it dilute the impact of...

In a world of constant appeals, how should a person approach tzedakah with clarity and integrity? This episode explores the practical and ethical tensions behind everyday giving.

Is anonymous giving always ideal, or can public donations play an important communal role? Can time, effort, and influence be considered true forms of tzedakah alongside money? Where is the line between legitimate encouragement and uncomfortable pressure?

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Once a shidduch is underway, the questions only become more complex: how long should it last, how do you navigate doubts, and how do you know when it’s right?

In this episode, Dayan Posen addresses the realities of the dating stage, offering guidance on timing, clarity, and decision-making. From the role of parents and outside influence to recognising genuine compatibility, the discussion tackles the pressures and uncertainties tha...

Chazal teach that making a shidduch is as difficult as Krias Yam Suf. but what does that mean in practice for families navigating the process today?

In this episode, Dayan Posen discusses the early stages of shidduchim: how parents and singles should approach the process, the role of shadchanim, and the importance of entering shidduchim with the right expectations. The conversation explores questions such as what advice paren...

In this sixth episode of Asking for a Friend, we continue the marriage series with Dayan Hool, stepping back from day-to-day scenarios to focus on the broader foundations of marriage from a Torah perspective. Building on earlier conversations, this discussion explores what a successful marriage is meant to look like and how couples can work towards it in practice. Drawing on experience, halachic insight, and real-world guidance, th...

In Part 2 of The Marriage Series, Mena Reisner continues the conversation with Rabbi Zimmerman, focusing on the forces that shape a marriage from the outside as much as from within.

The discussion explores how responsibility to a spouse is balanced alongside chesed and communal life, whether men and women have distinct roles within the home, what time apart means for a relationship, how parents should respond when children criticis...

In the first part of The Marriage Series, Rabbi Zimmerman discusses marriage, sholom bayis, and what building a Jewish home actually requires in real life. Together they explore questions many couples carry but rarely articulate, what a good marriage truly looks like, why so many homes feel under strain, how comparison and expectations affect relationships, how couples deal with recurring conflict, and how hashkafic differences suc...

Dayan Posen examines sibling rivalry through a halachic and human lens.

Why do siblings compete so intensely for parental attention? How much damage does perceived favouritism cause, even years later? What should parents be careful about at the Shabbos table, around praise, or when helping children differently? And when old grievances resurface in adulthood, is reconciliation always the goal, or are boundaries sometimes healthier?

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Dayan Hool addresses the realities and dilemmas around school admissions today. What can a school reasonably expect from parents? What responsibility does it have to children left without a place? How should families balance what’s right for their child with communal norms, donor influence or social pressure? And when is opening a new school actually the correct solution?

A clear, grounded look at an issue that affects almost every...

In the first episode of Asking for a Friend, Mena Reisner sits down with Rabbi Zimmerman to explore the questions shaping today’s Jewish childhood. Why are so many more children anxious? Has therapy become too normalised? Should parents be concerned about the sheer amount of instant frum entertainment? What should we make of teenagers constantly travelling abroad? And how does a parent respond when a child says, “But everyone in my...

Asking For A Friend is a new podcast from Kehillas Federation, exploring the real questions that come up in everyday life, in halacha, hashkafa, chinuch, relationships, community, and everything in between.

Hosted by Mena Reisner, each episode features one of the Federation’s senior Dayonim, Rabbi S. F. Zimmerman, Dayan Posen, or Dayan Hool, offering grounded Torah perspective drawn from years of guiding families and communities.

T...