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In this episode, Rabbi Mendel Kastel speaks with Rabbi Zalman Abraham about the challenges young people face, especially when it comes to identity, purpose, and mental health. Drawing on his experience leading global youth wellbeing programs, Rabbi Abraham shares insights on why spiritual grounding, connection, and values-based education are critical in building real resilience.
Together, they unpack how community and compassion can help young people navigate pain and uncertainty without being defined by it.
“Faith gives you a frame that’s way bigger than yourself.”
It’s not just a comfort, says Rabbi Zalman Abraham – it’s a tool for resilience. In this episode of Navigating Antisemitism, he joins Rabbi Mendel Kastel to explore how Jewish values and evidence-based psychology can help people stay grounded, even in the face of fear, stress or identity-based hate.
Rabbi Abraham is Director of The Wellness Institute, a division of the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute. He’s also the creator of Unbreakable, a new program designed to help Jewish people build real, lasting inner strength.
This episode of Navigating Antisemitism focuses not just on the challenges people face, but on how they recover and grow. Through Jewish teachings and evidence-based psychology, Unbreakable gives young people and adults the tools to reclaim agency, work through pain, and rediscover purpose.
Rabbi Kastel frames the conversation in the context of their shared mission: “It’s not enough to respond to crisis. We have to equip people with something deeper; something that helps them stay grounded, even when they’re shaken.”
Resilience is often misunderstood. Is it about bouncing back, staying calm, coping better?
“Yes and yes and yes,” Rabbi Abraham says. “But deeper than all that, it’s about agency.”
True resilience begins where your control ends. When you’re overwhelmed, when a crisis strips you of routine or certainty, it’s easy to feel helpless. But even in pain, even in fear, there is always one thing you still own: your response.
“Between what happens to us and how we respond is a space of choice,” he says. “And learning to use that space is where resilience starts.”
This insight resonated with Rabbi Kastel, who has seen firsthand how people react differently under pressure. “It’s not always about removing the stress,” he says. “It’s about helping someone feel like they’re not being broken by it.”
Much of Unbreakable is about reframing what challenge means. Rabbi Abraham explains that trauma, like failure, doesn’t mark the end of growth. In many cases, it’s where growth begins.
“Discomfort brings out things we didn’t know we were capable of,” he says. “We don’t wish this on anyone, but once it happens, we can grow from it.”
Jewish teachings have long encouraged this approach, and science now backs it. Rabbi Abraham points to research showing that religious coping mechanisms have a strong impact on post-traumatic recovery. “Faith gives us a frame bigger than ourselves,” he says. “You don’t have to carry everything alone.”
Rabbi Kastel reflects on how important this message is for people dealing with antisemitism. “We often focus on what’s happening to us,” he says. “But we need to talk about what we’re doing with it; how we use faith, identity, and community to stay connected and strong.”
At the heart of Unbreakable are three resilience-building skills:
“These tools are adapted from cognitive behavioural therapy,” Rabbi Abraham explains, “but we teach them through a Jewish lens.”
Rabbi Kastel adds that the tools are as much about identity as psychology. “If you don’t feel connected to who you are,” he says, “you’re more vulnerable to fear and reaction. This program helps people own their identity, not just inherit it.”
For Rabbi Abraham, one of the driving questions behind Unbreakable is simple: why are we teaching kids calculus but not emotional regulation?
He believes Jewish education has become too academic, too text-based. “It used to be lived,” he says. “You saw it, you felt it. Now it’s theory.”
Rabbi Kastel agrees. He notes that many students today know the rules, but don’t feel the connection. “It’s not about being told what to believe,” he says. “It’s about feeling it for yourself, so that when pressure hits, you’re anchored in something real.”
Together, they’re working to shift that approach, embedding emotional development into Jewish learning and practice. As Unbreakable prepares to launch its adult and self-guided versions, Jewish House will play a key role in helping roll it out across the community.
Rabbi Abraham compares antisemitism to bullying. The power, he says, is often in the reaction. “The bully wants to hook you,” he explains. “If you don’t respond the way they expect, they lose that power.”
The same goes for antisemitism. When people feel strong in themselves, they’re less likely to be shaken by hate. “They don’t have me,” he says. “That’s the mindset.”
Rabbi Kastel points out that this is especially important for young people, who are navigating hate in schools, online, and in media. “Resilience isn’t about never getting upset,” he says. “It’s about knowing who you are so clearly that no insult can take that away.”
When asked what gives him hope, Rabbi Abraham doesn’t hesitate. “We’ve been doing this for 3,000 years,” he says. “We can go a little further.”
But more than that, he finds strength in shared experience. “When we’re in it together, the burden gets lighter. When we zoom out, we see the bigger picture. For every voice of hate, there are hundreds of voices of kindness.”
It’s a message Rabbi Kastel shares as well. “This course is not about fighting hate with hate,” he says. “It’s about helping people stand taller, feel stronger and move forward with something unshakable inside them.”
