Episodes

Grief is one of the most universal human experiences, yet we often struggle to talk about it. We worry about saying the wrong thing, don’t know how to support someone who is grieving, and may feel pressure to move on long before we are ready. On this episode of Exit Strategy, I speak with Rebecca Soffer, cofounder of Modern Loss, a community and platform dedicated to changing the way we talk about death, grief, and life after loss. Drawing on her own experiences of losing both parents, Rebecca...

What happens when the life you imagined doesn’t unfold the way you expected? For many individuals and couples, the journey to parenthood can be marked by infertility, miscarriage, pregnancy loss, unanswered questions, and profound grief. Yet these experiences are often surrounded by silence, leaving people to navigate some of life’s most painful moments feeling isolated and misunderstood. On this episode of Exit Strategy, Exit Strategy host Stephanie Garry speaks with Dr. Aimee Baron, a pediat...

What happens to a mother when her daughter dies? There are no easy answers to that question — and Danielle Crittenden doesn’t pretend there are. In this deeply personal episode of Exit Strategy, Danielle joins Stephanie Garry to talk about the death of her daughter and the complicated, unpredictable landscape of grief that followed. Drawing from her writing, Dispatches from Grief: A Mother’s Journey Through the Unthinkable, Danielle speaks with remarkable honesty about the experience of losin...

What if understanding where we come from can help us better understand who we are? In this episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry speaks with Rabbi Andrew Mandel, a passionate genealogist, about the power of uncovering our family stories—and the deeper connections those stories can reveal. Together, they explore what happens when we look beyond names and dates to discover the lives, journeys, struggles and dreams of those who came before us. Because genealogy isn’t simply about looking bac...

What if preparing for death could also be an act of love? In this deeply moving episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry speaks with filmmaker Ilana Trachtman and fiber artist Rachel Kanter, whose story is at the heart of the documentary Shroud. Rachel is making her mother’s burial shroud. For Rachel, a fiber artist accustomed to working with her hands, the process of creating the shroud becomes something far more profound than an artistic project. It is an intimate way of preparing for her ...

What matters most when we are faced with illness, aging, loss, and the end of life? In this episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry speaks with Diane Button, author of What Matters Most, about the questions that often become clearer as we confront mortality — and why having these conversations before a crisis can make all the difference. Diane shares insights into living with greater intention, identifying what gives our lives meaning, and creating space for honest conversations about what w...

On August 5, New York begins implementing one of the most significant changes to end-of-life care in its history. As the 13th state to authorize Medical Aid in Dying, New York now offers eligible terminally ill adults another option at the end of life—one rooted in personal autonomy, compassion, and carefully defined legal safeguards. In this timely episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry speaks with Mandi Zucker, Executive Director of End of Life Choices NY and a longtime advocate whose lead...

An Exit Strategy Conversation with Dr. Charlotte Grinberg What if thinking about death could help us live more fully? In this thought-provoking episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry welcomes Dr. Charlotte Grinberg, physician, writer, and advocate for bringing conversations about mortality into everyday life. Inspired by her widely shared essay in The Free Press, Dr. Grinberg challenges us to rethink our relationship with death—not as something to fear or avoid, but as one of life’s greatest...

As more people seek environmentally conscious choices throughout their lives, many are also considering how those values can shape their final arrangements. In this episode of Exit Strategy, host Stephanie Garry sits down with Lily Sage Weinrieb, Funeral Director at Plaza Jewish Community Chapel and Green Burial Specialist, to explore the growing interest in green burial and what it means for individuals, families, and communities. Lily shares her expertise on the principles of green burial, in...

Talking about death isn’t easy. Planning for it can feel even harder. Yet one of the most meaningful gifts we can leave our loved ones is clarity. In this episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry sits down with Plaza Jewish Community Chapel’s Certifie...

A Conversation with Dr. Jessica Zitter What happens when a physician learns that healing involves more than medicine? In this episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry speaks with Dr. Jessica Zitter—critical care physician, author, filmmaker, and advocate for compassionate end-of-life care—about her powerful documentary, The Chaplain & The Doctor. The film chronicles Dr. Zitter’s transformative relationship with hospital chaplain Betty Clark, whose approach to spiritual care challenged and ul...

As he prepares to close an extraordinary chapter as CEO of UJA-Federation of New York, Eric Goldstein joins Exit Strategy for a deeply personal and reflective conversation about leadership, legacy, and what it means to step away after guiding one of the most influential Jewish organizations in the world through moments of challenge, heartbreak, renewal, and hope. This is not simply a conversation about retirement or transition. It is about the quiet and complicated act of letting go — of identi...

What if the self isn’t as fixed as we believe? In this episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry speaks with Rabbi Jonathan Blake about how rethinking identity—through a Jewish and philosophical lens—can transform the way we approach mortality. Together, they explore how loosening our grip on the idea of a singular, bounded self may open the door to greater connection, meaning, and even a different relationship with death. https://www.wrtemple.org/about/leadership/senior-rabbi-jonathan-blake/ h...

