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. Hello, and welcome back to Chutzpah. Real life lived better, where each week we apply Jewish tradition and a little bit of Jan Brady's FOMO to answer a letter sent by you, the listener, about an issue that is live in your life.

I'm Rabbi Shira Stuttman. And I'm Hannah Rosen. Hey, Hannah.

So we're recording on a Friday. What are you doing for Shabbat this weekend? My son has invited

a couple of friends over and so we're going to eat some food. That's about as much as I got for you.

You know, when a rabbi asks you,

what are you doing for Shabbat? You know that it's like it makes everyone nervous. Like,

this is a test and I've got to be doing the right thing for Shabbat. And I can't be like,

oh, I'm going to like a pork barbecue place because the rabbi will judge me. So, so it's loaded. By the way, we rabbis actually spend time thinking about that. So when we see someone in services, we will never say, oh, my God, I haven't seen you in a while. Even though there's no judgment there. It's just like literally, I haven't seen you. You always have to say, oh, it's so nice to see you, but sometimes people don't like that because even that implies something. So you just have to say, hey, what's up? Hey, what's up? It actually is a thing. And then in their heads, they're like, oh, my God, she doesn't even notice that I haven't been here in a long time. She doesn't care about me. I have just gotten used to the fact

that I am just a projection for other people's Jewish lived experiences. Yes, you are. That's so sad.

But speaking about me being a projection, I want to open with a question about me, Hannah.

Am I your best friend in the world?

Is this another rabbi test?

How about this?

Here's my diplomatic answer.

You're my best friend in the hoodspod world.

Okay, let me try a different question for you, if that's okay.

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