When Chaya Gestetner-Chanin and Moishe Chanin sit down behind their microphones, they aren’t performing. They aren’t preaching. They aren’t offering neat, self-contained lessons for listeners to obediently take home.
Instead, with their new podcast, Undecided & Committed, they manage to capture something rare: two people in a marriage of more than 20 years discovering new truths about each other in real time. At times it’s pleasant. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable. But, they told The AJN they wouldn’t have it any other way.
The couple, who met in Israel in their late teens and have since built a life together across continents, say the podcast was never meant to be a polished product.
In fact, its honesty came almost by accident.
“We both shared our experience as an act of service and a contribution to the community, mainly around addiction and recovery,” Moishe said in an interview with the couple from their home in New York. “And there was this one time where we shared together and we were like, my gosh, there’s something completely different.”
That “difference” became the foundation of Undecided & Committed.
Instead of individually recounting their histories, they found power in the juxtaposition of their memories. In real time, they are two people living the same moment, but experiencing it entirely differently.
“We can be looking for sameness or difference … look for sameness because if you can find the sameness then perhaps you can also find the sameness in the struggle … and hope.”
“We just wanted to share the story together and as we’re sharing it we’re being honest about our reactions… it’s discovering it on our own as well as we’re having fresh reactions towards acknowledging the other person’s experience,” Moishe explained.
For listeners, that honesty is disarming. But for Chaya and Moishe, it is intentional.
Their “North Star,” as Moishe puts it, is service, offering something genuinely useful to the community by sharing the parts of their lives most people keep tightly guarded. The hope is not to be prescriptive, but to be human.
“We’re human and we failed many times, and here’s what worked and we’re just sharing our story. Take what’s helpful and leave the rest out,” Chaya, who grew up in Sydney, said.
The couple recorded 10 episodes before releasing the first. Season one follows their early years, meeting in Israel, navigating dating and doubt, deciding to marry despite their differences, and working through challenges in the first years of marriage.
Addiction, part of Moishe’s well-documented personal journey, threads through their story but is not the centre of this season. Chaya explained that they chose not to go too deep into it right away, partly because they have spoken about it extensively in other forums, and partly because they wanted season one to focus on the relationship itself.
But while the themes of the show evolve, its unedited feel remains consistent.
And that is deliberate.
Chaya laughed as she admitted that she is quite an unedited person by nature.
“If we needed to have a script or have a play, or know where we’re starting and be very perfect or clean in some ways, it would have stopped me or held us back,” she said.
Their banter, their interruptions, even the small logistical debates like where to sit or whether the lighting is right, are left in the final cut. The result is a polished-looking production with an intentionally unpolished soul.
“It shows who we are in a lot of ways,” Chaya explained. “It shows our lifestyle, shows our personalities. So it really works.”
Still, Chaya admitted that she was, and still is, nervous for people she knows to listen in.
Chaya recalls receiving feedback from someone who noted she came across as controlling at times.
The comment startled her, especially as she realised that while people will certainly appreciate that they are sharing their story, others who are listening or watching may judge them and their marriage.
“My heart started to revoke and I’m like, I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she said. “I don’t want to air any of the other ones. I want to edit them all.”
But she didn’t.
And part of the reason is the feedback from listeners who found both comfort and courage in the rawness. Explaining that there were many times during the first 10 recordings that she questioned why they were actually doing the podcast, “aside from our own therapeutic value”, Chaya is glad she didn’t let the doubt fester, and instead went full steam ahead.
“Hearing people [say], ‘that really resonated’ or ‘I feel more comforted’ or ‘I feel brave to take the next step’, it was like ok,” she said.
Moishe, meanwhile, said he sees sharing as both duty and calling. He described growing up in a family that “steps up” when something needs to be done, even when it leads to backlash. “That’s why I do it, because it’s something that’s needed and that’s my background that supports that.”
Their aims for the podcast are simple and heartfelt.
“Number one is I want somebody to listen to it and realise that they’re not the only ones,” Moishe said. The second aim is to offer a glimpse of hope that others might relate to. And third, to help those supporting someone through similar struggles.
Chaya adds another layer: the importance of purpose, and the joy that comes from using one’s gifts in service.
“I think everybody’s goal is to find your purpose. Where are you meant to be? What’s your mission in this world? And I don’t know if this is our sole mission, but it’s part of it, and it’s in the steps of the journey,” she said. “From a selfish perspective, it feels good to do something in an area where we’re good at and where we shine … knowing that we’re helping someone.”
If there is one message they hope people carry while listening, it’s to come with an open heart.
Or as Moishe said beautifully, “We can be looking for sameness or difference … look for sameness because if you can find the sameness then perhaps you can also find the sameness in the struggle … and hope.”
Their marriage may be, as Moishe calls it, “a miracle” shaped by difference, disagreement, humour and hard work. But Undecided & Committed is proof that sometimes the most meaningful stories aren’t the tidy ones. Rather, they’re the ones that unfold in real-time, between two people who continue to learn from each other, even after decades together.
Undecided & Committed is now available on podcast platforms.
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