Rest to Return – Details, episodes & analysis

We are exhausted…not because we lack discipline but because we’ve lost our relationship to time.

Rest to Return is a seven-episode podcast for a restless world.

Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife is your host.

This series is rooted in Shabbat - an ancient Jewish practice that teaches us how to belong to time. Here, rest is not a reward for finishing our work, but a sacred rhythm woven into who we are.

Each episode gathers around questions we’ve been taught not to ask:
What is work, really?
Who decides when it’s time to stop?
Why does rest feel like a transgression?
What makes time sacred?
And who might we become if we actually honored it?

Rest to Return is not a productivity hack. Rest to Return is an invitation to slow down, to remember ourselves, and to reclaim time as a place of belonging.

The first episode drops June 10.

Join us for the journey and check out the live music video of the theme music written by Keshira.

Rest to Return, a podcast for a restless world. Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife is your host. This series is rooted in Shabbat, an ancient Jewish practice that teaches us how to belong to time. Here, rest is a sacred rhythm woven into who we are. We begin by gathering around a single question: What do we need in order to sustain our sacred purpose?

1. I received Kohenet smicha from The Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute in July 2017.
2. The chorus of voices affirming that I am a Kohenet was recorded during the ceremony.
3. The Torah reference about ceasing from work comes from Breishit 2:2.
4. My understanding of Jewish people as “people of the book, body, and earth” has been informed by a number of sources and teachers; notable among them is Rav Kohenet Taya Mâ.
5. Though I have come to understand that many somatic therapists and practitioners have written about the way that trauma can cause people to dissociate from their bodies, I learned it from a variety of sources and forums, none of which credited a source.
6. The Kabbalistic concept of the Four Worlds is outlined in greater depth here.
7. Octavia Raheem is an embodied practitioner and author who you can learn more about here.
8. Asher Yatzar by Dan Nichols
9. Helen Marie is a psychotherapist who you can learn more about here.
10. The story of Reb Zusha is paraphrased from Martin Buber's Tales of the Hasidim.
11. I learned the concept of makom kavuah (our fixed place) from Rabbi David Jaffe, Founder of Kirva, during a session about the Mussar concept of anavah (being right-sized).

This episode is brought to you by the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Rest to Return exists because we believe slowing down is a spiritual act. IJS believes that too. For over two decades, IJS has been helping people go deeper, through Jewish mindfulness meditation, contemplative prayer, sacred text study, and embodied practice. Their offerings range from online courses and silent retreats to immersive cohort programs for seekers of all experience levels, clergy, and spiritual leaders who are ready to live and lead from a more grounded place. Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife is part of IJS’s core faculty, and the wisdom you'll hear in this series is very much in that spirit. If this podcast is stirring something in you, IJS is a place to go further. Explore their programs, and more ways to learn and practice with Keshira, at jewishspirituality.org, including:

• View the latest offerings from IJS in our program catalog
• Join Keshira on retreat this August: Returning Anew
• Learn more about Keshira's latest class at IJS on Mindful Speech as a Spiritual Practice
• Learn more about Shevet, IJS's community for younger adults (20s-30s)
• IJS has several online free practices with Keshira and our other faculty including our live Daily Sit, our weekly Shevet Sit for younger adults (under 40), and monthly Affinity Sits for Jews of Color, LGBTQ+, and individuals with disabilities. Click here for more information.
• Join our mailing list to be notified about our upcoming fall courses, including Keshira's Earth, Moon, Mindfulness year-long class.