hmTv at HMTC Podcasts

Send us a textEp. 365 – Habits of a Whole Heart with Arnie Herz & Cantor Shlomi Rabin A Hanukkah & Yud Tes Kislev Special — Lighting the Inner and Outer WorldIn this heart-warming holiday episode, host Arnie Herz welcomes Cantor Shlomi Rabin back to Habits of a Whole Heart for a spirited exploration of two luminous celebrations — Yud Tes Kislev, the “New Year of Chassidus,” and Hanukkah, the festival of light.Together, they unravel the spiritual drama behind the Alter Rebbe’s historic liberation, the heavenly “trial” over whether humanity was ready for the inner teachings of the soul, and why those teachings were ultimately released to ignite transformation from within.Shlomi sings the haunting Chassidic melody Pada B’Shalom Nafshi and reflects on its message of partnership — we trust God, and God trusts us. From there, the conversation flows into Hanukkah rituals, the symbolism of the Shamash candle, why light grows one night at a time, and how Jewish practice turns metaphors into lived spiritual reality.The episode dips into music, theology, laughter, jelly donuts, dreidels, and heartfelt reminders that service, joy, and inner light are renewable forces — the more we share, the more we shine.This is an episode full of warmth, wisdom, and melody — a perfect listen for anyone seeking meaning, connection, or a little light in uncertain times.Tune in, lift your heart, and pass the flame forward. Happy Hanukkah — and happy Chassidus New Year.Support the show

Send us a textEpisode 364: The Dana Download with Jen AksIn this uplifting episode of The Dana Download, host Dana Arschin welcomes coach, author, and TEDx speaker Jen Aks, founder of The Power of Gesture, for a conversation that blends intuition, healing, Jewish identity, and the courage to rewrite your life.With Dana’s six-year-old daughter Maya co-hosting from her lap, the episode takes on a refreshingly human tone—equal parts heart, humor, and hard truth. Jen breaks down her pioneering “bodyset” practice, where emotional awareness moves from the head into the hands, and shares how her new book, Your Body Is Speaking, helps people listen to the intelligence their bodies have been trying to share all along.The two dive into:• How movement, gesture, and embodiment can unlock clarity • Turning fear into excitement and anxiety into action • What dance taught Jen about confidence, storytelling, and purpose • Jewish identity, family legacy, and generational responsibility • The life-shaping choice of ending a 20-year marriage—and what growth looks like on the other sideThis episode reminds us that intuition is not mystical—it’s biological—and that true leadership starts from the inside out. Whether you’re a parent, a seeker, a creator, or someone standing at your own crossroads, you’ll find wisdom here and a relatable nudge toward self-trust.Tune in for a warm, thoughtful, empowering talk that leaves you thinking long after the mics are off.Support the show

Send us a textEp. 363 The Past Has an Afterlife with Gilad Avrahami & Guest Trevor Stern (Part 2) on hmTvIn this powerful continuation of their conversation, host Gilad Avrahami welcomes back Trevor Stern for an honest, unvarnished look at Jewish student life across three countries and three elite universities. From Haverford to Oxford to Edinburgh, Trevor traces how his casual expectation of “showing up for holidays” evolved into leadership, advocacy, and resilience in the face of rising hostility.The episode journeys into the realities students rarely talk about openly:the campus climates that make Jewish spaces feel like sanctuaries,the ideological tensions that dismiss anti-Semitism as yesterday’s news,the strange double standard of being seen as “too white” to suffer and “not white enough” to belong, andthe emotional toll of building community while navigating polarized environments.Trevor shares personal experiences — from Shabbat tables filled with curious classmates, to spitting attacks on UK streets — and reflects on his years leading one of the world’s oldest Jewish student societies through turbulent times. Together, Gilad and Trevor tackle questions of collective memory, identity, belonging, and whether Jewish student groups should stay apolitical or speak out.The episode closes with grounded advice for young Jews entering college today: how to choose a campus wisely, why Jewish community matters even when you think it won’t, and why stepping in — not stepping back — can be transformative.This conversation isn’t just about student life; it’s about continuity, courage, and the quiet revolution of Jewish youth refusing invisibility.Tune in — your assumptions might shift, and your hope might grow stronger.Support the show

