Philip Roth died on May 22, 2018, and we wanted to bring you a few pieces while you wait for our next episode. First up, Mark Oppenheimer visited The Gist to talk with host Mike Pesca about Roth's place in the literary and Jewish canon. Plus, our editor Noah Levinson goes on the Newark public library's tour around the Weequahic neighborhood where Roth grew up. We love hearing from our listeners! Email us at [email protected] or leave a message at our listener line: 914-570-4869. We may sh...
Jun 05, 2018•24 min
This week on Unorthodox, Liel prepares for his role as honorary grand marshal at New York City's Celebrate Israel Parade on June 3. Our Jewish guest is Yossi Klein Halevi, senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and the author of 'Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor.' He tells us how he, as a religious Jew in Jerusalem, came to understand the Palestinian perspective, why he framed the book as a letter to an imagined interlocutor, and the crucial need to recognize that both side...
May 24, 2018•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 137
On Shavuot we read the Book of Ruth, which tells the story of Ruth, the first convert to Judaism, who ultimately becomes the great-grandmother of King David. In Ruth's honor, this week we're talking about conversion to Judaism, and hearing stories from people around the globe who have chosen to become Jewish—starting with our listeners. Reporter Abby Holtzman travels to Savannah, Georgia, to bring us the story of a 13-year-old girl who has taken the plunge, literally, to convert to Judaism. Rabb...
May 17, 2018•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 136
Our Jewish guest this week is Peninah Lamm Kaplansky, who in 2015 wrote a candid and moving account of her miscarriage, at 21 weeks, and the need for more resources and discussion surrounding infertility and miscarriage in Jewish communities. Our Gentile of the Week is Sister Julia Walsh, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration and a Catholic youth minister. Sister Julia tells us about the painful decision to give up motherhood, something she had always dreamed of, when she entered the life a...
May 10, 2018•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 135
It's Lag Ba'Omer, aka the 33rd day of the Omer, aka the period between Passover and Shavuot! Our Jewish guest is Sen. Joe Lieberman, whose new book, 'With Liberty & Justice: The 50-Day Journey from Egypt to Sinai,' explores the importance of the Omer. He tells us about being one of the most publically observant Jews in politics, why he never wore a yarmulke in the Senate, and whether the Gore White House would have had a kosher kitchen. Our Gentile of the week is Skylar Inman, the host of Intrac...
May 03, 2018•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 134
Natalie Portman won't accept 'Jewish Nobel Prize' in Israel, plus Jewish artichoke drama in Italy. Our Jewish guest is Rachel Simmons, the author of Enough As She Is: How to Help Girls Move Beyond Impossible Standards of Success to Live Healthy, Happy and Fulfilling Lives. Rachel explains the pressures facing young girls in America today, how we can support our daughters and nieces and friends, and whether things are any better at Jewish schools. Our gentile of the week is Linda Curtis, whose me...
Apr 26, 2018•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 133
This week on Unorthodox, we're celebrating 70 years of Israeli food, music, and culture in honor of Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel's independence day. First, we're joined by writer and comedian Periel Aschenbrand, who tells us what it's like to be married to an Israeli man. Next, we check out the newest outpost of Israeli chef Eyal Shani's pita empire, Miznon, here in New York, and chat with Shani over his world famous cauliflower pita. We also chat with Israeli singer and activist Yael Deckelbaum, whos...
Apr 19, 2018•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 132
This week on Unorthodox, a crossover episode! We're joined by Joshua Malina and Hrishikesh Hirway, hosts of The West Wing Weekly podcast, an episode-by-episode discussion of one of television's most beloved shows. Malina, who played Will Bailey on The West Wing, currently stars in Scandal, which will air its series finale later this month. Hirway, a musician and composer, is the creator and host of the Song Exploder podcast. We talk about revisiting the glory days of early aughts TV programming,...
Apr 05, 2018•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 131
Download your free copy of the Unorthodox Haggadah! This week on Unorthodox, everything you ever wanted to know about Passover. We answer listener questions, writer Roya Hakakian tells us about Persian Passover traditions, including scallion whipping at the Seder, and producer Josh Kross’s mother-in-law Elsie Apfelbaum shares the magic of Mimouna, the Moroccan festival celebrating the end of Passover (with some help from Josh’s daughter Stella). Jay Miah tells the story of how his father worked ...
Mar 29, 2018•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 130
Proof that Jews don't control the weather? Our live show was cancelled due to snow in the New York area. But thanks to a pre-Passover miracle we were able to record an interview with our gentile of the week, Bart Campolo, in producer Josh Kross' living room. (With everyone's kids, since school was cancelled.) Bart Campolo is evangelical Christian royalty—his father, Tony Campolo, is one of the most well-known leaders of the evangelical left—and became a believer himself as a teenager. He spent t...
