Jewish wisdom for beautifully tangled lives.
Chutzpod! is a brisk, conversational show about using Jewish wisdom on problems that rarely arrive neatly packaged. Its recent episodes move from dirty philanthropic money and folk superstition to sober Seders, synagogue drama, Zoom vanity, and mixed-family ritual life.
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Chutzpod! turns everyday Jewish life into an argument worth staying with. The show is interested in the gap between what tradition says, what people actually do, and what a messy modern situation demands. Recent conversations start with concrete things: a Passover table, a Zoom face, a baby shower, a synagogue dispute, a dollar in someone’s hand. Then the frame widens. Superstitions become a way to ask how folk practice turns into serious custom. A covered mirror after a death is not treated as trivia; it becomes an example of how fear, grief, and ritual can change shape over time. A conversation about charitable money pushes harder, asking whether giving can be part of repentance or just a way to polish a damaged reputation. The show likes that kind of distinction. It keeps asking where the line is. It also keeps the room human. The banter can be quick, dry, and a little ridiculous, especially around Passover wine, cemetery habits, Jewish curls, synagogue temperature fights, and family members whose idea of holiday observance is shopping for jeans. But the jokes are rarely throwaway. They usually open the door to a bigger question about care, obligation, vanity, community, grief, addiction, interfaith family life, or the work of repair. Chutzpod! also makes room for listeners’ lives, including conversion, mikvah, marriage, disagreement, and gratitude. It explains Jewish vocabulary without slowing into lecture mode. That makes it accessible without making the tradition feel flattened. The show’s real subject is how people try to live decently when the rules, customs, emotions, and politics are all tangled together.
Made for: For listeners who like religion in conversation with real life: skeptics, seekers, cultural Jews, practicing Jews, converts, partners, and anyone curious about moral questions with texture. It especially suits people who want warmth without easy answers.
What sets it apart: Chutzpod! stands out by treating Jewish language and ritual as practical material for present-day dilemmas. It can move from a joke about grape juice or Zoom wrinkles to repentance, community conflict, or grief without losing the thread.
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...
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Chutzpod! turns Jewish texts, customs, and ethical distinctions into lively guidance for the awkward decisions of ordinary life.
Chutzpod! starts with an ordinary irritation, ritual, or moral snag, then lets Jewish tradition complicate the easy answer. Hanna Rosin's blunt curiosity and Rabbi Shira Stutman's practical teaching make room for disagreement without turning the conversation into a formal…
A Torah on an Aspen mountaintop, and your next complaint gets a 24-hour waiting period.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A sharp Jewish ethics conversation about dirty money, clean intent, and what giving cannot fix.
Ol' Dirty Money takes a practical Jewish ethics question and keeps it grounded in what money can and cannot repair. It moves from rabbinic leniency around taking tainted donations to the more uneasy modern problem of reputation laundering, and it treats tzedakah and teshuvah as…
A brisk, thoughtful, and tender look at superstition, custom, and care.
Chutzpahed uses a conversation about Jewish superstition and custom to draw a line that never quite stays put. The episode moves from baby showers and cemetery behavior to red string, covered mirrors after a death, and the practice of changing a name when someone is sick.
A brisk rabbinic conversation about complaint, gratitude, and staying in relationship.
This rabbinic conversation turns a few everyday frictions into a funny, grounded look at complaint, gratitude, and the small work of showing care day to day.
A funny, thoughtful look at Jewish geography, trust, and family bonds.
Chutzpah, Real Life Lived Better starts with a joke about Halloween in Israel and turns toward Jewish geography, the idea that people in the same room may already be connected.
A Yom Kippur conversation that turns Jewish self-examination into a sharper argument about belonging.
This Yom Kippur conversation treats forgiveness and self-examination as living questions rather than settled ritual. It begins with breakfast-table Jewish identity, then sharpens into a clear argument about what Jews are asked to shed in order to be accepted.
Daily halacha, case by case.
Parsha questions carried into serious Torah argument.
The conversation takes up money that comes from wrongdoing.
Shira Stuttman and Hannah Rosen open with a joke-laced talk about baby showers, cemetery manners, and the little habits people reach for when they want to dodge bad luck.
The hosts discuss their Passover plans with visiting Israeli relatives who are more focused on shopping than religious observance, highlighting cultural differences and personal Jewish identity.
This episode explores the intersection of Jewish traditions like the Seder with modern perspectives on alcohol consumption, featuring a discussion between Rabbi Shira Stuttman and Hannah Rosen.
This episode discusses the challenges of finding happiness during Passover while exploring spiritual traditions and sharing listener stories about conversion and gratitude.
Rabbi Shira Stutman and Hanna Rosin discuss synagogue politics and apply Jewish tradition to real-life dilemmas.
Rabbi Shira Stutman and Hanna Rosin discuss the ritual of primping before Zoom calls, using Jewish tradition to explore self-image and vanity.
Rabbi Shira Stutman and Hanna Rosin discuss applying Jewish tradition to real-life dilemmas, starting with a story about a Mexican-Jewish wedding.
This episode features a session from the Jewish Federation General Assembly discussing Jewish poverty in America and how communal narratives about money and class obscure real experiences.
The hosts discuss the season finale and prepare for a Torah study session where one host asks deep questions.
Rabbi Shira Stutman and Hanna Rosin discuss applying Jewish tradition to everyday dilemmas, starting with a conversation about Thanksgiving.
A podcast applying Jewish wisdom to listeners' real-life dilemmas, hosted by a rabbi and a journalist.
Rabbi Shira Stutman and Hanna Rosin discuss Jewish wisdom and family stories, using humor to explore life's challenges.
Shira and Hannah open with a story about Santa.
Shira and Hannah open with Halloween in Israel and the odd surprise of finding Halloween everywhere.
Rabbi Shira Stutman and Hannah Rosen open with Yom Kippur and a question about Jewish life that starts at breakfast and then gets a lot bigger.
This episode of Chutzpah features hosts Rabbi Shira Stuttman and Hannah Rosen reconnecting after summer and discussing their deepening friendship during a visit in Colorado.
A preview of a live panel discussion on telling a new Jewish story, featuring Jewish leaders and thinkers.
A podcast that uses Jewish teachings to address listeners' personal and ethical dilemmas.
A podcast that uses Jewish teachings to address listeners' personal and ethical dilemmas.
The host discusses Israel's Memorial Day and Independence Day, offering a suggestion for American Jews to vote in the World Zionist to help Israel become a safe and secure democracy.
Rabbi Shira Stutman and Hanna Rosin discuss applying Jewish tradition to personal life challenges, starting with Shira's travel woes.
Rabbi Shira Stutman and Hanna Rosin introduce a special Purim episode with guest Rabbi Amichai Lau-Levi, discussing his life and documentary.
Rabbi Shira Stutman and Hanna Rosin discuss relationships with primary care doctors using Jewish tradition.
This episode explores how people respond to life's challenges through conversations with God, drawing on Jewish tradition and personal experiences.
This episode discusses the challenges and considerations of giving children distinctively Jewish names, exploring personal experiences with mispronunciation and cultural identity.
A podcast applying Jewish wisdom to listeners' real-life ethical dilemmas.
A podcast that uses Jewish teachings to answer listeners' personal and ethical dilemmas.
A podcast applying Jewish tradition and wisdom to answer listeners' life questions.
A podcast that uses Jewish teachings to address listeners' real-life dilemmas and build a good life.
A podcast applying Jewish tradition to answer listeners' life questions.
The hosts apply Jewish tradition to a listener's personal dilemma, blending ancient wisdom with modern pop culture.