Totally Unexpected!

Sonia begins by telling Chavie about the memoir-writing class that unexpectedly became her book. Then, they trace her childhood, starting with her Jewish grandparents who fled Eastern Europe, her Christian Arab grandparents who left Ottoman-era Bethlehem, and how her parents met in Colombia and built a new life together. Growing up, Sonia repeatedly asked, “What are we?” Her parents wanted their children to choose their own beliefs, but their answer, “We are nothing” left her longing to belong. She walks Chavie through the beauty of her tropical childhood, the cartel violence that transformed Colombia, and the first time a conflict in the Middle East exposed the identities and loyalties her parents had tried to set aside. At 18, Sonia left for college in America, where she explored Middle Eastern history, Hebrew, Arabic, and the Judaism that ultimately became central to her adult life. Chavie and Sonia reflect on the foundations parents give their children, even when they try not to impose, and how writing allowed Sonia to see her parents and grandparents as flawed, complicated, deeply loved people. They end with her return to her childhood home, her mother’s willingness to be uncomfortable for the sake of the book, and the ethical line between telling your own story and telling someone else’s.   Sonia Daccarett is a writer and communications professional. Born in Colombia to a Christian Palestinian father and a Jewish mother, she moved to the United States and received an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a master’s degree in international and public affairs from Columbia University. For more than two decades, she worked on strategic communications initiatives with corporate and non-profit clients and currently writes and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.   This Week's Prompt How does antisemitism affect you? Does it make you want to be louder or go under the radar? No wrong answers!  This segment, at the end of every episode, features voice notes from listeners with their personal stories and hot takes on a given prompt.   Referenced On the Pod 1:47:43 Rebbetzin Miriam Lipsker of Chabad at Emory University viral video  1:58:27 Chavie's blogpost, I Need a Minute, in reaction to the chanukah Bondi massacre Stay in touch with Sonia! www.soniadaccarett.com Sonia on Instagram    Stay in touch with Chavie! @chaviebruk on Instagram www.totallyunexpected.blog Totally Unexpected! on Youtube   Want to sponsor or dedicate an episode? Reach out to Chavie on Instagram or by email at [email protected].

Sorella shares what it was like to grow up in London as the eleventh of twelve children in a big, Chabad family, and how her school and community experiences were shaped by a mix of Holocaust survivors, Russian immigrants, and baalei teshuvahs. She shares how, at eleven years old, her childhood was abruptly changed when her 17-year-old sister Chayale passed away suddenly, and on the same day, her best friend, Dina’s younger sister, Malky, also passed away. Chavie asks what grief looked like in the home after that, and Sorella talks about how her sister was spoken about constantly, even if the tools for processing grief were different than they are today. Sorella then shares how those two losses connected their families forever and how Dina’s older brother, Aycee, eventually became her husband after years of friendship, chemistry, and trying to convince herself he was too familiar and safe. Chavie and Sorella trace her move to Sydney, where she and Aycee built a life on shlichus, and the transition from their established roles into founding Abraham’s Tent, an organization supporting Jewish patients and families in hospitals. The losses of both their mothers became a turning point for Sorella and Aycee, pushing them to question whether they were really living up to their potential and eventually leading them to start Abraham’s Tent. Sorella then walks Chavie through a play by play of the Chanukah attack at Bondi Beach, where their close friend Rabbi Eli Schlanger was killed, and what it was like to run with her children, search for the ones who weren’t with her, and then step into the aftermath as Abraham’s Tent became part of the response for the injured and their families. Chavie reflects on how grief keeps showing up differently as life moves forward. Chavie and Sorella talk about faith, anger, fear, purpose, and what it means to keep bringing light while still living with the questions.   Sorella Abrahams is a passionate community builder and Chabad Shlucha, born in the UK into a large Chabad family. From a young age she developed a deep love for people and a fascination with their stories and journeys. Together with her husband Rabbi Aycee, Sorella founded Abrahams Tent and The Soul Centre in Randwick, Sydney in 2022, creating spaces that support hospital patients and their families while nurturing community, wellbeing and spiritual growth. Through challenges in her own life, Sorella has learned to turn pain into purpose and madness into meaning, using her experiences to uplift and support others.  A devoted wife and mother of four, she is passionate about teaching women, building meaningful connections, creative writing, public speaking, and travelling G-D's magical world.   This Week's Prompt Tell me about the time you forgave someone or asked someone for forgiveness! This segment at the end of every episode features voice notes from listeners with their personal stories and hot takes on a given prompt.   Referenced On the Pod 43:36 Merkos Shlichus  45:56 Bikur Cholim London  57:46 Abrahams’s Tent Sydney  1:14:10 Sefirat HaOmer  1:17:43 Awarness By Miriam Adahan  2:30:02 Faith Niece interview with Sony Perlman  2:33:56 Shaindy Plotzker  2:34:07 Shalom for Charlotte    Stay in touch with Sorella! [email protected] @sorellaellaella on Instagram www.abrahamstent.org.au www.supportsydney.org/Eli   Stay in touch with Chavie! @chaviebruk on Instagram www.totallyunexpected.blog Totally Unexpected! on Youtube   Want to sponsor or dedicate an episode? Reach out to Chavie on Instagram or by email at [email protected].