Mar 26, 2018•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 129
Our Jewish guest this week is Leah Sarna, a student at Yeshivat Maharat, the first yeshiva to ordain women as Orthodox Jewish clergy. She explains the institutional conflict over female ordination in the Orthodox community and tells us what her role will be at an Orthodox congregation in Chicago after graduation —and what title she’ll go by. Our Gentile of the week is writer Lauren Oyler, who tells us why honest cultural criticism is more important than ever, and recommends some books for our li...
Mar 15, 2018•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 128
Be part of our next Ask Unorthodox episode, airing during Passover. Send us your burning questions about Jewish ritual, culture, or traditions by March 9. Email them to [email protected] or leave us a message at 914-570-4869. Our first guest is Israeli food writer and tv personality Gil Hovav, whose new memoir, Candies from Heaven, is about growing up in Jerusalem in a close-knit family (and not just any family: Hovav's great grandfather is Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, who revived the modern Hebre...
Mar 08, 2018•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 127
This week, we're getting our grogger on for Purim. Returning to the show is film critic Jordan Hoffman, who preps us for the Oscars this weekend and offers his picks for the big winners. We're also joined by former FBI counterintelligence agent Asha Rangappa, now a CNN analyst an senior lecturer at Yale, who tells us how being an FBI agent is not what it looks like on TV. Be part of our next Ask Unorthodox episode, airing during Passover. Send us your burning questions about the holiday, or real...
Mar 01, 2018•59 min•Ep. 126
Our Jewish guest is Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal, whose new Netflix series 'Somebody Feed Phil' chronicles his eating adventures around the word. He tells about the episode filmed in Tel Aviv—with cameos from chefs Michael Solomonov and Uri Buri—and why he thinks food is such a unifying force. Our gentile of the week is June Thomas, managing producer of Slate podcasts and one of the hosts of the Double X Gabfest. She explains why podcast hosts like talking to other podcast host...
Feb 22, 2018•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 124
We're bringing you a special treat in our feed, a taste of our sister podcast, Israel Story. First, we talk to the creator of Israel Story, and then we share one of our favorite episodes, King of the Hill. From the top of Tell El-Ful, an abandoned hilltop in East Jerusalem, you can see all the way from Amman to Tel Aviv, from Jerusalem to Ramallah. And you can also travel back and forth in time, moving between the biblical King Saul and the bearded King Hussein. Along the way, we'll hear tales o...
Feb 19, 2018•1 hr 14 min
This week, we talk to writer Molly Lambert, who shares the story of her grandmother Margaret Bergmann Lambert , a German-Jewish high jumper barred from the 1936 Olympics. We're also joined by Annette Ezekiel Kogan and Jeremy Brown of Golem, the klezmer-rock band behind our theme music. They perform a few favorites for us, including 7:40, a song based on the "Hava Nagilah of Russia." But wait, there's more! We visited the Harlem Hebrew Language Academy Charter School, a diverse dual-language elem...
Feb 15, 2018•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 124
Recorded live at at the Limmud Festival, an international celebration of Jewish learning and culture, in Birmingham, U.K. over Christmas. Mark hosted the show with writer and challah maven Sarah Klegman. Our guests are Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, a vocalist, composer, and arranger specializing in Yiddish art and folk song, and Gabby Edlin, the founder of Bloody Good Period, which provides sanitary supplies to asylum seekers, refugees & those who can't afford them. Tablet is conducting a read...
Feb 08, 2018•49 min•Ep. 123
Our guest this week is Tova Mirvis, whose memoir, The Book of Separation, tells the story of her decision to leave Modern Orthodox Judaism, a world she recreated vividly for readers in the novels Visible City, The Outside World, and The Ladies Auxiliary. Our next live show is Wednesday, March 21 at the JCC Manhattan. Tickets here. Want more Unorthodox in your life? Join our Facebook group to chat with the hosts and see what happens behind-the-scenes! We love hearing from our listeners. Email us ...
Feb 01, 2018•48 min•Ep. 122
This week's episode was recorded at the Manhattan JCC. Our Jewish guest is comedian and actor Judy Gold, host of the podcast Kill Me Now. Our gentile of the week is Father James Martin, Jesuit priest and editor at large of America magazine. Missed the live show? Join us Tuesday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. for an intimate, off-the-record chat with Rabbi Sara Luria at Beloved in Brooklyn. Tickets here. Want more Unorthodox in your life? Join our Facebook group to chat with the hosts and see what happens be...
Jan 29, 2018•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 121
This week, we've got something a little different for you. In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan 27, we sat down with Sandy Myers and Desiree Nazarian of Selfhelp Community Services, an organization that provides assistance to Holocaust survivors in need in the New York area. There are thousands of survivors living in the New York area today, and they have very particular emotional and physical needs as they age. You can read more about the work of the organization—and how t...
