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Mishkan Chicago

340 episodes

1 week ago

Rabbi Lizzi’s 45th birthday is on New Year’s Eve! We have it on good authority that no gift would make her happier than seeing this community continue to thrive. One year older, one year wiser — help our rabbi share that wisdom by giving at the link below. https://secure.givelively.org/donate/mishkan-chicago/join-us-in-praying-and-fighting-for-a-better-world/ Today's Morning Minyan features a BimBam video entitled "Parshat Vayigash: The Moral Compasses of Reuben, Joseph, and Judah" by Rabbi S...

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Religion & Spirituality,

Society & Culture,

All content for Contact Chai is the property of Mishkan Chicago and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Rabbi Lizzi’s 45th birthday is on New Year’s Eve! We have it on good authority that no gift would make her happier than seeing this community continue to thrive. One year older, one year wiser — help our rabbi share that wisdom by giving at the link below. https://secure.givelively.org/donate/mishkan-chicago/join-us-in-praying-and-fighting-for-a-better-world/ Today's Morning Minyan features a BimBam video entitled "Parshat Vayigash: The Moral Compasses of Reuben, Joseph, and Judah" by Rabbi S...

Show more...

Religion & Spirituality,

Society & Culture,

Episodes (20/340)

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VaYigash! Plus, Christmastime For The Jews

Rabbi Lizzi’s 45th birthday is on New Year’s Eve! We have it on good authority that no gift would make her happier than seeing this community continue to thrive. One year older, one year wiser — help our rabbi share that wisdom by giving at the link below. https://secure.givelively.org/donate/mishkan-chicago/join-us-in-praying-and-fighting-for-a-better-world/ Today's Morning Minyan features a BimBam video entitled "Parshat Vayigash: The Moral Compasses of Reuben, Joseph, and Judah" by Rabbi S...

1 week ago

23 minutes

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From the Pit to the Palace — Parashat Miketz

Rabbi Lizzi’s 45th birthday is on New Year’s Eve! We have it on good authority that no gift would make her happier than seeing this community continue to thrive. One year older, one year wiser — help our rabbi share that wisdom by giving at the link below. https://secure.givelively.org/donate/mishkan-chicago/join-us-in-praying-and-fighting-for-a-better-world/ Today's Morning Minyan features "Psalm 148" by Joey Weisenberg and a selection of songs from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamco...

2 weeks ago

33 minutes

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A Hanukkah Stories

Today's episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on December 12th, Rabbi Steven drashed on the Hanukkah story, or, rather its darker side. Yesterday, Sunday, December 14th, Hanukkah began with news of a deadly terrorist attack in Sydney on innocent people celebrating the holiday. We will kindle lights this week to ensure that their memories will be a blessing and our tradition’s insistence that we persevere through tragedy by cultivating joy will not be smothered or diminished. We are here ...

3 weeks ago

17 minutes

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Vayeshev: Responding To Events Beyond Your Control

Get your holiday shopping done at Mishkan's first-ever Hanukkah Market! Come early to services on Friday, December 12th, at Second Unitarian to browse Judaica, jewelry, and crafts made by Mishkanite artists while sipping wine and schmoozing with friends. The market begins at 5:30 pm. https://www.mishkanchicago.org/event/mishkan-hanukkah-market-2025/ If Mishkan Chicago has inspired you in these trying times, if you’ve been moved by our podcasts, services, classes or events — or just knowing we...

3 weeks ago

26 minutes

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Wrestling With God: Judaism's Essential Gesture

Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on December 6th when Rabbi Lizzi delivered a drash on what it means to wrestle with our tradition’s competing understandings of God and the meaning of Hanukkah. For our gelt, the true meaning of Hanukkah is friendship — and shopping! Find your holiday gifts at Mishkan’s first-ever Hanukkah Market. Come early to services on Friday, December 12th, at Second Unitarian to browse Judaica, jewelry, and crafts made by Mishkanite artists while sippin...

4 weeks ago

23 minutes

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Surprise Inspiration (Vayishlach)

Get your holiday shopping done at Mishkan's first-ever Hanukkah Market! Come early to services on Friday, December 12th, at Second Unitarian to browse Judaica, jewelry, and crafts made by Mishkanite artists while sipping wine and schmoozing with friends. The market begins at 5:30 pm. https://www.mishkanchicago.org/event/mishkan-hanukkah-market-2025/ Today's Morning Minyan features the BimBam video "Who Did Jacob Actually Wrestle?" by author Dara Horn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc2UAY6h7...

1 month ago

30 minutes

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Maintaining Humanity in Times of Crisis

Some of you may remember Julie Fishbach from Davening Team or recall her spot-on impression of Rabbi Lizzi in Purim spiels over the years. Julie is also one of many, many Mishkanites who have gone on to attend rabbinical school — including Rabbi Steven. At our November 21st service, Julie made her triumphant Mishkan return as a visiting scholar, delivering the evening’s drash. It’s pretty incredible how much this community has grown over the years since Julie and the early generations of Mish...

1 month ago

16 minutes

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Emunah: Our Faith, God's Faith

Today's Morning Minyan features "Beautiful People" by Aly Halpert. Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. You can join in yourself, or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Contact Chai. https://mishkan.shulcloud.com/form/reg-morning-minyan-evergreen Want to support what we do? Become a Builder or donate today! https://www.mishkanchicago.org/support/be-a-builder/ https://www.mishkanchicago.org/support/makeyourgift/ Produced by Mishka...

