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In a time of loneliness and isolation, social rupture and alienation, what will it take to mend our broken hearts and rebuild our society? Sharon Brous—a leading American rabbi—makes the case that the spiritual work of our time, as instinctual as it is counter-cultural, is to find our way to one other in celebration, in sorrow, and in solidarity. To show up for each other in moments of joy and pain, vulnerability and possibility, to invest in relationships of shared purpose and build communities of care. Sharon Brous is the founding and senior rabbi of IKAR, a trail-blazing Jewish community based in Los Angeles. A leading voice at the intersection of faith and justice in America, she has been named #1 Most Influential Rabbi in the U.S. by Newsweek/The Daily Beast. She blessed both President Obama and President Biden at their National Inaugural Prayer Services, and her TED Talk “Reclaiming Religion” has been viewed 1.5 million times. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post. She lives with her husband, David Light, and their children in California. In our conversation, Rabbi Brous shares what it took for her to carve out a place for herself in a community that didn’t always feel welcoming. We’ll also discuss the power of foundational stories, the idea that religion begins with asking the right questions, and how to stay in conversation even when it’s difficult. Rabbi Sharon Brous’ Five Books: 1. Deborah, Golda, and Me: Being Female and Jewish in America by Letty Cottin Pogrebin 2. The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel and The Prophets by Abraham Joshua Heschel 3. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi 4. The Postcard by Ann Berest 5. The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World by Sharon Brous Other Books Mentioned: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays by Rabbi Irving Greenberg  The Book And The Sword: A Life Of Learning In The Shadow Of Destruction by  David Weiss Halivni  The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Yehuda Kurtzer (host of Identity/Crisis), Yael Van Der Wouden (author of The Safekeep), and Dara Horn (author of People Love Dead Jews.)

This episode is the first in the 2nd half of our Hard Conversations series. Kelly speaks with Rabbi Sharon Brous, who she discovered at the Aspen Ideas Festival and was so captivated by that she waited backstage to invite her onto the podcast. Together they explore forgiveness through ancient and modern perspectives, examining a powerful ritual where those with broken hearts walked against the crowd at the Temple Mount and were asked simply, “What happened to you?” Rabbi Sharon unpacks the Jewish process of teshuvah (repentance), shares why sitting beside someone in their darkness can mean more than offering solutions, and reveals how truly seeing one another might help us bridge our deepest divides. Their exchange offers fresh insights for anyone seeking to repair relationships or create meaningful connections after harm. Check out Rabbi Sharon’s book: The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend our Broken Hearts and World.

Watch Sharon Brous’s talks at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference 2025 centered on the power of ideas. There is a paywall, but the videos can be seen for free after signing up for a password or you can listen to the author talk on our podcast feed. “What Faith Means to Me” In a world roiled by seemingly unprecedented division and doubt, the longing for spiritual meaning and for a life rooted in faith appears to be growing ever stronger. In this session, speakers share their perspectives and experiences of faith, and the role faith and faith-driven communities can and should play in calming stormy seas. Author Talk: Rabbi Sharon Brous, “The Amen Effect” To thine own self be true: Sharon Brous has let this advice illuminate her path to becoming a rabbi. She was raised with a strong social, but not religious, Jewish identity. The more she studied and admired the humanity in the sages’ writings, the more Brous felt her voice was silenced simply because she is a woman. Today, as an ordained rabbi, Brous’s decades of hands-on pastoral care in Los Angeles has cleared “a path to become myself.” Her book, The Amen Effect—and how to get it—is embraced by seekers of every stripe and urges us to seek human connection in an increasingly isolated and divided world.

In a time of loneliness and isolation, social rupture and alienation, what will it take to mend our broken hearts and rebuild our society? Join Rabbi Brous in a series of text studies that explore the Jewish sources that form the core ideas behind her new book, The Amen Effect.

Christiane Amanpour speaks with Rabbi Sharon Brous of the IKAR synagogue in Los Angeles about the Trump administration’s funding cuts to higher education in what it says is an effort to battle antisemitism.

In a time of loneliness and isolation, social rupture and alienation, what will it take to mend our broken hearts and rebuild our society? Join Rabbi Brous in a series of text studies that explore the Jewish sources that form the core ideas behind her new book, The Amen Effect.

In a time of loneliness and isolation, social rupture and alienation, what will it take to mend our broken hearts and rebuild our society? Join Rabbi Brous in a series of text studies that explore the Jewish sources that form the core ideas behind her new book, The Amen Effect.

In a time of loneliness and isolation, social rupture and alienation, what will it take to mend our broken hearts and rebuild our society? Join Rabbi Brous in a series of text studies that explore the Jewish sources that form the core ideas behind her new book, The Amen Effect.

In a time of loneliness and isolation, social rupture and alienation, what will it take to mend our broken hearts and rebuild our society? Join Rabbi Brous in a series of text studies that explore the Jewish sources that form the core ideas behind her new book, The Amen Effect.

The Amen Effect with Rabbi Sharon Brous – Chapter 1 – Show Up – Session 1 – 2.18.25 In a time of loneliness and isolation, social rupture and alienation, what will it take to mend our broken hearts and rebuild our society? Join Rabbi Brous in a series of text studies that explore the Jewish sources that form the core ideas behind her new book, The Amen Effect.