Jan 25, 2018•18 min
Come see us live at the Manhattan JCC on Wednesday, Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m., with special guests comedian Judy Gold and Father James Martin! More info and tickets here. And on Tuesday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m., we’ll be joining Rabbi Sara Luria for an intimate, off-the-record chat at Beloved in Brooklyn. Tickets here. This week on Unorthodox, Mark calls up Roy Moore's 'Jewish lawyer,' and Stephanie sits down with Jeffrey Masters, host of the podcast LGBTQ&A, which documents stories of the LGBTQ community....
Jan 18, 2018•1 hr 13 min
We have two upcoming events! A live recording at JCC Manhattan on 1/24 (tickets here), and a intimate, off-the-record schmooze with the hosts at Beloved in Brooklyn on 1/30 (tickets here). Plus, we're looking for a new producer—maybe that person is... you? This week, Mark sits down with Rabbi Joseph Hample of the Tree of Life Congregation in Morgantown, West Virginia. We're also joined by musicians David Chevan and Warren Byrd of the Afro-Semitic Experience, who tell us about fusing Jewish and A...
Jan 11, 2018•1 hr 18 min
We'll be recording live at the Manhattan JCC on Wednesday 1/24 at with special guests Judy Gold and Father James Martin! Get your tickets here. This week on Unorthodox, we respond to your questions on everything from Jewish pregnancy superstitions to what to read and watch while converting to Judaism. Plus we dive into the great tin foil vs. plastic baggie debate. Want more Unorthodox in your life? Join our Facebook group to chat with the hosts and see what happens behind-the-scenes! And sign up...
Dec 28, 2017•33 min
We'll be recording live in NYC on 1/24 with comedian Judy Gold and Father James Martin! Buy your tickets here. This week: Everything you ever wanted to know about nose jobs, and their particular prominence in American Jewish life. Tablet editor-in-chief Alana Newhouse and executive editor Wayne Hoffman discuss their personal experiences with rhinoplasty. Plastic surgeon Jonathan Kaplan, founder of price transparency platform BuildMyBod, breaks down exactly what happens during a nose job, and exp...
Dec 21, 2017•1 hr 17 min
Hey J.Crew! A little bonus content for you this Monday afternoon: Unorthodox host Mark Oppenheimer published an op-ed in The New York Times earlier this year about our aversion to using the word 'Jew,' as opposed to 'Jewish.' On Wednesday, he appeared on WNYC's 'On the Media' with Brooke Gladstone to discuss these ideas in the context of Kayla Moore's recent controversial remarks about the Moores' Jewish attorney. Give a listen, and, as always, let us know what you think at unorthodox@tabletmag....
Dec 18, 2017•24 min
We'll be recording live at the Manhattan JCC on Wednesday, January 24 at 7:30 p.m. with special guests comedian Judy Gold and Father James Martin! Buy tickets here. Our Jewish guest this week is writer Jordana Horn Gordon, who returns to discuss her Hanukkah gifting strategy as the mother of six children. Our gentile of the week is journalist and religion scholar Reza Aslan, who tells us about his latest book, God: A Human History. Want more Unorthodox in your life? Join our Facebook group to ch...
Dec 14, 2017•1 hr 20 min
This week we're coming to you live from Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City! Our next live show will take place on January 24 at JCC Manhattan, with Father James Martin and comedian Judy Gold. Get your tickets here! Our Jewish guest is food writer Mark Bittman, who just released the tenth anniversary edition of How To Cook Everything Vegetarian. He talked to us about the link between agriculture and global warming, and why Americans need to eat more real food. (But despite that, he still...
Dec 08, 2017•1 hr 1 min
This week on Unorthodox: Beauty pageant diplomacy, Gal Gadot's Mossad mix-up, and so much more. Our gentile of the week is Noreen Malone, New York magazine features editor and DoubleX Gabfest panelist. She tells us about growing up Catholic in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Shaker Heights, her powerful 2015 cover story on 35 of Bill Cosby's accusers, and asks whether it's ever okay to call someone "jappy." Our Jewish guest this week is feminist author, speaker, and psychologist Phyllis Chesl...
Nov 30, 2017•56 min
Our Jewish guest this week is Lani Santo, the executive director of Footsteps, a New York-based organization dedicated to helping formerly-Orthodox Jews establish new lives outside the insular communities in which they were raised. We discuss the new Netflix documentary ‘One of Us,’ which follows the lives of three Footsteps members. Our gentile of the week is Richard F. Thomas, Harvard Classics professor and author of the new book Why Bob Dylan Matters, which explores the literary themes linkin...
Nov 27, 2017•1 hr 6 min
This week on Unorthodox, we can't be tamed. Our Jewish guest is Eddy Portnoy, senior researcher and director of exhibitions at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, whose new book is Bad Rabbi: And Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press. He tells us how he stumbled upon these colorful, less-remembered characters and tales—so many of which seem to involve Jews rioting—and why it's important for a community to examine the good with the bad to truly know its history. Our gentile of...
Nov 16, 2017•55 min