In this episode of Exit Strategy, Stephanie Garry sits down with Rachel Seidman to explore the profound role of storytelling in how we remember, honor, and make meaning of a life. Together, they discuss how personal narratives shape legacy, the emotional and ethical dimensions of capturing someone’s story, and what it means to preserve memory in the face of loss. Rachel shares insights from her work, offering a thoughtful perspective on how stories can both ground us in grief and connect us acr...

After we’re gone, what remains—and what can we still give? In this compelling episode of Exit Strategy, host Stephanie Garry speaks with Rabbi Joshua Rabin and Mara Bragg about organ donation as a final, radical act of compassion. It’s a conversation about legacy, courage, and the choices that define us—right to the very end. https://www.organdonationalliance.org/profile/rabbi-joshua-rabin/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SvPpRzD35U https://educator.jewishedproject.org/sites/default/files/2024...

In this deeply personal and thought-provoking conversation, Exit Strategy host Stephanie Garry sits down with filmmaker Justin Schein to explore legacy, family history, and the complicated moral inheritance we carry. Through the lens of his documentary work, (Death and Taxes and Left on Purpose) Justin reflects on uncovering long-buried truths within his own family story — including wealth, silence, responsibility, and the question of what repair truly looks like. Together, they examine how sto...

In this heartfelt and thought-provoking conversation, Exit Strategy host Stephanie Garry sits down with author and academic Dr. Willy Donaldson to explore his memoir Estimated Time of Departure. Donaldson shares his personal journey navigating conversations with his aging parents about their wishes, fears, and life stories — conversations many of us avoid until it’s too late. https://cnu.edu/faculty/williamdonaldson.html Plaza Jewish Community Chapel 25th Anniversary events: Plaza Jewish Commun...

In this episode of Exit Strategy, host Stephanie Garry speaks with Mary Lou Falcone about her powerful book and companion documentary exploring love, caregiving, and loss at the end of life. In I Didn’t See It Coming, Mary Lou shares the personal journey that led her to document an intimate end-of-life experience, and how storytelling became an act of devotion, witness, and remembrance. Together, they reflect on the complexities of caregiving, the courage it takes to make private grief public, ...

As Exit Strategy closes out 2025, we dedicate these episodes to the memory of our producer, Glenn Rosenkrantz, with gratitude for his creativity, care, and partnership. In this episode, we confront a question that once belonged to science fiction: What if the dead could still speak to us? Albert Han of the Thomson Reuters Foundation joins Exit Strategy host Stephanie Garry to explore how artificial intelligence is entering the most intimate spaces of grief. Together, they examine the emotional,...

How far would you go to create a long lasting legacy keeping your presence alive in impact and spirit? The reach for remembrance takes many forms, and is the focus of a compelling new film — Forever Endeavor — capturing how legacy is embraced across the spectrum of human experience … from the unimaginable to the relatable. Filmmaker Mary Anne Rothberg of Provenance Productions speaks with Exit Strategy host Stephanie Garry about the genesis and journey of the film, screened earlier this year as...

Funerals are singular moments to collectively honor and mourn our dead — but with room to practice our relationship to life and mortality … and with ourselves and others … in any which way. At Exit Strategy’s first-ever taping before a live audience at Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, host Stephanie Garry interviews Alix Strauss, author of the groundbreaking book, The Joy of Funerals, and a renowned trends, culture and lifestyle journalist who has appeared in The New York Times and other prominen...

Kimberly Novod’s world changed suddenly, unexpectedly and dramatically. Her son Saul arrived prematurely and died after 20 days in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Louisiana. From her deep grief grew a driving purpose … to cement a legacy for her son by founding Saul’s Light, an organization making immense impact by elevating awareness of prematurity and perinatal loss — and adjacent issues — and providing resources and support for families who find themselves in the practical and emotional un...

An oracle says you have three days to live. What choices do you make? What peace do you seek with others? How do you process grief for yourself and your aspirations? A provocative, award-winning new film — 3 — explores this scenario within an ultimately uplifting love story. Exit Strategy host Stephanie Garry speaks with the film’s director, Peter Ney, in advance of its screening at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan at 7 pm on September 30 — part of a film series on end-of-life issues presente...

In her award-winning new book — Fifty-seven Fridays: Losing our Daughter, Finding our Way — Myra Sack writes about losing her young daughter, Havi, to Tay-Sachs disease and discovering essential truths about love and joy … ritual and community … born from wrenching grief. Myra joins Exit Strategy host Stephanie Garry in a conversation of raw honesty, with points of connection for all of us. In partnership with the Jewish Book Council. More about Myra Sack: www.emotion-mc.org/our-team More abo...