Rest to Return explores the balance between ancient Shabbat practices and what is needed for us to feel well and whole in this time, making the case for the transformative power of rest, rooted in Jewish wisdom while expansive enough to meet the modern moment.

 By bridging traditional Sabbath wisdom with awareness of what each of us needs to thrive, we invite listeners to cultivate personal rest practices through contemporary application of Jewish thought interwoven with reflection, song, and embodied practice.

This podcast offers Jewish spiritual guidance - from without and within - for navigating a turbulent world from a centered, rested place.

So many of us are taught that we must rest so that we can refuel and get back to work. What if, instead, we learned that to rest is an act of humanity?
Or an act of divinity?

Episodes

Click through for full show notes and transcripts for each episode!

With support from Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah

  • Keshira haLev Fife

    CREATOR AND HOST

    A scion of a notable rabbinic ultra-Orthodox family, Rav Jericho (they/them) was expelled from their community as a teenager for their rebellions and their questions. 

    After years learning from Buddhist, Sufi, and atheist teachers, they returned to Judaism on their own terms, excavating lost wisdom from our female, trans, mystical, and queer ancestors. 

    A first-generation college student, Rav Jericho earned an undergraduate degree at Brooklyn College as a night-student on a Presidential Scholarship. They hold a masters degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, where they were a Pforzheimer Fellow. They are ordained by the Aleph Ordination Program in the lineage of Reb Zalman Schachter Shalomi. 

    Rav Jericho currently serves as an advisor to Beit Kohenet and the Shalom Center. A member of B’not Esh, they are a Wexner Fellow, a member of the ROI: Schusterman Community, and a recent fellow at Atra: The Center for Rabbinic Innovation. Rav Jericho has been named to the Jewish Week’s 36 Under 36 and Forward 50 for their work. 

    Rav Jericho is trans nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. They live in North Brooklyn on Lenape land with their partner, Dr. Ben Ash Blum, their two children, and their cats, Ziz and Griffin.

  • Joey Taylor

    PRODUCER

    Joey (he/him) serves as the Executive Director of Bespoken Live, a radical storytelling initiative. He is also the producer of the podcast “Common Good” and teaches world religions in prisons. Joey’s artful story telling is obvious in the way he has curated and threaded this new podcast. Joey lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.