Yisroel tells Chavie about his childhood in Des Plaines, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, where he was raised by parents who were still in the process of becoming more observant. Yisroel opens up about having a stutter as a child, the first time he has ever shared this publicly. He reflects on how it shaped the way he learned to speak, pause, and communicate with intention. He talks about being perceived as a mainstream Chabad yeshiva boy while internally struggling with not fitting in, and how he eventually made the radical decision to leave the regular yeshiva track and spend a year in Tiferes, a yeshiva built for beginners in Morristown, NJ. He shares how that choice changed his relationship with Judaism, Hassidic teachings, and eventually his work as a rabbi. Chavie and Yisroel then trace his unexpected path to Montreal, where he established Chabad of NDG and began working with young Jewish professionals and became known as the “Love Rabbi,” leading to matchmaking and the documentary Kosher Love. Chavie asks what led him to write The Forgiveness Experiment, and Yisroel shares the Yom Kippur Facebook post that opened his eyes to how much resentment people quietly carry, especially toward those in leadership positions. They deep dive into what it’s like to feel wronged by G-d, and what it means to move from waiting to be rescued toward becoming a co-creator in your own life.   Rabbi Yisroel Bernath is the senior rabbi of Rohr Chabad NDG in Montreal and the voice behind a growing global audience online, where he shares heart-open reflections on relationships, healing, and purpose. Known for his honest and relatable style, he brings together Jewish wisdom, Kabbalah, and real-life experience to help people navigate love, pain, and personal growth. He is the author of The Forgiveness Experiment, a #1 Amazon bestseller that explores what life could look like if we truly let go. Through his writing, podcasts, and social media, Rabbi Bernath invites people into deeper, more meaningful conversations with themselves and with each other.   This Week's Prompt Tell me about your fitness journey! Do you have a routine? How has your relationship with fitness evolved? This NEW segment at the end of every episode features voice notes from listeners with their personal stories and hot takes on the given prompt.   Referenced On the Pod 00:1:29 Chavie’s blogpost about Zeesy health journey  27:55 Tiferes Bachurim - Rabbinical College of America  51:41 - Kosher Love Documentary 1:16:46 Steven Karpman - Karpman Drama Triangle 1:16:50 - Omer Pinto  1:22:49 - David Emerald 1:59:59 Chavie’s interview with Moshe Weinbaum  2:01:05 - Chavie’s blogpost about her fitness journey  2:13:25 Walk At Home - at home workout subscription 2:19:07 Jazzercize   Stay in touch with Yisroel! www.theloverabbi.com [email protected] @montrealrabbi on Instagram @myrabbi Facebook www.forgivenessbook.org The Forgiveness Experiment - Paperback  The Forgiveness Experiment - Kindle The Forgiveness Experiment Audiobook   Stay in touch with Chavie! @chaviebruk on Instagram www.totallyunexpected.blog Totally Unexpected! on Youtube   Want to sponsor or dedicate an episode? Reach out to Chavie on Instagram or by email at [email protected].

Chavie and Paola open by reminiscing about how they first connected when Paola walked into Chabad of Bozeman for a Passover seder 18 years ago and instantly felt at home. Paola talks about her childhood as a first generation American, the daughter of two physicists, a Holocaust survivor father who fled to Israel before eventually founding the physics department at UCSD, and what it was like growing up in a home where intellect was everything. Paola shares how she struggled with depression as a teenager and found her way through nature and eventually yoga, which became the spirituality she hadn't known she was looking for. Chavie asks Paola to go deep on what yoga actually is beyond the physical poses, and they talk about breath, what it means to really be in your body, and Chavie opens up about her own struggles connecting to her breath. Paola then walks through three defining moments of grief and loss in her life and how each one eventually led her to Ayurveda, which has now become a central part of how she works with clients. Chavie asks Paola to use her as a live case study, and Paola maps out Chavie's Ayurvedic constitution right there in the episode.   Paola Feher holds a Master’s in Biomechanics and a Master’s in Ayurveda. She is a massage therapist and yoga therapist who started her own practice in 1997, working with chronic pain, injury rehabilitation, and injury prevention. When she is not working, Paola loves to be outside. She has an extensive garden where she grows her own fruits and vegetables in the summer and preserves them for the winter. She also loves ice climbing, skiing, mountain biking, hiking, climbing peaks, swimming, running, and practicing yoga. She shares her life with two kitties, her partner, and close friends and family she adores.   This Week's Prompt Did You Ever Experience Burnout and What Did That Feel Like? This is a NEW segment at the end of every episode featuring voice notes from listeners with their HOT TAKES on a given prompt!   Referenced On the Pod 37:11 T. K. V. Desikachar  1:59:52 Hunt Gather Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff    Stay in touch with Paola! www.bozemanhealingarts.com   Stay in touch with Chavie! @chaviebruk on Instagram www.totallyunexpected.blog Totally Unexpected! on Youtube   Want to sponsor or dedicate an episode? Reach out to Chavie on Instagram or by email at [email protected].