Send us a textEpisode 362 — The Past Has an AfterlifeGuest: Trevor Stern | Host: Gilad Avrahami | hmTv / HMTC**In this inaugural episode of The Past Has an Afterlife, Programs and Development Coordinator Gilad Avrahami sits down with scholar Trevor Stern for a riveting dive into the world of collective memory — how we inherit it, how we shape it, and how it shapes us.Trevor, a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, traces his unusual upbringing as “the only Jewish kid in town” through life in Egypt and India, revealing how identity is formed in unlikely places. From there, the conversation explores the difference between individual and communal remembrance, how stories from the past become narratives we live by, and why certain histories rise to prominence while others disappear into silence.Together, they confront challenging questions:• Who gets represented in Holocaust memory — and who is missing? • How does society decide which events to remember? • What happens when the past is used as a tool in today’s political and cultural debates?Timely, layered, and thought-provoking, this episode sets the tone for a series dedicated to examining how memory isn’t static — it’s alive, contested, reshaped, and deeply consequential for how we understand our world.Subscribe, listen, and join the conversation as hmTv explores how history lives beyond history — and why it matters more than ever.Support the show

Send us a textEpisode 361 — Legacy ChroniclesGuest: Sharon Feder | Host: Donna RosenblumIn this deeply human episode of Legacy Chronicles, Director of Education Donna Rosenblum sits down with second-generation survivor Sharon Feder to explore the extraordinary arc of one woman’s journey — from a 14-year-old Hungarian girl deported to Auschwitz to a resilient mother who rebuilt her life in America.Sharon shares her mother’s harrowing experiences: deportation, separation from siblings, forced labor, death marches, liberation, displacement, and the painful silence that followed. But she also reveals something unexpected — how her mother’s survival became a blueprint for gratitude, meaning, and choosing kindness over bitterness.As Sharon reflects on discovering her mother’s full story through Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation testimony, she uncovers how trauma shaped her childhood — and how understanding it transformed her into a storyteller, educator, and bridge-builder for the next generation.This episode is not just about history — it’s about the legacy of resilience, the cost of silence, the healing power of truth, and the sacred responsibility of remembrance.A moving conversation about survival, identity, forgiveness, and the profound impact a single story can make on students, families, and the world.Listen, share, and carry forward the lesson Sharon’s mother lived by: Kindness should always be your first choice.Support the show

Send us a textEp. 360: Inheriting Memorywith Rebecca Sparacio & guest Aaron Sokolov**In this powerful episode of Inheriting Memory, host Rebecca Sparacio sits down with high school student Aaron Sokolov — a young voice learning what it means to inherit trauma, resilience, and responsibility from a Holocaust survivor in his own family.Aaron recalls the moment he first learned his great-grandmother survived the camps — a moment of shock that reshaped how he thinks about history, antisemitism, and identity. He shares how participating in the “Names Not Numbers” oral history program deepened his awareness, why October 7th was a turning point in his understanding of vulnerability, and why speaking out matters now more than ever.Together, Rebecca and Aaron explore the silence many families carry, the gaps in memory young people struggle to fill, and the urgent role of education in confronting today’s rising antisemitism. Aaron’s honesty — about confusion, pride, fear, and determination — gives listeners a raw, heartfelt view of what it means to grow up Jewish in this moment.This episode is a reminder that memory is not just inherited — it must be learned, asked for, carried, and spoken aloud so history is neither forgotten nor repeated.Support the show

Send us a textEp. 359: The Fog of War and HumanityHost: Richard AcritelliGuest: Miguel A. LogreirahmTv / Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance CenterIn this gripping third installment, Richard Acritelli continues his conversation with Miguel A. Logreira — a multilingual U.S. Army intelligence veteran whose life reads like a front-row seat to history.Miguel recounts witnessing the fall of the Berlin Wall from the ground in Berlin, navigating Cold War tensions, and learning firsthand how Germany and Japan rebuilt with starkly different cultural attitudes. His reflections cut deep: Why don’t people get along? Why doesn’t humanity learn?The episode then shifts into the Middle East. Miguel explains why he volunteered for deployment in Desert Storm, sharing vivid accounts of intelligence work, cultural adaptation, interrogation strategy, and the uncomfortable reality of being seen as both “one of them” and a “traitor” by those who shared his heritage.Key moments include:• Watching history unfold at the Wall’s collapse• How Finland, Japan, Germany, Africa, and the Middle East shaped his worldview• Lessons from operating in Mali with no air support or infrastructure• Surreal contrasts — from villages without water to Times Square excess• The human value of discomfort, adaptability, and curiosity• Why Vietnam veterans saved lives in later wars — including hisMiguel’s emotional gratitude to the Vietnam generation and his fierce loyalty to the United States bring this episode to a powerful close. War, identity, patriotism, culture — it’s all here, raw and unfiltered.Support the show

