Creating Community with Rabbi Ken Chasen
Enjoy this week's episode with Rabbi Ken Chasen, an outspoken advocate for social justice whose writings appear in publications across the world. Rabbi Chasen shares a variety of tools to deal with sadness or hard times and encouragement to create more community in your life. His comforting words will help you feel better right away as he shares how you can stay balanced, spiritually centered, and connected to community so you know you’re never alone!
In this podcast episode, Lauren and Rabbi Chasen discuss:
How Rabbi Chasen maintains community for himself and his family
Different ways the grieving process has adapted during the pandemic
Rabbi Chasen’s path to becoming a rabbi
Acknowledging past darkness and returning to the light
Helpful daily practices: music, exercise, meditation
“Neshemah” and being grateful for a life-giving force
Why Rabbi Chasen created men's only groups and how he shows up for others
A reminder you’re not alone and have the strength to change your direction
Memorable Quotes:
“There’s a great hunger right now for creating community and for breaking down this feeling of aloneness that quarantine creates.”
“We all have experience with finding our way back to the light.”
“We need to make room for gratitude.”
“At the end of the day, we’re in the community making business and folks will choose their own appropriate portal into that...we want to spend our time and energy on ensuring people feel less alone in a world that can feel pretty lonely.”
About Rabbi Ken Chasen:
Rabbi Ken is the Senior Rabbi of Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles and is a member of the adjunct faculty of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, serves as National Co-Chair for T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, is an appointee to Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Interfaith Leadership Collective, and is a prominent Jewish composer whose works are regularly heard in synagogues and schools around the world. He is married to Allison Lee, the Chief Development Officer of TIME’S UP, and they are the parents of three children, who are all at home during the pandemic!
Connect with Rabbi Ken
Listen to the episode here:
