This week on Unorthodox: Bloomberg, Bernie, and Trump, oh my! Our Jewish guest is Mark Seidenfeld, vice president and deputy general counsel at Scholastic, publisher of the wildly successful Harry Potter and The Hunger Games series. He tells us about traveling to Scotland to pick up a manuscript from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling—and then sitting on it during the flight back to New York to keep it safe. Our non-Jewish guest is bioethicist and writer Alice Dreger, whose new book, Galileo’s Mid...
Jan 28, 2016•49 min
Our Jewish guest this week is Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, an organization whose mission includes ending the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, and which supports the controversial Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. She explains why she believes her organization's work is more important now than ever, and spars with Liel over the merits of BDS. Our Gentile of the Week is Mike Albo—writer, performer, and humorist—wh...
Jan 21, 2016•38 min
This week on Unorthodox: Bar Refaeli baby watch begins, and Mel Gibson returns (shudder). Our Jewish guest is painter Archie Rand, whose new book, The 613, is the culmination of his most ambitious project yet: painting visual representations of each of Judaism’s 613 mitzvot, or commandments. Our Gentile of the Week is Catherine Burns, the longtime artistic director of the hit storytelling series The Moth. Her question to the panel is about Jewish burial traditions, and, characteristically, takes...
Jan 14, 2016•48 min
This week on Unorthodox: kosher marijuana, the great bagel scooping debate, and one very WASPy cardigan. Our Jewish guest is Bethany Mandel, author of the Convert's Bill of Rights, which she wrote after learning she was one of the women videotaped by Rabbi Barry Freundel while using the mikveh, or Jewish ritual bath. (The Orthodox rabbi was sentenced in May 2015 to 6 1/2 years in prison for filming more than 150 women, many of them converts, using the ritual bath.) Our Gentile of the Week is wri...
Jan 07, 2016•51 min
From Drake to Bernie Sanders, Amy Schumer to the presidential election—and, of course, Israeli cats—we’ve covered a lot this year on Unorthodox. We’re ringing in the new year with a special compilation of our favorite moments from 2015, including never-before aired segments, highlights from our live shows, and guests Simon Doonan, sex therapist Bat Sheva Marcus, comedian Dave Hill, lexicographer Erin McKean, and more. Want more Unorthodox? Email us at [email protected], and sign up for ou...
Dec 31, 2015•23 min
This week, Unorthodox celebrates Christmas—or as we call it, Christian Hanukkah—the only way we know how: binge-watching Netflix (the new ‘going to a movie’) and eating Chinese food. We’re joined by Orange is the New Black’s Yael Stone, who tells us about playing the memorable Lorna Morello, a compulsive shopper and lovable stalker, on the hit Netflix show. Her newest role is as Peretta Jones on the SyFy series Childhood’s End, which you can binge-watch after you finish Season 3 of Orange is the...
Dec 24, 2015•43 min
This week on Unorthodox, a special live taping from the nation's capital featuring Jewish food maven Joan Nathan and New Republic writer Elizabeth Bruenig, and much, much more This week, Unorthodox heads to our nation's capital for a special live episode at the Washington DCJCC. Our Jewish guest is food maven and Tablet contributor Joan Nathan, who discusses her Yemenite chicken soup recipe and explains why we're all missing out on Libyan Jewish cuisine. She tells us about her favorite chefs, vi...
Dec 17, 2015•47 min
On this week's episode: America’s most badass Supreme Court Justice and TV’s most visible rabbi. Our Jewish guest is MSNBC reporter Irin Carmon, whose new book, Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is a smart, entertaining biography of the Supreme Court justice. She tells us about RBG’s recent turn as a feminist pop culture icon, her important role on the Supreme Court today, and the octogenarian’s impressive workout routine. Our non-Jewish guest is actress Kathryn Hahn, who...
Dec 10, 2015•51 min
This week, we're, we’re ringing in the Festival of Lights with a special episode filled with Unorthodox holiday cheer, Adam Sandler’s updated “Hanukkah Song,” and a whole lot of latkes. We’re joined by Jewish competitive eater Don Moses Lerman, who comes out of retirement to see how many Russ & Daughters potato latkes he can eat in five minutes on the air. Tablet columnist Marjorie Ingall, who previously gave us a crash course in pre-Yom Kippur apologies, stops by with some advice on how not to ...
