More to the Story with Lea Rubashkin

In this episode, I reflect on Parshas Emor and the laws of the Kohanim, the priests who were asked to live with a higher level of awareness, purity, and service. I speak about the Kohen who had a blemish and was not able to serve in the same way as the others, but was still given a holy role through eating from the offerings. For me, this opens a deeper question about the parts of us that feel disqualified, limited, or wounded, and whether those places might still carry a mission of their ow...

In this episode of More to the Story, I reflect on the Parsha of Tazria–Metzora and the way the Torah describes a process where something internal begins to reveal itself externally in the body, in the home, and in the life a person is living. I speak about how we often respond to what surfaces by trying to manage or fix what is visible, without turning toward what is actually being revealed beneath it. The Parsha offers a different framework, one that sees this exposure not as punishment, b...

In this episode, I reflect on Parshas Vayikra and the deeper meaning of Korbanos. The root of korban is karov: to draw close. What looks, on the surface, like sacrifice is really Torah’s language for return: the movement back into relationship with Hashem, with our own soul, and with the parts of ourselves we have learned to fear or reject. I speak about what it means to stop reading these offerings as something distant and ancient, and to begin receiving them as instruction for inner life n...

In this episode, I explore Parshat Tetzave and what it means that the Kohen is clothed before he serves. The Torah details every thread, every stone, every garment, and through it, teaches us something about dignity, identity, and spiritual agency. I speak about 7 Adar and Moshe Rabbeinu as the archetype of redemption within us. I reflect on Amalek as the voice of doubt that weakens us from the inside, and on the teaching that we are no longer meant to serve G-d from being crushed, but from ...

In this episode, we return to Har Sinai, but not to the thunder and revelation, but to what came next. Parshas Mishpatim moves us from the ecstasy of receiving the Torah into the detailed laws that shape a holy society. I explore what it means that immediately after Sinai, we are given laws about slavery, dignity, financial responsibility, protecting the vulnerable, honoring parents, and guarding the integrity of our communities. These laws can feel technical or even uncomfortable. But bene...

In this episode, I sit with Parshat Beshalach and share what its stories are teaching me about fear, trust, and timing. I reflect on what happens when faith collapses under pressure, how silence can be either oppression or power, and why learning when not to react is a form of spiritual maturity. I speak about miracles that only arrive after movement, the difference between prayer and action, and what it means to walk forward before the path is clear. I explore the feminine capacity to hold ...

In this episode I reflect on the story of the plagues, not as history but as an inner map. Egypt is not only a place we once left, it is a state of constriction that lives inside us. Va’eira is the moment when redemption begins to touch what has been numb, defended, or frozen. I explore how the plagues are not random punishments, but precise corrections to a worldview that separates G-d from nature, spirit from body, masculine from feminine. Each plague confronts a different form of coldness...

In this episode, I explore Parshat Vayechi, the final Parsha of Sefer Bereishit, the moment where exile quietly begins. As Yaakov and Yosef prepare to leave this world, the Torah shifts us into a new phase: one where G-d is no longer revealed from above, but discovered from within. I reflect on Yosef’s descent into Mitzrayim as the original map for Jewish exile, and on the role of Rachel as the hidden mother who accompanies her children through darkness. Through Midrash and Chassidic teachin...

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 receive...

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 ...

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 lea...

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...

This episode was recorded just before Yom Kippur. It is about Teshuvah, but not in the way I once understood it. Like much of my life, its meaning keeps evolving. I reflect on how the language of repentance has often felt like a weapon, and how I am learning to reclaim it as something tender and true. Like many of my offerings, this one is unpolished and raw. It is a voice memo of the soul, shared from the middle of the process. I speak about what Yom Kippur means to me this year, the questio...