Political tensions, anxiety, and loneliness are on the rise,

but problems like these aren't new, and the solutions don't have to be either.

For thousands of years, societies have asked questions about how to live, thrive, and love.

And it was spiritual traditions that offered wisdom and tools to help people find their way.

Tools that science is now discovering offer real benefits. Join me, Dave

Desteno, to explore how we can all use this wisdom, whatever our beliefs. Listen to How God

Works from PRX, wherever you listen to podcasts.

This episode of Chutzpah is sponsored by Gavin Salomonese, LLC. If you want to learn more about how you can support

chutzpahd, please email us at chutzpod at gmail.com. All right, let's do it. This is so exciting.

I feel like my chutzpahed muscles are slightly afterfeed.

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the new season of chutzpahd.

Real life lived better, where each week we apply Jewish tradition and a little bit of Samuel L. Jackson to answer a letter sent by you, the listener, about an issue that is live in your life.

I'm Rabbi Shira Stupman.

And I'm Hannah Rosen.

And Shira, I'm so glad to see you.

How's your summer?

It is so lovely to see your face.

My summer was wonderful, filled with a lot of hard work.

I was out in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado, one of the most beautiful places on Earth, serving as a rabbi out there. How was your summer?

Wow, that sounds like hard labor, Shira. That sounds like, you know, calloused fingers kind of labor.

Oh, it's so funny, Hannah, because at first I thought you were being supportive of me

because it is kind of odd to spend your whole summer working your chukas off in a place where

...