In this episode, Millie speaks with Matthew Nouriel (sometimes known as The Empress Mizrahi) an activist, content creator, and drag queen from the Persian Jewish diaspora. Matthew is an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, Iranians, Jews and the state of Israel. Together they discuss the connections between a free Iran and the fight against Hamas/the Islamic Republic's terrorist proxies, authentic vs. inauthentic activism, what's next for Persian Jews, and Matthew's families unique migration story.

Follow Matthew on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matthewnouriel/?hl=en

Learn more about JIMENA: https://jimena.org/

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Zoei Cohen, a spiritual guide and teacher, offers her perspective on Esther's transformation from orphan to Queen in the Persian empire by taking a closer look at the original Hebrew text to capture the nuances often lost in translation to other languages. She simultaneously derives a radically positive interpretation of the story and relates it in ways of how we should live today.

Intro music: Aramaic Lesson by HULAULA

More about Zoei

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In this episode, Maxine (from episode 3 Ancestral Healing) returns to reflect on the lessons from the Book of Esther/Purim from the Torah, which revolves around a Jewish woman in Persia named Esther who becomes Queen in the Persian Empire (5th BCE) and hides her Jewishness in order to survive. When Esther's uncle Mordecai, discovers that an official in court, Haman, has a plan to establish a decree to slay all the Jews in the empire, Esther throws a series of feasts for the King and eventually wins him over and not only embraces her Jewishness but saves the entire population of Jews from persecution in the Persian empire (this is a very brief summary you can find the full text linked below).

We explore how Queen Esther embodies what it means to integrate our Jewish and Persian backgrounds, mind-body connection practices, and divinity: the feminine divine and divine timing.

Full text of Esther:
https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/85468

Music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTnvCgvuLl0&ab_channel=KamranNeydavoud

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