Ep 232: Habits of a Whole Heart with Arnie Herz and guest Rabbi Levi Paltiel P1 on hmTv

Habits of a Whole Heart (Ep. 232, Part 1)

In this episode of Habits of a Whole Heart on hmTv, host Arnie Herz sits down with his longtime friend and teacher, Rabbi Levi Paltiel, for a conversation about purpose, wholeness, and the power of daily habits.

Together, they explore timeless Chassidic teachings from the Tanya, the meaning of unity, and how to see life’s inconsistencies as part of a greater plan. Rabbi Levi shares wisdom on serving God with joy, being the “CEO of your own life,” and finding purpose at any age or stage. Arnie reflects on his own late-in-life connection to Judaism, and how even missed years can become springboards for growth and service.

As they approach the High Holidays, the discussion turns to Elul—the month when “the King is in the field”—and how to experience God’s closeness in a deeply personal way. The episode closes with a candid exchange on overcoming negative experiences of religion and discovering authentic, life-giving spirituality.

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation that blends warmth, humor, and deep insight—an invitation to taste the wholeness of living with a whole heart.

Transcript

Ep 232 — Habits of a Whole Heart

Host: Arnie Herz
Guest: Rabbi Levi Paltiel (Part 1)
Series: Humanity Matters TV (hmTv)

[Intro music]

ARNIE HERZ:
Welcome to Habits of a Whole Heart on HMTV. I’m Arnie Herz, your host, and I’m very happy to have with me a very old friend—actually a teacher—and he’s only twenty-six years old, Rabbi Levi Paltiel. I’ve known Levi since he was a little kid. I’ve been going to the Chabad of Port Washington—he’s the rabbi’s son—and now he’s a rabbi in his own right, quite an illustrious scholar. I’m really thrilled to have you here. Not only have we become real friends, but we’ve studied together, we’ve learned together, and I’m struck by your depth of wisdom at such a young age. Thank you for joining me today.

RABBI LEVI PALTIEL:
Wow—thank you. The honor is mine. I’m excited for this conversation.

ARNIE:
For our listeners: there are very few people on this planet I’ve clocked more hours of conversation with than Levi. We start talking for two minutes and the next thing you know—two hours later—we’re still going. We’re going to do a version of that now. Nothing scripted. We chatted a little in the car on the way here, tossed around some topics, and we’ll see where this takes us.

So—my podcast is called Habits of a Whole Heart. It brings together two concepts: wholeness and habits. What does wholeness mean, and what do habits have to do with it? The whole theme is grounded in Chassidus, especially the Tanya. What’s the relationship between habits, wholeness, and Divine purpose? I’ll toss you that easy question to start.

RABBI LEVI:
There’s a lot there. When you say “whole heart” or “completeness,” what comes to mind—especially something I’ve been learning recently—is unity. What makes something one? We’re heading into the High Holidays, which are about serving God and becoming aligned and “one.” Our knee-jerk idea of oneness is often, “If there’s a second thing, I’m not whole.” So when we’re inconsistent—as we inevitably will be—we think, “Am I no longer true to myself?”

I like to joke that the only thing we’re consistent about is being inconsistent. The message of Tanya, and of living connected to God, is: if God created me, He created me whole. If I was created with details, then my wholeness includes those details. Which means even the parts of life that feel off-script—the challenges, the detours—are not defects; they’re instruments. When they’re used in service of God, that is wholeness. Perfection isn’t the absence of knots in the wood; it’s the table you build with them.

ARNIE:
Give me an example.

RABBI LEVI:
I’ll use something from our own story. Years ago, after we’d learned some Chassidus together, you began warming to Judaism, practicing more. You said to me—remember this?—“Levi, why did God hide this from me for fifty years?” You were looking at this eighteen-year-old kid who grew up with it and thought, “What took so long?”

The only way not to get dragged down by that—and instead be propelled by it—is to see it as a springboard. God gave you that timeline. Your challenges and history make you uniquely necessary now. If you exist today, then in the last six thousand years there’s a purpose that has not been accomplished that only you, with your precise story, can do today. That’s not rhetoric. That’s responsibility.

ARNIE:
So you’re saying my coming to this later actually became a bridge—I can connect with people in ways someone raised in it might not. What I lacked for fifty years becomes part of the bigger plan if I use it as a springboard. Did I hear that right?