Dec 03, 2015•53 min
This Thanksgiving, we're thankful for good health, cats, and Drake. But mostly, dear listeners, we're thankful for you. Over the past 17 weeks, you've not only listened to our humble podcast, you've gotten your friends to listen, showed up at our first live taping, and, best of all, written to us to tell us exactly what you think of the show. A lot. We so appreciate you taking the time to write us (even when it's to tell us we talk too fast, or don't know what we're talking about) that we've ded...
Nov 25, 2015•41 min
Our Jewish guest, Bat Sheva Marcus, is a sex counselor, podcast host, and president of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance. She tells us about the most common issues her patients face, the challenges of finding rabinically-approved erotica for observant Jews, and the importance of maintaining a sexual connection in long-term monogamous relationships. Our non-Jewish guest is Mallory Ortberg, founder and editor of feminist literary website the Toast, and Slate's new Dear Prudence advice columnis...
Nov 19, 2015•39 min
This week on Unorthodox: Preaching to the unconverted. Our Jewish guest is our very own editor-in-chief, Alana Newhouse. She talks to us about Tablet’s new print magazine and shares exclusive details from the first issue, which comes out next week. Our non-Jewish guest is Dr. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a prolific writer and podcaster. The evangelical macher poses two questions to the panel: Why are Jews are so reliably Democratic? And what are the b...
Nov 12, 2015•49 min
This week on Unorthodox, our Jewish guest is journalist Alyssa Katz, a member of the New York Daily News editorial board. Her new book, "The Influence Machine," is about the vast political influence—and lobbying money—wielded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She tells the panel what the Chamber of Commerce actually is and how it got so powerful, and explains why, in today's social media-filled political climate, newspaper editorials still matter. Our non-Jewish guest is poet and high-school Engl...
Nov 05, 2015•39 min
This week marks the thirteenth episode of Unorthodox, and we’re ready to party like it’s our bar mitzvah all over again. Our Jewish guest is Wayne Hoffman, executive editor of Tablet and the author of several novels. His latest is An Older Man, which follows 42-year-old Moe Pearlman (the protagonist from Hoffman’s first novel, Hard, about New York City’s gay scene in the 1990s), as he deals with getting older and finding companionship during Bear Week in Provincetown, MA. Hoffman discusses bear ...
Oct 29, 2015•32 min
This week on Unorthodox, James Franco’s star-studded bar mitzvah for charity (seriously, it raised $2.5 million); a viral video celebrating—with spoken word poetry—the diversity of the Jewish people; and how Malcolm Gladwell can help us understand the recent rash of violent stabbing attacks in Israel. Our Jewish guest is Shulem Deen, whose moving memoir, All Who Go Do Not Return, describes his journey out of the Skverer Hasidic sect. Deen—who’s now on the board of Footsteps, an organization that...
Oct 22, 2015•52 min
This week, we present first-ever Unorthodox live show, recorded at the Slifka Center at Yale University. Our Jewish guest is Shelly Kagan, Clark Professor of Philosophy at Yale. He talks about his reputation as Tough Grader on Campus, and explains what it means that he’s a non-welfarist consequentialist. Our guest gentile of the week—who told us he preferred the term “token goy” or “goykin”—is humorist and WNPR radio host Colin McEnroe. He asked the panel why yarmulkes always seem to fall off hi...
Oct 15, 2015•52 min
This week on Unorthodox, host Mark Oppenheimer and Tablet staffers Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz discuss Amy Schumer's $8 million book deal, Ralph Lauren stepping down as CEO of his namesake brand, and Mahmoud Abbas's speech at the U.N. General Assembly. Our Jewish guest is best-selling essayist Sloane Crosley, whose first novel, 'The Clasp,' tells the story of college friends who reunited 10 years later and get swept up in a modern-day treasure hunt across Europe. She tells the panel how...
Oct 08, 2015•34 min
This week on Unorthodox, host Mark Oppenheimer and Tablet staffers Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz discuss Ann Coulter's ill-advised tweet during the Republican presidential debate about "f---ing Jews"; the Pope's visit to the U.S.; and a campaign to end the little-known Jewish practice of Kapporos, in which chickens are ritually slaughtered before Yom Kippur. Our Jewish guest is defense lawyer and former Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, whose latest book is "Abraham: The World's Firs...
