Chutzpod!
Chutzpod! is a frank and wide-ranging conversation on how to build a good life, using real-life quandaries and millennia-old Jewish wisdom. Each week, Rabbi Shira Stutman and journalist Hanna Rosin bring a Jewish lens to life's toughest questions, asked by our listeners: Do I offer forgiveness to a friend who refuses to apologize? Am I right to be annoyed at all the service dogs on the plane with me? How do we work to heal this broken world? It's a podcast for people of all or no faiths; Hebrew school truants and proud yeshiva graduates; those who want to be inspired but don't want to schlep to synagogue; basically, anyone trying to live a meaningful life during these trying times. One part advice column, one part reflection on what Judaism teaches on how to build a good life, using real-life stories and ancient wisdom.
Episodes
We’ve all heard about mixed faith families, but what happens when everyone is Jewish, but one person is more observant? When does this become a burden on the rest of the family? And does that matter?
A listener asks Rabbi Shira and Hanna for help as he tries to lean into his Jewish observance – including shutting down on Shabbat – without annoying his wife and children.
Read more about Shalom Bayit
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An all alien round-up episode! You asked, and we answered:
Are aliens kosher? Are angels aliens? And does a belief in extra-terrestrial life strengthen Jewish faith or cause a crisis?
Rabbi Shira and Hanna talk about the boundless ways Judaism can stretch to infinity and beyond, with an extra nod to the Jewish roots of the Vulcan salute.
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As we mourn the lives lost on and after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023, Rabbi Shira and Hanna discuss a problem common for many American Jews this election season: Should you support a candidate who aligns with your values on most everything…except Israel? They’re joined by Nicholas Lemann, Dean Emeritus at the Columbia Journalism School and author of Returning: A Search for Home Across Three Centuries...
Fun fact: Rabbi Shira is not only a rabbi, she’s also a therapist! So she’s uniquely equipped to answer this week’s listener question: When should you seek counseling from a rabbi and when should you see a therapist?
Shira and Hanna debate the merits of both types of counseling and find themselves asking why do Jews love therapy so much?!
Listen to Hanna on Radio Atlantic: How American Became Addicted to Therapy:&nb...
🎶No graduation day for you 🎶
As Hebrew Schools around the country supply their students with lulavs and etrogs for the upcoming Sukkot holiday, Rabbi Shira and Hanna talk about all things religious education. What’s the goal? Is it working? Is Hebrew School just a B’Mitzvah Factory? (and is there anything wrong with that?). Rabbi Rebecca Rosenthal, the Senior Director of Youth and Family Education at Central Synagogue ...
Even if you can’t make it to Aspen you can hear Rabbi Shira’s sermon for Yom Kippur this year. Drawing on her own experience visiting the Langa Township in Cape Town, South Africa, the Yom Kippur Haftarah reading and some Ursula LeGuin, Shira urges us all to “shrink the frame” to a human-sized small town of responsibility, practice Teshuvah and reject willful blindness.
Watch this sermon
Read The Ones Who Walk...
Chutzpod is back to usher everyone into the New Year! And as we approach 5787, a listener wonders how to show up authentically, even if that means bringing the mood down. Rabbi Shira and Hanna wonder why we feel pressure to have a “happy” new year and encourage everyone not to bring the Jewish equivalent of a sanitized Christmas letter to their high holiday celebrations.
Read This Is Real and You Are Completely Unp...
Listen to this special bonus episode recorded live at Aspen Jewish Congregation on August 12, 2026.
As America approaches 250 years, this conversation looks at the enduring relationship between Jewish life and the American experiment. Through historical reflection and contemporary insight, speakers will explore how Jewish tradition and democratic ideals have shaped one another—and what that long story asks of us now.
Chutzpod is coming back with new episodes and new real-life questions September 9th!
Rabbi Shira and Hanna will talk about when to see a rabbi over a therapist, how to navigate a mixed-observance marriage and is believing in aliens Jewish??
Subscribe to automatically get all new episodes. And submit your own questions to be featured on an episode!
Support Chutzpod!
Submit a question
Contact Chutzpod!
Subscribe to Chutzstack
In our Season 7 finale, Hanna again poses as a yeshiva bocher. Shira takes her through a very special double Torah portion: Achrei Mot-Kedoshim Leviticus 16:1–20:27. She talks about why Leviticus is such a grab bag of rules and laws with seemingly no real narrative order, some of the more controversial laws on sex, homosexuality and female impurity and how to view this part of the Torah as a guide to holiness in daily life, e...
What does Judaism say about accepting “dirty” money? A listener has been watching the online debate about how her alma mater should handle money from a prominent donor associated with Jeffery Epstein. She asks how does Jewish tradition handle this moral predicament? And at what point are institutions complicit spiritually and ethically when they accept tainted funds?
Rabbi Shira and Hanna talk about when tzedakah becomes...
Is covering your mirrors during shiva a superstition or Jewish law? What about breaking the glass at a wedding? Tashlich?
Rabbi Shira and Hanna discuss the ideas of Jewish luck and bad luck and where they fit into law and tradition. And they welcome a VERY special guest – Hanna’s mother Miriam. Her sister has had a string of bad accidents and she wants to know if changing her mezuzah will ward off future health sca...
Is it Kosher to question Kashrut?
A listener writes, “Why do Jews have Kosher rules? And how would you suggest a previously unobservant Jew approach Kashrut, if at all?”
Rabbi Shira admits that teaching the laws of kashrut is one of the hardest things she has to do as a rabbi. She does her best to make sense of it all and gives her best pitch for a mindfulness-based Jewish eating practice.
FAQ about Kosher laws
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Wine is central to Jewish ritual, but what if drinking isn’t safe for you? A listener in recovery dreads what used to be his favorite holiday, Passover. He writes that he dreads all the wine talk and dreads having to explain why he's opting out. He asks, "Can I skip the Seder this year?"
Rabbi Shira and Hanna are joined by Rabbi Sue Reinhold of the Torah of Recovery to explore why wine matters, how Judaism understands both joy...
With the world feeling particularly heavy, Rabbi Shira and Hanna wonder if, in addition to moments of anger and resistance, they can find a way to bring joy into this year’s Passover Seder. They’re joined by Rav Jericho Vincent, the founding rabbi of Temple of the Stranger, a growing mystical Jewish community in Brooklyn, NY.
Listen to Jericho’s podcast Survival Guide for a Spiritual Wilderness
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After a listener misgenders someone at synagogue, a torrent of feelings, recriminations and emails ensue, leading one congregant to email another with the subject “Hey Asshole.”
Rabbi Shira and Hanna welcome Rabbi Lily Solochek of The Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London, whose work focuses on creating inclusive Jewish communities, especially for queer and trans people and families.
Visit The Liberal Jewish Synagogue ...
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.&...
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.
Read about the shadow self
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!
Support Chutzpod!
Submit a question
Contact Chutzpod!
Subscribe to Chutzstack
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 ...
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