Aimee opens up to Chavie about her childhood in Lakewood, where her Holocaust survivor grandparents had a chicken farm. She shares how she became religious and didn’t go to prom because it was on a Friday night.  Aimee talks about her path through medicine, and the fertility journey that changed her life: four miscarriages in a row and the miracle twins who were born after. Aimee shares how she founded I Was Supposed To Have A Baby and explains why success isn’t always about having a baby. Aimee and Chavie talk about burnout, what happens when holding everyone else’s pain catches up with you, and how sometimes the work is learning to live with what is unfinished. Aimee Baron, MD, FAAP, is the founder and executive director of I Was Supposed to Have a Baby (IWSTHAB), an organization transforming how the Jewish community cares for people navigating fertility struggles and loss. After years of secondary infertility and multiple pregnancy losses, Dr. Baron became deeply aware of the need for better emotional, communal, and practical support for those trying to build a family. IWSTHAB provides mental health support, educational resources, digital programming, communal spaces, and connections to wider support networks for people experiencing infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth, infant loss, termination for medical reasons, donor conception, adoption, surrogacy, and more. Dr. Baron is passionate about creating community where people in pain feel validated, comforted, and held, and where those around them know how to show up with care. She previously served as Director of Innovation and Growth at NechamaComfort and worked as an attending pediatrician in the newborn nursery and neonatal intensive care unit at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital. She lives in the New York area with her husband and children.   This Week's Prompt Are You a Home Birth Mama or Only In the Hospital Mama? This is a NEW segment at the end of every episode featuring voice notes from listeners with their HOT TAKES on a given prompt!   Referenced On the Pod 20:58 NCSY 32:53 Chabad of Binghamton 32:57 Rivkah Slonim Interview on Totally Unexpected! 36:35 Chabad of Harvard - Rabbi Hirschy & Elkie Zarchi 38:35 Chabad at Syracuse - Rabbi Yaakov & Chanie Rapoport 1:20:17 Nechama Comfort - Reva Judas, Founder & Director 1:24:15 ATIME 1:24:15 Bonei Olam 1:24:15 PUAH 1:24:15 Knafayim 2:27:14 Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin 2:28:09 Aura Rosenblatt interview on Totally Unexpected!   Stay in touch with Aimee! www.iwassupposedtohaveababy.org IWSTHAB Resource Library & Support Groups @iwassupposedtohaveababy on Instagram Talking Away The Taboo Podcast LinkedIn   Stay in touch with Chavie! @chaviebruk on Instagram www.totallyunexpected.blog Totally Unexpected! on Youtube   Want to sponsor or dedicate an episode? Reach out to Chavie on Instagram or by email at [email protected].

Chavie sits down with Dassi, who starts out by sharing how she was born in Iran in the middle of the Iran-Iraq war, where her mother delivered her by emergency C-section during a blackout. Dassi talks about her family's escape from Iran, her grandparents being smuggled out through the Baluchi mountains, and how her parents left behind everything they had built to start over in America with nothing. Dassi shares what it was like growing up as a Persian Jew in New Jersey, caught between two cultures, never fully belonging to either, and how that sense of not fitting in eventually led her on a spiritual quest exploring Kabbalah and Chassidus.Chavie asks about Dassi's years working as a doula and hypnobirthing educator before she was even married, attending hundreds of births and co-founding the Boston Doula Circle, and what it was like to witness so much life coming into the world before navigating her own fertility journey. Dassi opens up about six years of infertility, the pregnancy with her second daughter, and how that collided with the unraveling of her marriage. Chavie and Dassi talk about IFS therapy, energy work, and learning how to heal by listening to the body.   Dassi Zar is a mom of two, the founder of The Resilient Minded Mom, and an IFS-informed coach who helps women navigate life with clarity and self-trust. A former Shlucha in Lower Manhattan, as well as a Yoga and Pilates instructor, she brings both depth and lived experience to her work. She is also the owner of The 50FF Wig, a business rooted in confidence and accessibility. Having moved through her own seasons of challenge and growth, Dassi is deeply committed to authenticity, truth-seeking, and ultimately helping women come home to themselves.   This Week's Prompt Jewish Books vs Non Jewish Books - Where Do You Draw the Line? This is a NEW segment at the end of every episode featuring voice notes from listeners with their HOT TAKES on a given prompt!   Referenced On the Pod 15:46 HIAS Org (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) https://hias.org/ 21:10 The Ben Ish Chai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosef_Hayyim 37:33 Machon Chana https://www.machonchana.org/ 47:53 Moshe weinbaum ep https://open.spotify.com/episode/02tJfMvr9wlnI5tDfZ49Fc?si=wXFBiu-NTHGo_Q1dZJukqw 1:21:00 IFS: Internal Family Systems https://ifs-institute.com/ 1:26:25 Eckhart Tolle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle   Stay in touch with Dassi! @bowerymama on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bowerymama/ @the50ffwig on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/the50ffwig/   Stay in touch with Chavie! @chaviebruk on Instagram www.totallyunexpected.blog Totally Unexpected! on Youtube   Want to sponsor or dedicate an episode? Reach out to Chavie on Instagram or by email at [email protected].