Exit Strategy
What’s one thing we’re all good at? How about not talking — or even thinking — about end-of-life issues.
Episodes
What happens when the life you imagined doesn’t unfold the way you expected? For many individuals and couples, the journey to parenthood can be marked by infertility, miscarriage, pregnancy loss, unanswered questions, and profound grief. Yet these experiences are often surrounded by silence, leaving people to navigate some of life’s most painful moments feeling isolated […]
The post I Was Supposed to Have a Baby:...
What happens to a mother when her daughter dies? There are no easy answers to that question — and Danielle Crittenden doesn’t pretend there are. In this deeply personal episode of Exit Strategy, Danielle joins Stephanie Garry to talk about the death of her daughter and the complicated, unpredictable landscape of grief that followed. Drawing […]
The post Dispatches from the Land of Grief appeared first on Plaza Je...
What if understanding where we come from can help us better understand who we are? In this episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry speaks with Rabbi Andrew Mandel, a passionate genealogist, about the power of uncovering our family stories—and the deeper connections those stories can reveal. Together, they explore what happens when we look beyond […]
The post Finding Our Way Home Through the Stories of Those Who Came ...
What if preparing for death could also be an act of love? In this deeply moving episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry speaks with filmmaker Ilana Trachtman and fiber artist Rachel Kanter, whose story is at the heart of the documentary Shroud. Rachel is making her mother’s burial shroud. For Rachel, a fiber artist accustomed […]
The post The Shroud: A Daughter’s Act of Love appeared first on Plaza Jewish Commu...
What matters most when we are faced with illness, aging, loss, and the end of life? In this episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry speaks with Diane Button, author of What Matters Most, about the questions that often become clearer as we confront mortality — and why having these conversations before a crisis can make […]
The post What Matters Most: Diane Button on Living, Dying, and the Conversations We Need to Have...
On August 5, New York begins implementing one of the most significant changes to end-of-life care in its history. As the 13th state to authorize Medical Aid in Dying, New York now offers eligible terminally ill adults another option at the end of life—one rooted in personal autonomy, compassion, and carefully defined legal safeguards. In […]
The post A New Chapter in End-of-Life Care: Medical Aid in Dying Comes to New ...
An Exit Strategy Conversation with Dr. Charlotte Grinberg What if thinking about death could help us live more fully? In this thought-provoking episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry welcomes Dr. Charlotte Grinberg, physician, writer, and advocate for bringing conversations about mortality into everyday life. Inspired by her widely shared essay in The Free Press, Dr. […]
As more people seek environmentally conscious choices throughout their lives, many are also considering how those values can shape their final arrangements. In this episode of Exit Strategy, host Stephanie Garry sits down with Lily Sage Weinrieb, Funeral Director at Plaza Jewish Community Chapel and Green Burial Specialist, to explore the growing interest in green […]
The post Returning to the Earth: A Conversation on Green ...
Talking about death isn’t easy. Planning for it can feel even harder. Yet one of the most meaningful gifts we can leave our loved ones is clarity. In this episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry sits down with Plaza Jewish Community Chapel’s Certified Preplanning Consultant and Funeral Director, Anthony Caratozzolo, to discuss what funeral pre-planning […]
A Conversation with Dr. Jessica Zitter What happens when a physician learns that healing involves more than medicine? In this episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry speaks with Dr. Jessica Zitter—critical care physician, author, filmmaker, and advocate for compassionate end-of-life care—about her powerful documentary, The Chaplain & The Doctor. The film chronicles Dr. Zitter’s transformative […]
As he prepares to close an extraordinary chapter as CEO of UJA-Federation of New York, Eric Goldstein joins Exit Strategy for a deeply personal and reflective conversation about leadership, legacy, and what it means to step away after guiding one of the most influential Jewish organizations in the world through moments of challenge, heartbreak, renewal, […]
The post Eric Goldstein on Legacy, Leadership, and Letting Go appear...
What if the self isn’t as fixed as we believe? In this episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry speaks with Rabbi Jonathan Blake about how rethinking identity—through a Jewish and philosophical lens—can transform the way we approach mortality. Together, they explore how loosening our grip on the idea of a singular, bounded self may open […]
The post The Myth of Self appeared first on Plaza Jewish Community...
In this episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry sits down with Rachel Seidman to explore the profound role of storytelling in how we remember, honor, and make meaning of a life. Together, they discuss how personal narratives shape legacy, the emotional and ethical dimensions of capturing someone’s story, and what it means to preserve memory […]
The post What Remains: Rachel Seidman on Preserving Lives Through Story a...
After we’re gone, what remains—and what can we still give? In this compelling episode of Exit Strategy, host Stephanie Garry speaks with Rabbi Joshua Rabin and Mara Bragg about organ donation as a final, radical act of compassion. It’s a conversation about legacy, courage, and the choices that define us—right to the very end. https://www.organdonationalliance.org/profile/rabbi-joshua-rabin/ […]
In this deeply personal and thought-provoking conversation, Exit Strategy host Stephanie Garry sits down with filmmaker Justin Schein to explore legacy, family history, and the complicated moral inheritance we carry. Through the lens of his documentary work, (Death and Taxes and Left on Purpose) Justin reflects on uncovering long-buried truths within his own family story […]
In this heartfelt and thought-provoking conversation, Exit Strategy host Stephanie Garry sits down with author and academic Dr. Willy Donaldson to explore his memoir Estimated Time of Departure. Donaldson shares his personal journey navigating conversations with his aging parents about their wishes, fears, and life stories — conversations many of us avoid until it’s too […]
The post At the Gate: Talking about Lif...
In this episode of Exit Strategy, host Stephanie Garry speaks with Mary Lou Falcone about her powerful book and companion documentary exploring love, caregiving, and loss at the end of life. In I Didn’t See It Coming, Mary Lou shares the personal journey that led her to document an intimate end-of-life experience, and how storytelling […]
The post Bearing Witness: Mary Lou Falcone on Love, Loss, and Legacy appeared fir...
As Exit Strategy closes out 2025, we dedicate these episodes to the memory of our producer, Glenn Rosenkrantz, with gratitude for his creativity, care, and partnership. In this episode, we confront a question that once belonged to science fiction: What if the dead could still speak to us? Albert Han of the Thomson Reuters Foundation […]
The post The Intersection of Grief and AI appeared first on Plaza Jewish Community Chapel...
How far would you go to create a long lasting legacy keeping your presence alive in impact and spirit? The reach for remembrance takes many forms, and is the focus of a compelling new film — Forever Endeavor — capturing how legacy is embraced across the spectrum of human experience … from the unimaginable to […]
The post Reaching for Legacy appeared first on Plaza Jewish Community Chapel.
Funerals are singular moments to collectively honor and mourn our dead — but with room to practice our relationship to life and mortality … and with ourselves and others … in any which way. At Exit Strategy’s first-ever taping before a live audience at Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, host Stephanie Garry interviews Alix Strauss, author […]
The post Exit Strategy Live! The Joy of Funerals appeared fir...
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