RABBI LEVI:
Exactly. The plan is to recognize it as a springboard. My father teaches this a lot: “Serve God with joy.” How do I do that when there are real challenges? Not by pretending they don’t exist. Imagine you’re CEO of the company called You, Inc. You don’t kvetch your way through board meetings. You ask: What’s true? What are our assets and constraints? How do we turn even our liabilities into growth? Success isn’t guaranteed—that’s God’s domain. Faithfulness to the mission is your domain. If God put lemons on your tie—make the lemonade already.

ARNIE:
I love that: be the CEO of your life. It forces you to clearly see strengths and weaknesses and then move forward—very forward-looking. And here we are in Elul, heading into Rosh Hashanah and the High Holidays. My understanding is that this entire season is about realigning with our core purpose and using this period as a springboard to bring all our energy into our truest aspirations—and to live our inherent wholeness. Fair?

RABBI LEVI:
Absolutely. The Alter Rebbe—founder of Chabad and author of the Tanya—speaks about “the King in the field” during Elul. It means God isn’t just in the palace waiting for results; He’s out in your field. He’s interested in the way you plow, sow, and harvest—in your life, not just your outputs. Some years the field is easier, some harder; either way, it’s your field by design. Elul is the time to recognize that personal Divine interest and align your daily habits with that relationship.

ARNIE:
For many people—me included for a long time—God felt distant, theoretical. “Does God really care about me?” What are the consequences of internalizing—or not internalizing—that truth? And how can an average person grasp it?

RABBI LEVI:
One image: two light bulbs. One asks, “Do you believe in electricity?” The other says, “I’ve never seen electricity.” But the lit bulb is the proof. If you exist, you’re already plugged into Something. We also intuit this in how we meet people. After “What’s your name?” we ask, “What do you do?” We instinctively seek purpose. The Tanya claim is bolder: purpose isn’t a nice add-on; it’s identity. When you see yourself as a soul on a mission, it changes your mornings, your struggles, your resilience.

ARNIE:
And yet so much of this doesn’t feel rational. Most of us make our mind our god: if it makes sense, I’ll do it; if not, pass. What moved me was experimenting beyond what made sense. Keep Shabbat for the first time. Put on tefillin. Study. Give tzedakah. Do it for thirty days and then evaluate. Every time I do that, my mental framing expands. I see a wisdom I couldn’t see from the outside.

RABBI LEVI:
There’s a great story about the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn. In a Soviet prison, an atheist said, “Convince me there’s a God, and I’ll join you.” The Rebbe said, “I can offer arguments—but first, act Jewish for a period. Then the arguments will land.” It’s like astronomy: before the lecture, take a look through the telescope. Try a mitzvah—tefillin for a month, Shabbat candles, a daily prayer. Experience primes understanding.

ARNIE:
Exactly. You can read about swimming forever, but until you get in the pool, you don’t know water. Judaism is profoundly experiential. And we’re not as rational as we think—most of us board planes or take medicine without fully understanding the mechanics. We try it, see results, and then the understanding follows.

Here’s my tougher question as we close Part 1. For fifty years I pursued Eastern paths—I lived in India, studied yoga and meditation—because the Judaism I tasted growing up didn’t taste good. It felt formulaic, boring, constraining—not meaningful or freeing. Many have had negative religious experiences. In thirty seconds, what do you say to them—especially as we head into the High Holidays? What mindset should they bring?

RABBI LEVI:
Two quick points. First: if you bought “Apple AirPods Pro” on a sketchy site and they sounded terrible, that’s not an indictment of Apple—it’s a counterfeit. Much of what turns people off is watered-down Judaism. I don’t like it either.

Second: Judaism isn’t an add-on to your life; it’s who you are. If someone hands you a bag of rituals divorced from your inner life, that isn’t Judaism. Real Judaism is something you discover within—when a practice makes you feel more yourself, not less. People said about the Rebbe that you didn’t walk out thinking, “He’s great,” you walked out thinking, “I’m great.” Judaism’s not only about connecting you to God; it’s about reconnecting you to you. If you leave feeling that you—and therefore your mission—are indispensable, you’ve tasted the real thing.

ARNIE:
That’s a beautiful message. We’re just getting warmed up. We’ll pick up Part 2 with that question as we move toward the High Holidays. Rabbi Levi Paltiel, thank you for sharing your wisdom.

I’m Arnie Herz—thank you for tuning in to Habits of a Whole Heart on HMTV, part of the Humanity Matters series. Stay with us for Episode 2.

[Outro music]