Chai on Life

Alex Segal
  • 5.0 (24)
  • JUDAISM
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Chai on Life is a podcast for passionate Jewish women. We speak about all things that go into living an observant lifestyle in a way that's real and welcoming. Come learn from so many inspiring women out there!

  1. 2D AGO

    61. When Parenting Feels Too Hard: Practical Strategies for Tantrums, Sleep and Big Emotions with Yael Sunshine Komer

    Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, I’m speaking with Yael Sunshine Komer, a parenting coach and sleep consultant. Yael (Sunshine) Komer, M.A. in Child Development, helps families navigate sleep and behavior challenges with evidence-based tools and real-world understanding. With years of private practice experience, she brings science down to earth with warmth, humor, and practicality. Since I’m in the little kid stage of life, I love speaking about parenting because it’s so applicable and truly such an avodah every single day. There are endless topics to discuss, mindset shifts to tackle and personal work we’re doing daily to become the parents and people we want to be. In the episode, we speak about: -All things baby sleep and sleep training -Plus, we answer a ton of questions related to kids slightly older: --How do I calm myself down when my child is having a tantrum? --How can I regulate myself emotionally when my child needs that emotional regulation also? --How do I help them learn the skills to do so? --How can I be there for them and take care of the other things I need to do in that moment whether that’s taking care of a baby, making dinner, or answering a call? --How do I get to the root cause of an issue with a child and uncover what help they may need? --How can I relate more to my kids when it’s hard to connect? --How can I create intrinsic motivation in my kids? --How can I positively connect and utilize the time when things are calm? There is sooo much jam-packed in there and our conversation is filled with examples from both of our lives so you can really visualize a scenario and get tangible takeaways that apply to your own life.  Yael is open to taking on new clients for either parenting help or sleep coaching so you can reach out to her at Yaelsunshine89@gmail.com.

    1h 2m

  2. JAN 12

    60. The Surgery She Almost Didn’t Survive — and How It Redefined Her Life with Batya Sherizen

    Today, I am speaking with Batya Sherizen, who is the author of the newly released book, “Dying to Be Me,” which speaks about her personal journey through a harrowing life-threatening condition she was diagnosed with when she was pregnant with her sixth child. During the pregnancy, she had to be on bed rest for months, live in the hospital for a month at a certain point and ultimately, give birth via C-section in an incredibly scary and truly dangerous surgery that she almost didn’t survive. This book speaks about that experience and so much more. She explains it as an “eye-opening memoir about self-acceptance, love and embracing the present.” I don’t have favorite episodes because I truly love all of the guests and conversations I have yet this one left a particularly strong impact on me because of its depth and the vulnerability Batya shared when telling more about her story and all she went through. In the episode, we speak about -The type of person Batya was before this experience and how she has evolved since -How she lived with the idea thinking death could be coming and how it changed her day-to-day world -What “living up to her potential” now means to her and how that view differs from the past -What it was like going through this experience while also being a mother to five other children — we go really in depth here into the reaction her kids had, what it was like when she couldn’t physically be present for them, the self-love and acceptance she went through as a mom, woman and so much more -Her relationship with Hashem and how that has completely evolved and grown -Her relationship with her husband throughout this experience and how afterward, they both went about working through all that happened …and so much more! To get Batya's Book, click here.

