Human & Holy is on a season break for the rest of the summer! During this time, we're airing your favorite moments from the past few seasons. Watch the original episode in full here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_0i0EAAC_4
This excerpt with Chanie Krasnianski explores the Jewish view on sexual intimacy and marriage. We explore the soul-level magnetism between men and women that is sourced in the creation of the world, and talk honestly about the lived experience: what it means when attraction shows up outside your marriage, why halacha starts to feel like a checklist the second you lose the relationship underneath it, and what it looks like to reclaim the mikvah as an immersion into light instead of one more item on the list.
We also sit in the places that don't resolve as cleanly: religious guilt, growing spiritually at a different pace than your spouse, wanting closeness during niddah and not always getting it, and navigating personal discomfort around immersion in the mikvah.
Mrs. Chanie Krasnianski is the shlucha in the Upper East Side in Manhattan, NY and a seasoned educator and Torah teacher. Contact Chanie at ckrasnianski@gmail.com.
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* * * * * * *TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 — The soul-level reason for attraction between husband and wife
04:05 — Attraction outside your marriage: where it's really coming from
07:23 — Halacha as relationship, not checklist
10:32 — When the framework feels restricting, not freeing
12:44 — "We're human, not angels"
13:58 — Trust in Hashem, and the mikvah as immersion into light
20:18 — Bare minimum vs. growing on purpose
22:11 — Why halacha is freedom, not restriction
24:16 — Body image and privacy at the mikvah
26:30 — The headstand story
29:18 — Checking in with yourself when you won't call a rabbi
30:35 — Why none of us are objective about our own lives
37:53 — Calling a rabbi on a different continent — privacy and permission
40:05 — Religious guilt and "you're not your spouse's rabbi"
43:30 — Growing faster than your spouse — baby steps, not pressure
47:07 — When you're the one resisting your spouse's growth
48:49 — Your spouse as your mirror — the Adam-and-Eve reframe
50:49 — Does absence really make the heart grow fonder?
52:25 — Marriage as decades of weather
55:49 — Closing reflection and outro
