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The Frum Health Club Podcast
The Frum Health Club Podcast
We started The Frum Health Club with a clear mission: to spark real change in our community’s health and well-being. Too many in the Frum world lack the knowledge and guidance needed for proper nutrition and fitness, leading to preventable illness and, tragically, lives cut short.
This podcast and group is here to change that.
Each episode brings you practical health tips, simple meal ideas, fitness guidance, and inspiring stories, all designed to help you live longer, feel stronger, and have more energy for your family and your avodas Hashem.
Your health matters. Your family matters. Together, we can build a healthier, stronger future for Klal Yisrael.
The Frum Health Club Podcast
Why This Rabbi became Vegan with Rabbi Akiva Gersh
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In this episode of the Frum Health Club Podcast, I sit down with Rabbi Akiva Gersh, known to many as The Vegan Rabbi, for a real conversation about veganism, health, and living with values.
Akiva’s story is incredible. He grew up in the U.S. eating a typical American diet, felt disconnected from Yiddishkeit, and then had a major wake up call in college through environmental activism. He became vegetarian, then fully vegan at 19, and that journey unexpectedly became the doorway that led him back to Torah.
We talk about what veganism actually means, why it is still so uncommon in the Orthodox world, what a normal day of eating looks like, and how to think about Shabbos, Yom Tov, and tradition in a modern food system that looks nothing like our grandparents’ world.
This is not a preachy episode. It’s honest, practical, and thought-provoking.
Topics we cover:
• How Akiva became vegan at 19
• Why veganism was the beginning of his journey back to Judaism
• Common misconceptions in the frum world about meat on Shabbos and Yom Tov
• Blue Zones and why plant-based eating is linked to longevity
• What vegans do about B12, iron, and omega-3
• The difference between vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian
• How Akiva approaches tefillin and leather from a Torah perspective
• What a vegan Shabbos meal can actually look like
• Simple ways to start, including “vegan Mondays” and practical meal planning
About Rabbi Akiva Gersh:
Rabbi Akiva Gersh has been educating students for over 25 years and speaks about conscious living, compassion, and plant-based health through a Torah lens. He lives in Israel with his wife Tamar and their four children.
Learn more about Rabbi Akiva Gersh:
Website: https://www.akivagersh.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veganrabbi
Join the Frum Health Club WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KaCltJZoGmp3qbeZh9K7z4?mode=gi_t