Rabbi Shira Stutman

Co-host of Chutzpod! Proselytizer for living a meaningful life.

[Jonah Platt @JonahPlatt]

I know Sarah Hurwitz in real life, not from a clip on social media. She is a thoughtful, inclusive, compassionate person of great empathy & integrity whose books have been a profound gift to many, myself included.

Sometimes the internet just sucks.

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

If you need something light in a very heavy moment, check out this week's Chutzpod episode in which I get to talk to my sister-in-law Anne about a critically important topic: Jews who save seats at synagogue. Listen today at https://t.co/CgHFfdWaRP

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

Spending the day GOTV with my friend Laura in NE Philly, 3 blocks from where my mom grew up. Spoke with immigrants who made me feel proud to be American. Also got to visit my dad's grave—asked him to watch over all the litigators gearing up for a big fight. Let's go democracy!

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

Moadim L'simcha! (What a time of joy!) Welcome to the intermediate days of Sukkot. On this week's @chutzpod, we talk about doomscrolling—is it an addiction, and if so, how do we break it? In times such as these, what is the place of joy? Listen today at https://t.co/D1C431XPzT.

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

Every day would have been enough—dayenu! But there was more. Each day brought anguish. On a bonus episode of @chutzpod today, @HannaRosin and I offer this reflection on all that we have lost this past year. May next year be better. Listen today at https://t.co/aJmu5il742 /end

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

I've seen a lot of people write things like, "How can it be 10/7/24? It's still 10/7/23." And while I understand the sentiment, I disagree. 10/7/23 was terrible enough. And then, like the most perverse recitation of Dayenu ever, there was no end to the destruction. 1/

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

If you are still in need of a place to attend High Holiday services virtually, I welcome you to tune in to @AspenJewish where I am leading services starting tonight at 7:30pm MT. L'shana tova!
https://t.co/vzeI41oMlN

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

Here’s a question to which I’ve given a lot of thought: who are meal trains FOR: the giver or the receiver? More often, I think it the former, not the latter. This week on @chutzpod, @HannaRosin and I discuss how we can do better. Listen now: https://t.co/Who2yEFOZW

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

If you don’t already subscribe to the @chutzpod newsletter, I highly recommend you do. It’s a way to enter Shabbat with some laughs and feeling more connected. Check out our newest issue at the link below.

[Chutzpod! @chutzpod]

On this week’s Chutzstack, we remember and honor the lives of the six Israeli hostages, we learn about the difference between service and emotional support animals, and an org that helps make invisible disabilities more visible. Read and subscribe today: https://t.co/0eF9PdQCHx.

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

If it feels ridiculous to be light-hearted right now, we'll catch you later. But if you need an escape, we're all yours. @chutzpod season 4 starts on Rosh Hashanah LaBehemot with dogs on a plane. Listen now, and tell us what you would've done: https://t.co/GJcQf9QON2

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

One of the most astonishing learnings of the past year is that just when you may think your heart can't be any more broken, you're proven wrong. Today we launch season four of @chutzpod. Like the season opener on 10/14 last year, we had planned something upbeat and optimistic. /1

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

@HannaRosin and I will be bringing a live episode of @chutzpod to @adasisraeldc on Tuesday, 9/24. We'll be answering your questions about forgiveness, regret, starting over. Send your questions to [email protected]. The event is free, register here: https://t.co/28jMBoJVXT.

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

As the next weeks unfold, I hope I am able to simultaneously hold the "good" and the "not good," because both are true. /end

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

Yesterday, someone told me that when people ask them how they are, they say, "in one word, good! In two words, not good." That resonated deeply in this moment, 300 days in, when many people I know are holding their breath as increased violence is imminent. /1

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

This past weekend, as I watched the news, I also celebrated a family simcha in Vermont. We played Zombies at the Ben & Jerry's Flavor Graveyard, played Spoons with family members aged 8-80, and felt deep appreciation for the opportunity to be together. /2

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

Between now & then, friends and listeners, @CHUTZPOD NEEDS YOU. We are looking for your questions and quandaries, especially around joy and learning, starting and trying again. Send them to [email protected]; @HannaRosin & I will be eternally grateful. /end

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

Boaz the Cockapoo is living his best life with us in the Roaring Fork Valley, as I spend the summer as Aspen Jewish Congregation's interim rabbi. How did we get him from DC to CO, you may ask? Did we drive him? Did we register him as a service dog? /1

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

Find out this and more on the first episode of @chutzpod's fourth season, dropping on the little-known Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah for the animals (this year on Sept 4). /2

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

The hearing aids are THE BEST; I cannot recommend them more highly. I apologize to all of you who have been begging me to get them for years.
And for those who are wondering—yes, even with the tattoo, I can still be buried in a Jewish cemetery. /end

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

It also marks my favorite word in the Torah, Bereshit (creation), because I am grateful that every day we can grow and be different. Last but not least, it stands for the word "bayit," or home. Wherever my family is, that is my home. 3/4

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

The tattoo, of the Hebrew letter Bet, is in memory of my dad Ned, whose favorite line of all the Jewish prayers was "b'yado afkid ruchi"—in God's hands I place my soul. 2/4

[Rabbi Shira Stutman @rabbishira]

My 51st birthday brought two new forms of bodily adornment: hearing aids and a tattoo. I kinda feel like they even each other out. 1/4