Send us a textEp. 357: The Fog of War and HumanityHost: Richard Acritelli Guest: Miguel A. Logreira hmTv / Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance CenterIn this riveting first chapter of Miguel A. Logreira’s journey, host Richard Acritelli sits down with a Bronx-born soldier whose life defied every expectation. Miguel grew up ten blocks from Yankee Stadium, hated school, dropped out in 10th grade — and yet became a multilingual U.S. Army intelligence operative serving across the world.Miguel shares how witnessing violence, chaos, and the arrival of the National Guard during the New York blackout ignited his call to serve. He opens up about basic training at Fort Jackson, the discipline and unity forged at Fort Lee, and the transformative intensity of airborne school at Fort Benning — where humor and hardship often ran side by side.A global childhood, rich in Lebanese, Portuguese, South American, and American influences, gave Miguel a unique ability to read cultures — a skill the Army recognized, sending him to Monterey for elite language training and eventually into intelligence work.This episode explores resilience, mentorship, identity, trauma, and the discovery of purpose. Miguel’s story is a testament to how service can mold someone from lost teenager to warrior, linguist, and empathetic leader.Stay tuned for Part 2, where Miguel reflects on deployments, intelligence missions, life overseas, and the human cost of service.Support the show

Send us a textEp. 356: The Fog of War and HumanityHost: Richard AcritelliGuest: Jenny ChanhmTv / Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance CenterIn this riveting continuation of her conversation with host Richard Acritelli, researcher and historian Jenny Chan pulls back the curtain on one of the most brutal and often overlooked chapters of World War II: the Japanese invasion of China and the Rape of Nanking.Picking up where Part 1 left off, Jenny explains how Japan’s failure to take Shanghai quickly fueled rage and retaliation that spilled into Nanking — leading to mass executions, sexual violence, and the public glorification of killing. She exposes the shocking “100-man beheading contest,” the abandonment of civilians by Chiang Kai-shek, and the systematic policies that enabled atrocity.Richard and Jenny also explore:• How Shanghai became a rare refuge for Jews fleeing the Holocaust• Why Japan’s war criminals were enshrined as heroes rather than condemned• The U.S.–Japan Cold War alliance that protected perpetrators and elevated them to political power• The forgotten USS Panay attack — a preview of Pearl Harbor hidden in plain sight• How Depression-era isolationism kept Americans silent while atrocities unfolded• The stark contrast between Germany’s reckoning and Japan’s denialJenny also highlights overlooked diplomatic heroes like Ho Feng-shan, who issued life-saving visas for Jewish refugees — reshaping the narrative that Holocaust refuge only appeared in Europe or Palestine.This episode confronts uncomfortable truths: how nations rewrite history, how political convenience erases accountability, and how forgotten atrocities still echo in modern geopolitics.Support the show

Send us a textEp. 358 The Fog of War and HumanityHost: Richard AcritelliGuest: Miguel LaguerrehmTv / Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance CenterIn this powerful second installment of his multi-part conversation, host Richard Acritelli sits down with veteran Miguel Laguerre to explore a story of grit, service, identity, and transformation — from a rough childhood in the Bronx to more than 20 years serving the United States in military intelligence.Miguel opens up about:• Growing up ten blocks from Yankee Stadium amid violence and blackout riots• Dropping out of school — and finding purpose in the Army• How witnessing the National Guard inspired him to serve• Moving from logistics to military intelligence because of language skills• Learning five languages and discovering that “you don’t learn language — you learn people”• The mentorship, discipline, and unity that shaped him in basic training and airborne school• Surviving traumatic brain injury and rebuilding cognitive skills• How empathy and cultural awareness became his greatest tools in serviceRichard and Miguel also reflect on the deeper human lessons of military life — belonging, leadership, resilience, and the impact a good mentor can have on a young person searching for direction.This episode is a testament to how the armed forces don’t just train soldiers — they reveal potential people never knew they had.Stay tuned for Part 3, where Miguel shares frontline experiences, the realities of intelligence work, and how service shaped the man he is today.Support the show