1 month ago

32 minutes

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All You Need Is Love

Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on November 15th when Rabbi Lizzi delivered a drash all about love. The Torah also calls us to love our fellow Jews. But surely not that Jew, right? The one who won’t stop posting about, y’know? The one you have blocked on Facebook? Unfortunately, Maimonides says we have to love them too. So how do we love our fellow Jews even when it’s hard? One way you can love your Jewish community is sharing this podcast with a friend. Sharing is caring. ...

1 month ago

22 minutes

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May I Suggest This Is The Best Part Of Your Life?

Today's Morning Minyan features "Shiviti" by Yoel Sykes and the Red Molly cover of "May I Suggest," original song by Susan Werner. Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. You can join in yourself, or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Contact Chai. https://mishkan.shulcloud.com/form/reg-morning-minyan-evergreen Want to support what we do? Become a Builder or donate today! https://www.mishkanchicago.org/support/be-a-builder/ https:/...

1 month ago

32 minutes

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Changing The World Ten Righteous People At A Time

Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on November 7th, 2025, when Rabbi Steven reflected on an interfaith service and protest outside the ICE Detention Facility in Broadview. Our tradition insists that the world can be transformed by the goodness of even a few people acting together as a mitzvot minyan; if there had been just ten righteous souls in Sodom and Gomorrah, their tale of two cities would have gone down a little differently. And if ten righteous souls wrote ...

1 month ago

14 minutes

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Solomon's Ring and Our Power

Today's Morning Minyan features a short tallis meditation on love followed by a tribute to our very own Rachel Goldberg who is now an ordained rabbi installed in a congregation in Ashland, Oregon. This episode includes a few words on Solomon's Ring, a prayer for healing, Rena Branson's song "Our Power," and Mourner's Kaddish. Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. You can join in yourself, or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Con...

2 months ago

34 minutes

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Against the Backdrop of Selfishness and Greed, Be a Blessing

Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on November 1st. Rabbi Lizzi delivered a sermon on the sin of Sodom. Or, rather, the sins of Sodom! According to the rabbis, these included selfishness, arrogance, apathy — a failure to share their abundance of resources with the needy. In our own time of greed, how can we choose to bless our neighbors instead of, say, covering them in honey and put them on a wall for the hornets? Want to support what we do? Become a Builder or donate today! ...

2 months ago

24 minutes

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From the Tumultuous Waters to a World on Fire (Audio Fixed)

Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. You can join in yourself, or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Contact Chai. https://mishkan.shulcloud.com/form/reg-morning-minyan-evergreen Want to support what we do? Become a Builder or donate today! https://www.mishkanchicago.org/support/be-a-builder/ https://www.mishkanchicago.org/support/makeyourgift/ Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

2 months ago

25 minutes

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The Border of Babel

Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on October 24th. Chicago has been laid siege by federal forces. The America they are building, one of dehumanizing borders between nations, peoples, and neighbors, has a lot in common with that most infamous building in Jewish lore — the Tower of Babel. How can we build another America, another world? Want to support what we do? Become a Builder or donate today! https://www.mishkanchicago.org/support/be-a-builder/ https://www.mishkanchicago.o...

2 months ago

22 minutes

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Floodwaters and ICE

Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. You can join in yourself, or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Contact Chai. https://mishkan.shulcloud.com/form/reg-morning-minyan-evergreen Want to support what we do? Become a Builder or donate today! https://www.mishkanchicago.org/support/be-a-builder/ https://www.mishkanchicago.org/support/makeyourgift/ Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

2 months ago

33 minutes

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In The Beginning… There Were No Kings

The night before a contingent of Mishkanites joined the massive October 18th, 2025 No Kings March, Rabbi Lizzi gave us some framing for the longstanding Jewish rejection of the idea that any person or people is greater than another. In the beginning, there were no kings. So, how did we end up in this mess? And what can we do about it? Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss. Transcript

2 months ago

26 minutes

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A Case For Joy — R' Lizzi Yom Kippur 5786

This sermon was delivered at our 5786 Yom Kippur service. Support our work by donating to our High Holiday Pledge Campaign: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/mishkan-chicago/mishkan-high-holidays-2025-5786 Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss. Transcript

3 months ago

28 minutes

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We Have To Care About What Other People Think — R' Steven Kol Nidre 5786

This sermon was delivered at our 5786 Rosh Hashanah service. Support our work by donating to our High Holiday Pledge Campaign: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/mishkan-chicago/mishkan-high-holidays-2025-5786 Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss. Transcript

3 months ago

26 minutes

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This Is A Moral Test — R'Lizzi Rosh Hashanah 5786

This sermon was delivered at our 5786 Rosh Hashanah service. Registration is open for High Holidays at Mishkan! Whether you attend in-person or via our affordable, state-of-the-art livestream, you can count on Mishkan’s High Holiday services to strengthen and inspire you as we face a new year of challenges and opportunities. Tickets go fast, so save your seat today! https://www.tickettailor.com/events/mishkanchicago/1790206 Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed ...

3 months ago

34 minutes