Jewish holidays
6 episodes of The Truth Hurts on this topic, each with its notes, key points and the questions it answers.
Episode 85 · February 13, 2025
What Story Are You Telling Yourself?
You try one method after another and still find yourself in the same place. According to Gili Man Wolner, that happens because people start with strategy without first changing the story that holds their whole life together, a set of beliefs you repeated so often that they became the glue holding together everything else you believe. Those beliefs run your emotions, and the identity you built for yourself is the strongest force there is. It's the thing that decides whether you'll move forward or stay where you are. Which is why real change happens when you act in exactly the place where you're certain it isn't possible.
Episode 53 · April 18, 2024
We Were Slaves. Is It Time to Break Free?
What happens the moment you stop reacting to everything that hurts you
Somebody says something, and you react instantly, as if you had no choice. According to Gili, that is exactly what real slavery is: not a master holding on to us, but the inner habits we keep giving authority to again and again, with nobody forcing anything on us. She explains why chametz and matzah at Passover stand for pride against truth, and why real satisfaction does not come from what we have but from connecting to the soul. And Nisan is the time when it finally becomes possible to set our fears down and bloom.
Episode 36 · December 7, 2023
Hanukkah: Miracles and Wonders
In this episode, Gili and Tal celebrate Hanukkah, and the way they see it, the holiday carries a special meaning this year, following the national awakening since October 7. They present Hanukkah, as the Holy Ari wrote about it, as an event of cosmic significance and not just a historical story about the war between the Greeks and the Maccabees, a war that in their view symbolizes the constant struggle between the soul and the false part of us that chases material things and instant gratification. They talk about what they describe as the psychological warfare being waged against the Jewish people since the crisis, and about their view that unity was the secret of the Maccabees' victory. The episode also includes practical tips for lighting the candles and an explanation, according to the approach they present, of the inner meaning of the oil and the candle.
Episode 25 · September 14, 2023
A Sweet Start to the New Year
We have space flights and nanotechnology, and depression, anxiety and cancer are still turning into something close to an epidemic, which raises a question that's hard to dodge. The way Gili sees it, being Jewish is a state of consciousness you're born into, not a religion, and it has nothing to do with keeping the commandments. But the real question of Rosh Hashanah is responsibility, not identity. It's the moment you stop running and take full responsibility for what isn't working in your life.
Episode 7 · May 4, 2023
What Really Shapes Our Lives?
You're right back in the same situation, the same kind of partner, the same fight, the same feeling of "here it is, happening to me again". As Gili presents it, that's no accident. Our subconscious remembers everything from the moment we were born, it's constantly trying to repeat itself, and so, without noticing, we're drawn to situations we already know. Even your least logical reaction in a tense moment belongs to a five- or six-year-old child who is still at the wheel. Once you look at that straight on, you can start changing direction.
Episode 3 · April 3, 2023
Passover Cleaning, Inside and Out
You react to everything that happens to you, but who decides how you'll react? The way Gili sees it, the event itself is completely neutral. Your reaction is the thing that exposes what's buried inside you. And it doesn't stop there. She shows how three months in a row, from Shvat through Passover, push you forward one step at a time: breaking down your self-image, then focusing on what you do have, and finally a real freedom that doesn't need to escape anywhere.