    1h 3m

  3. JAN 5

    59. Master Your Way to More Restorative Sleep with Expert Psychologist Sarah Chana Radcliffe

    Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal, and today I am speaking with Sarah Chana Radcliffe, a psychologist from Toronto, Canada. If her names sounds familiar to you, that is because her expertise, depth and breadth is vast and she has been sharing her wisdom and advice for years now through books, articles and classes. She is the author of “Raise Your Kids without Raising Your Voice,” “The Fear Fix,” “Harmony at Home,” “No More Tics,” and more books on Jewish family life and emotional wellbeing. She is a weekly columnist for the Family First section of Mishpacha magazine and in conjunction with Jewish Workshops, has produced numerous webinar courses on parenting, marriage, anxiety and stress management. She is the head of the Sarah Chana Radcliffe Parenting Academy where she trains and certifies parenting coaches internationally. You can get more from her at Dailyparentingposts.com. In this episode, we are focusing on getting you not only more sleep, but better quality sleep so you can live on less of it if that’s the stage of life you’re in. In our conversation, we speak about: -The challenges of simply being a human being in the world -Remedies for healing and how the brain works when it comes to certain modalities -Why worrying is actually a choice and not something we have no control over -How to rewire our brains to accomplish anything personal you are working on -Why you may be having trouble sleeping and what’s going on below the surface that’s causing it -How different people truly need different amounts of sleep and the perspective we can gain from that -So many different remedies to help you sleep better — she really goes through a lot of ideas from the super simple and easy to the ones that require more time and focus (with a seemingly huge payoff) -How to get ourselves to actually go to sleep earlier and why we have such a hard time doing so …and so much more! Here, all of the sleep methods she mentioned in the episode: Bach Flower Remedies: White Chestnut Saje aromatherapy  Sleep Well Restful Sleep Oil Blend Silva Method  Holosync Book: The Joy of Doing Nothing See you next week!

    50 min

  4. 12/30/2025

    58. Birth Story + Spiritual Reflections from the Break

    Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. This episode is one that is long awaited for me to release. It is my birth story from my third son that happened over the summer. As I share in the podcast, with Chai on Life we often speak about self-growth, spirituality, connection to Hashem, self-love and compassion and more all along those lines, so it feels like a missed opportunity not to share how I have grown through the experience of giving birth for a third time with all its struggles, fears and emotions. This episode is giving a real glimpse into where my brain was at both then and now and how my relationship with Hashem has grown and changed throughout the last six months. They say that when you give birth, you're not just giving birth to a baby but to a mother. I believe that happens anew each time. So here, my story. If there is someone you want to see on The Chai on Life Podcast, email me at alex@chaionlifemag.com or send me a DM @chaionlifemag. See you next week!

    56 min

  5. 12/15/2025

    57. Manifest the Life You Want: Expert Guidance from Ayelet Polonsky of The Manifestation Method

    Today, I’m speaking with Ayelet Polonsky, a Kabbalistic Manifestation Expert. She is the Creator of The Manifestation Method and a skilled, passionate and trauma-informed facilitator in the world of manifestation and healing. She’s had quite a journey to get to this point in her life — after college she was led to the Amazon jungles of Peru, then India for six years and then finally to Israel where she spent eight years studying and teaching Jewish mysticism, known as Kabbalah. Ayelet now lives on the East Coast with her husband and two children. With the development of The Manifestation Method, Ayelet synthesizes Kabbalistic wisdom and modern psychology to help individuals heal their past traumas, and transform their dreams into reality. She is a trained expert in hypnosis, trauma healing, somatic experiencing and meditation. Ayelet's approach is a harmonious blend of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Narrative Therapy, EFT, and Somatic Experiencing, all combined with her signature hypno-visualization techniques.  Manifestation is something I’ve been interested in for awhile and have been wanting to explore through a Jewish lens. I’ve learned a little bit about it in secular spaces and in this conversation with Ayelet, we really get to the root of what Jewish manifestation actually looks like. We speak about: -Ayelet’s journey to getting to where she is today doing this work -How Jewish manifestation differs from the secular interpretation and some myths about it she’s correcting -Why manifestation is a lifestyle — not just a singular practice and what that looks like -Her methodology and the specific goals she helps clients achieve -The power of our words and the way our conscious and subconscious brain works to create a new reality -What true faith and bitachon really feels like -How our trauma (whether it’s with a big t or small t) informs the inner work we do today and what that trauma can be used for -Creating the vessel for the things we want in our lives to actually happen -The power of rituals -Seeing miracles in our everyday lives and how to manifest more of them -The unbelievable power we can all take from the Chanukah lights and bring into our everyday lives -How she manifested her husband …and SO MUCH MORE. Ayelet just takes my questions and brings them to a whole new level with her responses. She both elevates them and takes them deeper in a way that will change how you see the world, your relationship with Hashem and how you deal with the struggles in your life. To get in touch with Ayelet, visit ayeletpolonsky.com. Follow her on Instagram at @ayeletpolonsky.

