Bringing Back the Sparkle: How One Chabad Rebbetzin Found Agency In Her Life

Author: Chavie Bruk
Published: Thu 18 Sep 2025
Episode Link: https://totallyunexpected.podbean.com/e/insourcing-how-a-chabad-rebbetzin-found-agency-in-her-life/

Chavie begins by asking Chanie about her childhood growing up in Crown Heights. Chanie describes herself as a “poster child” within mainstream Chabad institutions but, as a result, lacking the stimulation to go deeper in her own self-discovery. Chavie and Chanie discuss the challenges of going out on shlichus—starting a Chabad House—at a very young age, newly married, and often with a first child on the way. They compare notes on having to show up for their communities as though they had everything figured out, even while they were still at the earliest stages of personal growth and identity. Chanie explains how her desire to create language for these challenges and break the taboos around discussing them led her and her husband to start M54, an organization focused on helping individuals acknowledge these realities and find inner solutions for navigating them.

Chanie is the co-founder of the Chabad House at Brandeis University and the CEO of M54, an organization she launched with her husband, Rabbi Peretz Chein, to help people find agency as they navigate today’s often overwhelming lives. On campus, she developed innovative programs focused on personal growth while fostering deeper connections with Judaism and G-d. Over the years, the Chabad House has positively influenced countless students and alumni, its impact growing steadily with each incoming class. Chanie’s dedication to meaningful conversations and attentive listening led to the creation of M54 in May 2020, at the onset of the Covid pandemic. Chanie is also a mother of six and has chosen home birth for each of her children.

Referenced On the Pod