Women in Conversation: When Opposition Becomes Light
What if the interruptions, resistance and challenges in a woman's day are not getting in the way of her purpose, but are the very place where her light is waiting to emerge?
by COLlive Editor · COLliveWhat if the interruptions, resistance and challenges in a woman’s day are not getting in the way of her purpose, but are the very place where her light is waiting to emerge?
In honor of Parshas Bereishis, Sara Blau sits down with author, life coach and public speaker Dr. Chava Green for a candid conversation about “The Feminine Paradox: Ezer Kenegdo, Opposition that Births a Luminous World” and what the Alter Rebbe’s words mean in a woman’s real life.
Green’s book, the first release from the publishing house she founded, Inner World Press, presents the maamer “Lo Tov Heyos HaAdam Levado” from Torah Ohr on Parshas Bereishis in the original Hebrew, in English translation and, as Green puts it, “translated into life.”
At the heart of the conversation is a new way to see opposition.
“The feminine paradox is that we are the ezer knegdo,” Green says. “We are given the power to take whatever challenges come around us and find some sort of additional light.”
That idea does not remain theoretical for long. Green shares how a personal motto from the maamer carried her through a pain-free birth, how a bag of marshmallows transformed a difficult playgroup morning, and how her baby waking just five minutes before the recording became a living example of the very teaching she had come to discuss.
The conversation explores why this maamer speaks so directly to women, how ezer knegdo can turn resistance into growth, and how a woman’s avodah brings the physical and spiritual together. Green also discusses tznius through the lens of klipa nogah, “a shell that shines,” and challenges viewers to coin a word for the work of translating Chassidus into women’s day-to-day lives.
She also offers a preview of her next book, expected next year, which will explore pregnancy as galus, birth as geulah and mother’s milk through a maamer from Parshas Va’eira.
The result is a warm, practical conversation about finding light not after the challenge has passed, but within the challenge itself.
“What a beautiful way to go into Shabbos Bereishis,” Sara Blau says at the close. “The way we are on Parshas Bereishis, that’s how we go all year.”
Watch the full conversation:
“The Feminine Paradox” is available on Amazon.
Never Miss a Headline!
Sign up for the COLlive Daily News Roundup and never miss a story
Opt In
- I would like to receive the collive newsletter