Sep 24, 2015•39 min
This week on Unorthodox, host Mark Oppenheimer and Tablet staffers Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz ring in the year 5776 with the latest news of the Jews. They sound off on a controversial New York Times feature that listed the Democrats in the House and Senate who voted against the Iran nuclear deal--and indicated which of those politicians were Jewish. (The 'Jewish?' column was quickly removed from the chart, and a correction was issued.) Our Jewish guest is writer, model, and college s...
Sep 17, 2015•36 min
Host Mark Oppenheimer and Tablet staffers Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz sound off about public schools closing for Jewish holidays, and discuss a New York Times opinion piece about how some of the most violent West Bank extremists are from the United States. Rabbi Avi Shafran explains why he dislikes like the term ultra-Orthodox, why secular Jews shouldn't feel hostility towards more observant Jews (and vice versa), and why he doesn't accept reform conversions. Guest non-Jew Alex Sheshuno...
Sep 10, 2015•33 min
This special Yom Kippur episode of Unorthodox features stories about apologies from host Mark Oppenheimer, writer and Harvard Divinity student Shira Telushkin, and Tablet's Esther Werdiger. What happens when an apology goes wrong? What happens when we’ve done something so awful we can’t face the other person? What happens when somebody apologizes to us—and we can’t forgive? Special guest Marjorie Ingall, who blogs at sorrywatch.com, offers her five rules for what makes a good apology. For more U...
Sep 03, 2015•44 min
Tablet staffers Mark Oppenheimer, Liel Leibovitz, and Stephanie Butnick sound off on the news of the week, including the death of the world’s oldest living Jew and a Palestinian prisoner's hunger strike. New York Times comedy critic Jason Zinoman discusses Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, and the new Jewish comedy. Dan Savage, this week's guest non-Jew, asks a question about a long-ago romance lost in translation: specifically, his German boyfriend thinking he was Jewish. Follow Jason Zinoman on Tw...
Aug 27, 2015•40 min
Tablet staffers Mark Oppenheimer, Liel Leibovitz, and Stephanie Butnick sound off about Jewish rapper Matisyahu getting booted from a Spanish reggae festival for refusing to condemn Israel; Jews in Hollywood signing off on the Iran deal; and former NWA manager Jerry Heller's portrayal in the new film "Straight Outta Compton." Katha Pollitt, longtime columnist for The Nation, discusses being portrayed by Patricia Clarkson in the upcoming film, "Learning to Drive," and the recent political attacks...
Aug 20, 2015•41 min
Tablet staffers Mark Oppenheimer, Liel Leibovitz, and Stephanie Butnick sound off about the (legal) battle of the Jewish dating apps, a crowd-funded effort to reelect Canada's Jewish prime minister, and a Nazi-themed romance novel. Ophira Eisenberg, stand-up comic and host of NPR's quiz show 'Ask Me Another,' discusses the politics of strangers touching pregnant women's bumps, and why her NPR celebrity status matters not at all to her big Canadian family. Humor writer and guest non-Jew Henry Alf...
Aug 13, 2015•31 min
Host Mark Oppenheimer and Tablet staffers Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz discuss this year’s European Maccabiah Games—a Jewish Olympics of sorts—which are being held this week in Berlin at the stadium Hitler built for the 1936 Olympics. They also sound off on Mike Huckabee’s ill-advised Holocaust analogy, and an investigation into academic rigor at New York City’s Orthodox yeshivas. Celebrity ghostwriter Hilary Liftin discusses her new novel, Movie Star By Lizzie Pepper, a tell-all written...
Aug 06, 2015•30 min
Host Mark Oppenheimer and Tablet staffers Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz sound off about gay marriage in Israel, the suicide of a formerly Orthodox young woman, and Adam Sandler's latest movie. New York Times bestselling author A.J. Jacobs discusses his latest project: hosting the world's largest family reunion and compiling a massive family tree that includes President Obama, Judge Judy, and yes, Adam Sandler. Writer and 'This American Life' contributor Elna Baker describes leaving the Mo...
Jul 30, 2015•34 min
Your first listen to the new podcast from the editors of Tablet Magazine.
Jul 17, 2015•3 min
