About Waking Up To Life -- 18 Minutes With Rabbi Josh
Join Rabbi Josh Bennett from Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan as he explores enlightenment moments in life that truly WAKE US UP!!!
Welcome to “Waking Up TO LIFE With Rabbi Josh” – a podcast built around conversations with people in our community who have found enlightenment in their lives. While these events may not seem life-changing, our conversation will reveal how these moments shape the way my guests see the world. This informal conversation and insights from Jewish tradition may change your life as well. And if not, it’s just 18 minutes with me! L’chayim! To Life!
Featuring Rabbi Josh Bennett of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan
Publisher
Rabbi Joshua L. Bennett / Temple Israel / West Bloomfield / MI
Ben Chutz joins the show with a professional history as an entrepreneur in social impact technology. He is the founder of Birdhouse, a web and mobile app designed for caregivers to track, organize, and analyze behaviors, health, medication, and therapies for individuals with autism. It helps identify behavioral patterns, triggers, and the effectiveness of interventions, reducing stress and improving care management.
As with so many of us, there are multiple moments in life that shape our lives. With each of these events, the more we try to control the experience, the more difficult it is to do so. Our conversation today is about his attempt to let these moments write themselves.
He continues to wake up to life every day.
Edited by: Alex Wolf
Original Music Composed by: Dan Hacker
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/templeisraelmi
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/templeisraelmi/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn9spWvsCBvcQ-o5XLeFLHKcLoj2nBAfM
Web: https://www.temple-israel.org/wakinguptolifepod
You can get this podcast anywhere you get your media. Join over 10,000 listeners who have been inspired by the show.
And if you have someone with a story to tell, please contact me at josh@temple-israel.org
16 Feb 2026
Marla & Murray Feldman -- People Not Things...And Other Musings
Marla and Murray Feldman join the show today to talk about the power of their words. They each share a story about moments that taught them how much we can influence other people. This conversation is a chance to learn from their wisdom as professionals, parents, and friends.
Marla Feldman is a former educator who never stops learning.
Murray Feldman is a career broadcaster in television and radio.
Edited by: Alex Wolf
Original Music Composed by: Dan Hacker
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/templeisraelmi
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/templeisraelmi/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn9spWvsCBvcQ-o5XLeFLHKcLoj2nBAfM
Web: https://www.temple-israel.org/wakinguptolifepod
You can get this podcast anywhere you get your media. Join over 10,000 listeners who have been inspired by the show.
And if you have someone with a story to tell, please contact me at josh@temple-israel.org
8 Feb 2026
Ralph Shayne -- Hour Of Need
Ralph Shayne is an entrepreneur and finance professional, and the son of a mother who was a Danish citizen until she married an American and immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. Born and raised in Chicago, his mere existence is predicated on being the offspring of a mother who was part of the one in ten European Jewish children to survive the War because of the rare bravery, compassion and exploits of her fellow Danish citizens.
On the show today he shares about the moral clarity of the Danish government during the Holocaust. It is a reminder of the good that exists in the world.
Teaching Trunk: https://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/students-educators/teaching-trunks/teaching-trunks-grades-7-12/
Graphics: https://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/students-educators/virtual-student-educator-resources/hour-of-need-toolkit-graphics/
In collaboration with: https://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/
Hour of Need is a graphic novel telling the true story of the resistance to Nazi rule in Denmark during World War II and the heroes that saved the Danish Jews by helping them evacuate to Sweden.
Hour Of Need -- FROM THE BOOK WEBSITE: In the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, legend had it that should danger ever come to Denmark, the mighty warrior Holger Danske promised to wake from his centuries-long slumber to protect its citizens.
When the Nazis move to round up young Mette and her fellow Danish Jews in a surprise raid in 1943 after years of letting Denmark rule its people, her father must make life and death decisions to save his family. Overnight, they have become refugees at the mercy of the complete strangers they meet during their escape. The mythical Holger Danske’s promise to the Danish people manifests in the compassion and bravery of a school teacher turned resistance leader and other ordinary citizens who bravely defy the Nazi regime to come to her rescue in her hour of need.
Told from the point of view of Mette returning to Denmark years later with her grandchildren, Hour of Need tells the story of how the people of an occupied nation–from king to fisherman–risked their lives to evacuate their Jewish countrymen to Sweden in small fishing boats. Hour of Need is a tribute to the heroes that saved the Danish Jews and how humanity triumphs in the darkest hours.
Edited by: Alex Wolf
Original Music Composed by: Dan Hacker
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/templeisraelmi
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/templeisraelmi/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn9spWvsCBvcQ-o5XLeFLHKcLoj2nBAfM
Web: https://www.temple-israel.org/wakinguptolifepod
You can get this podcast anywhere you get your media. Join over 10,000 listeners who have been inspired by the show.
And if you have someone with a story to tell, please contact me at josh@temple-israel.org
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