In this week’s episode, I explore the Torah’s first deep conversation about jealousy, fragmentation, and what happens when the challenge is no longer outside us but within our own family. The jealousy between brothers, the wounds inherited from their mothers, and what it means that Yaakov loses his prophecy for twenty-two years.

We look closely at how Yehuda’s choice to go down as part of his search to change the new reality ultimately becomes the beginning of his own transformation, and how Tamar meets him with a braid of modesty, intuition, courage, and wisdom that opens the portal of malchus. Her actions don’t just save her life; they create the seed of Moshiach.

I also share a teaching on vows, the inner promises we make in fear or pain that quietly bind our lives, and how this Parsha invites us to release them. And we end with the Rebbe’s lens: learning to search for the redeeming intention inside the messiest parts of our stories, the way Hashem does.

Lea

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In this episode, I walk with Yakov as he leaves Charan after twenty years of inner work in Lavan’s home. Everything he lived through becomes the preparation he needs to face Esav, not only the brother he once fled, but the part of himself he has not yet made room for. We look at Yakov’s threefold approach to danger, the crossing of the Yabok River, and why he refuses to leave behind even the small jugs. We sit with his long night of wrestling, the wound he carries from it, the name he receives, and how identity takes shape in the moments between what was and what is coming next.

In the second half, I turn to Dina. Her story is one of the hardest in the Torah, and I approach it with care and honesty. We explore her character, the strength she carries from Leah, what it means that she goes out to see the daughters of the land, and everything that follows. We face the harm done to her, the response of the city, and the choices her brothers make. The parsha asks us to stay with questions of dignity, vulnerability, and safety without turning away.

Dina’s rupture teaches us what it is to carry every part of our story toward healing, even the ones we would prefer not to hold.

Lea

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In this week’s episode, we follow Yaakov as he leaves the holiness of his parents’ home and enters the world of Lavan, a place of concealment, deception, and spiritual challenge. I explore Yaakov’s preparation, his years of learning, the dream at Har HaMoriah, and the spiritual descent that becomes the foundation of the Jewish future.

I focus on Leah, the sister whose tears, prayers, and hidden world reshape her destiny and ours. We look at how our sages describe her as “destined” for Esav, and how through relentless tefillah she becomes the mother of most of the tribes. I also explore the quiet courage of sisterhood between Rachel and Leah: the signs under the chuppah, the willingness to spare a sister humiliation, and later, Leah’s willingness to give up another tribe that Rachel could merit a child. Together, they open the portal through which the Jewish people are born.

Leah teaches us that pain doesn’t disqualify us from greatness; it can become the very place we meet Hashem. Her journey, from tears to gratitude, from “hated” to the mother of Yehuda and Mashiach, offers a map for anyone longing to believe that their story can still be rewritten.

Lea

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Listen to the More to the Story Podcast:
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In this week’s parsha, I explore the story not only as the birth of two brothers, but as the unveiling of two forces inside each of us, the godly soul and the animal soul. I speak about Rivka’s clarity, her courage, and the way her prophecy becomes a map for our own inner work.

I look at Yitzchak through the lens of gevurah, not as passive, but as someone who mastered his instinct so completely that he could stay present even when everything in him wanted to run. And I explore Esav not as a villain, but as the part of us that learned how to survive, how to grasp, how to react, and how to protect us when nothing else could.

Toldot invites us to dig our own wells, to uncover the waters beneath the story, and to ask what it might look like to let our Yaakov and our Esav work together instead of against each other.

Thank you for listening,
Lea

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Listen to the More to the Story Podcast:
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In this episode of More to the Story, I talk about how the energy of Vayeira flows into Chayei Sarah. These parshiyos are not separate stories but one current of guidance that keeps unfolding.

I speak about Avraham’s open heart, his hospitality, his prayers for Sodom, and how they teach us what it means to love without agenda. I also look at Lot’s home and how the energy of a parent shapes the moral weather of a family.

I spend time with Sarah. Her abductions. Her conversations with Hashem inside darkness. The way her body is restored and how her laughter becomes blessing. Her story shows that boundaries can be acts of love, that gevurah can serve chesed, and that both are needed to make space for the Divine.

And then I speak about the first Jewish marriage. About Rivka’s generosity at the well, the miracles that returned to Sarah’s tent, and how Yitzchak and Rivka teach us that the soul and the body are meant to meet, not compete. I share what I am learning about giving and receiving, about preparing ourselves as vessels for holiness, and about honoring what we have inherited while letting go of what no longer serves.

Lea

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Listen to the More to the Story Podcast:
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In this episode, I share a story about a book my husband handed me that cracked something open, and how discovering the legacy of Rebbetzin Devora Leah gave me language for a mission I’ve been living without knowing.

The name I carry has introduced me to parts of my soul I’ve only recently come to understand. I also reflect on what it means to honor the "animal soul" within us and why it may be the missing piece in the sacred work of marriage, motherhood, and inner connection.

For those learning that the journey to finding G-d starts with a journey inward into understanding ourselves, this one’s for you.

Thank you for listening,
Lea

Subscribe to the More to the Story Podcast: www.youtube.com/@MTTSPodcast
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Listen to the More to the Story Podcast:
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In this episode of More to the Story, I talk about what it really means that Avraham believed. Not only that he believed in Hashem, but that he believed in his own ability to hear truth. He trusted what he received. He didn’t make himself small. That kind of faith is what begins every healing journey.

I also speak about why the first mitzvah Avraham is given is on the body. Hashem asks him to bring holiness into the most physical and vulnerable place. We are not meant to rise above our bodies, but to invite G-d into them.

Lech Lecha is said to every soul every year. Leave what you know. Go toward the part of you that is your promised land, and each year, take a deeper dive inward.

Thank you for listening,
Lea

Subscribe to the More to the Story Podcast: www.youtube.com/@MTTSPodcast
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Listen to the More to the Story Podcast:
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In this episode of More to the Story, I look back at last week’s Parsha and ahead to the one that’s coming, and I find myself standing right in between them. I talk about what it means to live with the Parsha, to feel that each week carries its own heartbeat, its own invitation to grow and return.

For me, connecting to the Parsha is not about studying alone. It is about being part of a living, breathing story that moves through time and through us. Each week offers its own light, its own work. Sometimes it fills us. Sometimes, like this week, it cleanses us.

Thank you for listening,

Lea

Subscribe to the More to the Story Podcast: www.youtube.com/@MTTSPodcast
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Listen to the More to the Story Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | https://shorturl.at/JtdA9
Spotify | https://shorturl.at/DF2Ro