How optimizing this skill can change your life – and the world. Rabbi Sharon Brous has some extremely practical tips for how to improve what psychologists call your social health. She is the senior and founding rabbi of IKAR , a Jewish community in LA. Her new book, a bestseller, is called The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World

The Torah of Joy, and the Power, Promise, and Necessity of Laughter in Dark Times. | Rosh Hashanah II 5785

2024 Sun Valley Writers Conference – Watch Here At a time when polarization around the world has never been greater, SHARON BROUS, author and leading American rabbi, will talk with JEFFREY GOLDBERG, editor in chief of The Atlantic, about the extraordinary challenges posed at every level of society—social, familial, individual—by the most difficult and intractable moral issues. How do we begin to talk honestly and effectively with each other, for example, about Israel and Gaza? How do we talk about politics and the monumental election facing us a few months from now? Freedom of speech? Religion, race, gender? As the founding rabbi of IKAR in Los Angeles, one of the most diverse, fastest growing and influential Jewish communities in the nation, Rabbi Brous has spent the last 20 years trying to foster conversations and thoughtfulness that can see us through these seemingly impossible times.

Rabbi Sharon Brous on The Next Big Idea Daily podcast.

Rabbi Sharon Brous joins Fareed to discuss how Jews in the US are grappling with their Jewish identity amid the war in Gaza and rising antisemitism.

Spiritual leaders and lifelong seekers reflect on how to cope and find optimism in dark times.

Rabbi Brous joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about loneliness, the importance of connection, and the power of showing up for one another.

This week, we are honored to share with you a conversation with Rabbi Sharon Brous, author of the The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World. From the moment we started reading Sharon’s book, we knew that she had a special message, and that she would be an incredible guest. Sharon’s book is a beautiful blend of ancient Jewish wisdom, contemporary science, and deep personal experience that shows how humans throughout history have taken up the responsibility to sit with each other as sacred witnesses to life’s most vulnerable and most joyous moments. Sharon makes the case that when we sit with each other in “celebration, sorrow, and solidarity,” we are connecting in ways that not only forge deep and lasting relationships, but contribute to a larger healing in our communities and in the world. One of the things we loved about Sharon’s book and the conversation with her was that she shared experience from her own life in which she’s succeeded here as well as where she’s failed. None of us do this perfectly, and so often we feel like we don’t even know how to—Sharon was wise and generous in giving herself and all of us grace for now always showing up for people the way we could have, but also practical advice that help us see how we can do this better. Sharon’s speaking from the perspective of a Jewish Rabbi, but her work reminds us of our own sacred texts and our promises to be willing to “mourn with those that mourn.”  We loved that Sharon explained that these principles of connection and solidarity really are universal, and we all get at them in our own languages and through our own rituals and traditions. This episode cuts straight to the heart of what it feels like to be human; it was impossible for it not to get personal, since we all know grief, joy, and connection intimately. We absolutely loved talking with Sharon and consider this a special episode. We hope that you enjoy it as much as we did!

At a time when polarization around the world has never been greater, SHARON BROUS, author and leading American rabbi, will talk with JEFFREY GOLDBERG, editor in chief of The Atlantic, about the extraordinary challenges posed at every level of society—social, familial, individual—by the most difficult and intractable moral issues. How do we begin to talk honestly and effectively with each other, for example, about Israel and Gaza? How do we talk about politics and the monumental election facing us a few months from now? Freedom of speech? Religion, race, gender? As the founding rabbi of IKAR in Los Angeles, one of the most diverse, fastest growing and influential Jewish communities in the nation, Rabbi Brous has spent the last 20 years trying to foster conversations and thoughtfulness that can see us through these seemingly impossible times.

Rabbi Sharon Brous was on her way to lead her community, IKAR—a Jewish community she founded 20 years ago with a new vision of how faith can center and connect us—in the sacred ceremony of Tashlikh, when she stopped to buy index cards and sharpies. It was an unexpected stop, given the day’s holiness: Every year between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the two holiest days of the year, the Jewish community visits a body of water to release their sins, or anything they don’t want to carry into the new year, into the water. Still, Rabbi Brous was reflecting on the dying wishes of her dear friend and community member, Erin, and had a question for the community. During her final days, Erin wrote that each of us has an innate sense of who we’re called to be. Yet, despite that knowing, too often we construct reasons to delay fulfilling our calling. On the brink of her own tragic death, Erin asked—What if we don’t have forever?—and urged her community to live urgently. When Rabbi Brous delivered her message to the IKAR community, overlooking the Pacific Ocean for Tashlikh, she asked: What are you waiting for? The question—What are you waiting for?—is the through-line of each topic we explore in this rich conversation about her book, The Amen Effect; From getting quiet enough to hear divine wisdom and cultivating our spiritual strength, to accompanying each other through joy and sorrow and, inspired by the Jewish ritual of being thankful for 100 blessings, creating our own system of blessings. As you settle into this conversation, consider a yearning that exists deep within your heart. What are you waiting for to pursue it? What is one step you might take to move towards it today?

This week, join Chelsea and Dana in a conversation with Rabbi Sharon Brous as they discuss her national bestselling book, The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend our Broken Hearts and World. She is the senior and founding rabbi of IKAR, a leading edge Jewish community based in Los Angeles.