    1h 4m

  6. 12/08/2025

    56. Absorb the Light of Chanukah with Educator Shoshana Judelman

    Hi everyone, welcome back to The Chai on Life Podcast! I’m so happy to be back after a postpartum hiatus. Baruch Hashem I am so grateful for the little miracle baby that I now have in my life and so grateful to have had the quality time with him and now so grateful to be able to focus back on the podcast a bit more. Gd willing, I will be doing a full episode on the birth story and some reflections from that, so if that’s interesting to you stay tuned. But now, I’ve been busy working on some interviews with really incredible people and I am so excited to share them. Today’s episode is with Shoshana Judelman. I got connected to Shoshana through Midreshet Rachel — she is a teacher there now and has always been passionate about teaching Torah and Jewish History. She holds a Bachelor’s in History and a Master’s in Jewish History. She made aliyah with her husband and six children to Efrat in 2013. In addition to teaching at MRC, Shoshana teaches Chassidus for the Shirat David Community in Efrat as well as for BeOr Panecha in Elazar. She is a guide in Poland with JRoots and co-leads inspirational trips to Ukraine and around Eretz Yisroel. Shoshana has also been a guide at Yad Vashem since 2014. In this episode, she is sharing so much about her connection to the world of Chassidus, what we can learn from it and how we can connect to Chanukah more deeply through its teachings. She speaks about: -How she got into Chassidus and became a baal teshuva -What the difference is between Chassidus and other perspectives on Torah -How we can interpret the world through the lens of our human soul and Gdly soul which was a really interesting and helpful teaching -What it really means that just a little bit of light can dispel a lot of darkness (with a really great mashal included in that) -How to cope when it feels like the darkness is getting darker, whether in your own personal world or in the world at large -How you can personally connect through the lighting of the Chanukah candles and practically a great tip if you have a busy household and it’s hard to focus when your family is lighting together -Her own personal struggle at the moment and how she’s dealing with it and becoming closer with Hashem in the process. This was so beautiful I was really getting emotional  …and so so much more! To daven for Shoshana, her full name is Shoshana Yonah bat Aidel Learn more from Shoshana here.

    1h 8m

  7. 11/03/2025

    [REPLAY] Is Cheshvan the Month of Moshiach? Gaining More Clarity with Educator Faigy Blumstein

