The Jewish Divorce Project - Ep: 61 - The Ex-Rabbi’s Wives Club (Part 1)

This is a fantastic episode. We sit down with Eileen Ansel and Liz Marcus- two ex-wives of rabbis. With bravery, grace, and wisdom they share their experiences in divorce candidly and with humor. We talk about what it means to be seen as "other" and/or the "perpetrator" in the divorce; what true friends look like; what happens when the community disappears; the concepts of "unbinding," and "transactional memory." And we also discuss a letter Eileen wrote to a friend considering divorce after she had already been through it herself. The letter can be found on our facebook page at: The Jewish Divorce Project. Part 2 next week!

 

Eileen Ansel identifies as an adult child of her inner landscape, and of the north fork of the american river. she is a writer, poet, and internal deep diver. she has been called a zaphnath paaneah (one who reveals that which is hidden), and a ‘human emotional can-opener’. highly sensitive, intuitive, and attuned- eileen is a trauma survivor, cancer survivor, and mother- as well as the former wife of, and rebbitzen to, the number one pulpit rabbi in america. once upon a time, she was the proprietor of a show horse barn in sonoma, ran marathons as a charity fundraiser for the leukemia lymphoma society’s team in training, and was a content and literary editor for kirk douglas’s memoirs. eileen delights in homemade chocolate chip and sea salt biscotti, and feeling all the feelings available in this realm. she loves cats, architecture, listening to people’s stories, biplanes, walking in nature, and wild horses- not necessarily in that order. 

 

Liz Marcus is a full time nursing student, aspiring midwife, and mom of 3. She grew up in Boca Raton, Florida and currently resides in Riverdale, NY