So...how are we doing?
We're ringing in the new Jewish year with a Jewish State of the Union: where have we been this last year and where are we headed?
Today, I sit down with four people who each have a finger on a different pulse of Jewish life. ChayaLeah Sufrin, executive director of Beach Hillel and host of the Ask a Jew podcast, walks through the year's defining global stories, reflects on what this moment is asking of the Jewish people and gives us some predictions for the year ahead.
Comedian Chani Lisbon joins for a lighter, faster cultural check-in: why comedians are having a moment, what the whole Jewish world got obsessed with this year, and a rapid-fire round of "in or out" on everything from Pesach programs to WhatsApp statuses.
Rivki Rabinowitz, a beauty influencer and interior designer whose work has been featured in Architectural Digest, The Wall Street Journal and more, gives modest fashion the real trend report it deserves: what's replacing slip skirts, her one unforgivable fashion sin, and how she holds beauty and depth as the same thing, not opposites.
Closing with a brilliant bang is writer and culture shaper Mimi Hecht's reflections on language: why the term "Hashem" is having a comeback, why words like "healing" and "capacity" have worn thin, the return of words like service and collective, and why specificity is rising in our culture's choice of words.
Underneath every conversation, one thread kept showing up: this is the year where every Jew just wants to feel like a Yid.
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 Segment 1— ChayaLeah Sufrin: The Jewish Year in Review
00:03:31 The five biggest Jewish stories of the year
00:07:35 How to stay informed without living in fear
00:12:54 What is this moment asking of the Jewish people?
00:13:36 A worry people should let go of
00:16:16 What Israel needs from Diaspora Jews right now and vice versa
00:21:18 ChayaLeah's predictions for the new year
00:24:44 Young Jews seeking authentic, substantial Judaism
00:27:00 Segment 2 — Chani Lisbon: A Cultural State of the Union
00:27:59 Why comedians are having a cultural moment right now
00:29:16 Top cultural moment of the year
00:30:06 What everyone got obsessed with this year
00:32:43 Hot take: Why Chani doesn't want a "trendy" rabbi
00:36:15 Rapid-fire "In or Out": pickleball, WhatsApp status, and group tours to Kazakhstan
00:43:11 What people are actually craving
00:45:00 Segment 3 — Rivki Rabinowitz: The Modest Fashion Report
00:46:43 How social media made modest fashion mainstream and immediate
00:52:27 The current "modest girl uniform"
00:52:46 Fashion predictions for the year ahead
00:55:46 Modest makeovers by profile
00:57:01 Rapid-fire
01:00:12 Can aesthetics and depth coexist?
01:04:58 What modesty invites her into creatively
01:09:01 Segment 4: Mimi Hecht on the State of words
01:09:10 Returning to the word "Hashem"
01:15:02 Why we reached for substitute language in the first place
01:18:18 Choosing specific Jewish language as an act of confidence
01:19:34 Why is our culture tired of the word "healing"?
01:26:04 A generational shift in language from self-focus back toward giving
01:32:11 Rapid-fire "Replace the Word"
01:36:29 Defining Chassidic terms in plain language: neshama, mitzvah, and kelipah
01:45:02 Why the term Avodas Hashem makes Mimi emotional
01:46:55 Using words honestly
01:48:43 Host's Outro