    Hi everyone! Please G-d we will be back soon with new episodes! In the meantime, enjoy this Cheshvan replay rich with information on the month we are in and what we can do to bring Moshiach. G-d knows we need the chizuk! Enjoy! -- Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. Today, we are talking all about Moshiach. It’s Cheshvan and on the surface, Cheshvan seems like a chill, catch-up kind of month. The chagim are over, we’re back to routine and Cheshvan gives us the time to do so. But is that all Cheshvan is for? Like pretty much all things in Judaism, how things appear on the surface are well, just the surface and there is a whole world of depth underneath. As I was researching more about Cheshvan I learned that it is soooo Moshiach centered. If you learn from the Sefer Yetzirah or the Book of Formation, which you can read about on ⁠inner.org⁠, you will learn that the letter of the month, sense of the month, tribe and so much more are all connected to Moshiach. To be honest, Moshiach is something I’ve struggled with over the years becoming religious and being religious. It’s something that I am taught to want, yet also something I don’t actually know that much about. So for awhile now, I’ve been determined to learn more and really understand more and I knew Faigy Blumstein was the perfect person to do so with. ⁠Faigy Blumstein⁠ does not call herself a lecturer, but someone who loves to share. A passionate educator and school psychologist, she is dedicated to living a Hashem-centered life. As part of the Thank You Hashem women’s division, Faigy draws on chasidic teachings and the light of the Baal Shem Tov, to inspire others. Her heartfelt approach helps women deepen their connection to Hashem, integrating spirituality into everyday life in a meaningful and modern way. And let me tell you this conversation gets deep. We talk about how she got into Chassidus in the first place, how it can connect you in ways you never could have imagined, what Moshiach even means, how we can all work to bring Moshiach, why Cheshvan is the time reserved for Moshiach, how Israel connects to all of this and so so much more. We also learn about the connection between Cheshvan, Moshiach and Rochel Imeinu. Tonight, Monday night, the 11th of Cheshvan begins Rochel Imeinu’s yahrtzeit and our conversation brought such a new light to Rochel that I wasn’t aware of before. It is hashgacha pratis that the podcast is coming out right before so hopefully we can all use our connection to Rochel Imeinu to feel more strength and a new kind of vitality with our Yiddushkeit. Learn more: Cheshvan on ⁠Inner.org⁠ ⁠Thank You Hashem⁠ Listen to Faigy's Cheshvan Playlist: ⁠Spotify⁠ ⁠Apple

    1h 16m

  8. 07/15/2025

    [REPLAY] Strengthening Ourselves Through the Three Weeks, Nine Days and Tisha B'Av with Educator Dr. Hilla Aboody

    [This episode originally aired on July 29, 2024] Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, we are speaking with Dr. Hilla Aboody, an amazing teacher, mother, wife and mentor currently living in Eretz Yisrael who I invited to come on to speak about this heavy time on the Jewish calendar. Hilla has such a beautiful way of explaining things — it’s so deep and profound yet easy to comprehend at the same time. A little background on her: She is a wife and mother of five, living in Eretz Yisrael after making Aliyah 7 years ago from Brooklyn, NY. She is a teacher and Em Bayit (house mother) at Midreshet Eshel, a Sephardic seminary for post High school students from around the world. Her educational background includes studying at Michlalah and receiving her bachelor’s degree from Bar-Ilan University and a Master’s and PhD in Jewish History from New York University. She has published her study on Eliyahu the Prophet in Talmudic literature and midrashim in her book, “Through the Prism of Wisdom”. As an educator and kallah teacher, Hilla dedicates her time in guiding students to creating a relationship with Hashem and tips and tools to thrive in their marriages and in life. In our conversation, we speak about: -What the Jewish perspective is on sadness and pain -How we can connect to Hashem during this time and in this unique way, especially if it feels daunting for you right now -Why this particular time period brings about more heaviness and actually the reason why we take more precautions -The rich energy that lies in the months of Tammuz and Av — what the letters associated with each month mean, why the sense of each month is important and what we can individually and collectively take from all of that -Why crying is actually a sign of bravery -Practical things you can do now to get through this time with more faith, in a more connected way to yourself, Hashem and those around you -How to deal with difficult emotions with your kids …and SO MUCH MORE This podcast with Hilla is basically an hour long shiur. I got chills like 17 times as I was listening to her and it’s definitely one of the most important ones I’ve done so far in terms of our spirituality. If there is someone you want to see on The Chai on Life Podcast, email me at alex@chaionlifemag.com or send me a DM @chaionlifemag. Thanks again, see you next week!

    1h 21m
See All (64)

5
out of 5
24 Ratings

About

Chai on Life is a podcast for passionate Jewish women. We speak about all things that go into living an observant lifestyle in a way that's real and welcoming. Come learn from so many inspiring women out there!

Information

  • Creator
    Alex Segal
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    64
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Alex Segal
  • Show Website
    Chai on Life

You Might Also Like