Contact Chai
Contact Chai is Mishkan Chicago’s podcast feed, where you can hear our Shabbat sermons, Morning Minyans, interviews with Jewish thought leaders, and more.
Episodes
381 episodes
Pride Shabbat! Ft. Daniel Kutcher and A Very Mishkan Auf Ruf
Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our Pride Shabbat service on June 26th. We held an auf ruf for Team Mishkan’s own Michael Palmer and Jane Mintz. Then, we heard a special Pride guest drash from teen Daniel Kutcher and their parents (Matt ...
Morning Minyan w/ Rabbi Lizzi — June 24th, 2026
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 ...
On Juneteenth And Bold Moses — Rabbi Steven Sermon
Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on June 20th. Rabbi Steven reflected on Juneteenth and America’s history of slavery through the lens of Exodus. Moses is portrayed as exceptionally bold in making demands of those in power in h...
Morning Minyan w/ Rabbi Lizzi — June 17th, 2026
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 ...
Progress Is Not Inevitable — It Is Promised
Hello and welcome to Contact Chai. Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on June 12th when Rabbi Steven delivered a sermon deflating the naive notion that progress is inevitable rather than the product of hard fought victories, lik...
We Are Here — The Roman Empire Is Not
Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on June 6th. If you somehow missed the news, Rabbi Lizzi met the pope. The Vatican is not short supply of lavish iconography, and it got her thinking about the different relationships our tradi...
The Poetry Of Torah
Today’s sermon is a Shabbat Replay of our Shavuot Shabbat service. We were joined by acclaimed author Rodger Kamenetz who served as our scholar-in-residence during Shavuot. Rodger delivered a sermon on the poetry of Torah. What sacred meaning c...
We're Counting (On) You — Rabbi Lizzi Sermon
Today's episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on May 16th in which Rabbi Lizzi drashed on the Counting of the Omer and the lead-up to Shavuot. Unfortunately, we had some technical problems at the service, but R' Lizzi was kind enough to re...
Jewish Climate Trust — Interview With Nigel Savage
Following Morning Minyan, Rabbi Lizzi sat down with Nigel Savage to discuss Jewish Climate Trust, a new initiative to organize the resources of the Jewish community toward meeting the moment on climate ...
Everyday Holiness: A Conversation with Alan Morinis
Rabbi Lizzi sits down with Alan Morinis, author of the enormously popular and profound "Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar."Read more about Alan and purchase his latest book "The Shabbat Effect" at the link below....
Sobriety and Serenity — Ricky Halle-Podell
Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on May 8th when we heard a guest drash from Builder Ricky Halle-Podell. As part of our Sober Shabbat in which we had a sober kiddush, Ricky spoke on his own sobriety journey, offering insights ...
Mishkan's Scholar-In-Residence: Author Rodger Kamenetz
Rodger Kamenetz is the award-winning author of The Jew In The Lotus, and he will be joining us in two weeks for Shavuot to teach several programs on spirituality, creativity, and encountering the divine in our daily lives. Rabbi Lizzi ...
We Can’t Ignore The Story Behind The Story — R' Lizzi Sermon
Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on May 2nd. Rabbi Lizzi delivered a drash on a criminal trial recorded in the Torah. The judgment was capital punishment, but new light is shed on the accused’s motivation and state of mind by ...
Morning Minyan with Yiscah Smith: Planting Seeds of the Divine
In this special Morning Minyan, Rabbi Lizzi is joined by Jerusalem-based thought leader, spiritual activist, and author Yiscah Smith for a discussion of her new book, Planting Seeds of the Divine: Torah Commentaries. Yiscah will be ret...
What Mishkan Taught Us About Being Jewish — Alana Sindelar and Gabi Finkelstein
Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on April 24th. We had not one but two guest drashers: Alana Sindelar and Gabi Finkelstein, MishTeens about to graduate high school and Mishkan's Cohen Kadima Program! Let them know you enjoyed ...
Unlearning Jewish Anxiety with Rabbi Dr. Caryn Aviv
Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld made Jewish anxiety funny for a broad audience, but for many Jews, it’s just reality. Why? How did this happen? And what if we don’t actually want that anxious inheritance? In a special Morning Minyan, Rabbi Lizzi...
Aspiring to be the Jewish State
In this special Yom haAtzma'ut episode of Contact Chai, Rabbi Lizzi interviews Orly Erez Likhovski, Executive Director of the Israeli Religious Action Center, which fights for religious freedom and pluralism, equality in gender and sexuality, a...
The Obligation to Heal — R' Steven Philp
Today's episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on April 18th when Rabbi Steven gave a sermon on our tradition's treatment of those with so-called leprosy. At first glance, the Torah's attitude toward people with skin disease is exclusionary...
In the Midst of Darkness: Interview With Author Rob Don
In honor of Yom HaShoah, Rabbi Lizzi spoke with author and Mishkanite Rob Don about his book In the Midst of Darkness, a memoir exploring intergenerational trauma, Holocaust survival, racism, and mental health.
Supporting Democracy In Israel — Jeremy Ben Ami, President of J Street
Today's episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on April 10th which featured a fascinating conversation between Rabbi Lizzi and special guest Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street. Rabbi Lizzi sits on the Rabbinic Cabinet of J Street, wh...
Possibility Is Enough — R' Steven Sermon
The audio in this sermon starts out rough, but it gets way better after two minutes — we promise!Hello, and welcome to Contact Chai. Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on Friday, March 27th, when Rabbi Steven delivered a ...
Leviticus And Letting Go — Rabbi Lizzi Sermon
Today’s episode is a Shabbat Replay of our service on March 21st, 2026, when Rabbi Lizzi led a conversation on the connection between the Passover practice of letting go of bread, pasta, and other wheaty, yeasty treats and the sacrifices descri...
A.I. Yai Yai! — Josh Cynamon w/ Rabbi Lizzi
Josh Cynamon, Mishkanite and PhD candidate in cognitive science at Indiana University studying cognitive science and artificial intelligence, joins Rabbi Lizzi in a nuanced conversation about the impacts of artificial intelligence on all of us....