Episode Details

Today, I sit down with my friend, Zisi Zirkind for an unscripted conversation about burnout, motherhood, faith, friendship, and the holy delusion of believing your soul is needed in this world.

This isn't an interview; it's a conversation between two close friends. We talk about why it's not always doing less that restores our energy, the undervaluing of women's work and how we each experience meaning in our homes, why faith doesn't have to be rigid to be strong, how we hold paradox in every identity, and how friendship can help us each remember who we are.

Zisi Zirkind is the Rebbetzin of Yeshiva Center in Melbourne, teaches Chassidus through her weekly women’s Torah classes, teaches guided research classes at Ohel Chana Seminary, and is the host of the podcast Standing Between Earth and Sky. Find her podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0EOKqR8gwDDnEEvq7W02z3?si=0c228c7fbde34a5f Contact her at zisiwolf@gmail.com.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 Host's Intro: A Conversation Between Friends

00:02:25 Welcome Zisi Zirkind

00:02:50 Springboarding ideas as a way of bridging the human and holy

00:04:01 How much do I trust myself?

00:04:53 When you're taking a leap

00:05:19 A friend who can see you clearly

00:06:14 Sustained creative devotion is supported by a witness

00:08:14 Why sharing an idea forces it to become real

00:10:10 Is this my animal soul or my divine soul?

00:11:41 Delusion of separateness vs. delusion of holiness

00:12:54 Does what I do matter?

00:14:28 Burnout happens when you're not lit up by what you're doing

00:14:41 What will actually energize you?

00:17:06 Busy but not doing the right things

00:17:36 The Rebbe's "add another one" — what was he actually saying?

00:18:27 Showing up before the energy comes

00:20:27 The seductive permission to wallow

00:21:50 "I had to make a choice that I'm going to love my life again"

00:22:08 Hosting vs. being hosted — what really makes a place yours

00:24:08 Dissolution of self prepares you to rise

00:24:50 When to add, and when you need more support

00:25:42 Delegating what depletes you -- "I'm sick of cleaning"

00:27:10 Excellence and pride in the work nobody sees

00:27:55 Bringing the same creativity to home life

00:28:35 Why the years that look like pause are often the years that change you

00:31:51 Bringing your full self into your home

00:32:29 Letting yourself enjoy what you didn't think was "you" — dropping the identity attachment

00:33:43 Paradox: when opposing realities exist at once

00:35:17 Teaching style: opening to the text vs. filing it into systems

00:38:05 Tanya's permission for multiple parts of self to coexist

00:38:08 Trusting that Torah's truth can hold your questions

00:38:39 After the Bondi terror attack: "Faith doesn't have to be rigid to be strong"

00:41:51 Faith from intuition, not intellect

00:42:35 Why paradox can only be experienced

00:43:02 Faith as identity: "I'm here. This is who I am."

00:44:34 The ego in Torah study, and what it costs us

00:45:50 The never-ending process

00:47:38 Host's Outro