This week, we’re putting the pieces together. Our Jewish guest is A.J. Jacobs, whose new book [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/622520/the-puzzler-by-aj-jacobs/] is The Puzzler: One Man’s Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, From Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life. He explains why puzzles are such a useful way to see the world, tries to stump us with some Jewish riddles, and tells us what it’s like to appear as a New York Times Crossword clue. Listen to A.J.’s previou...
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 315
Today we’re sharing a special weekly edition of Kylie Unell’s new podcast miniseries, 49 Days to Stretch My Soul. Kylie is putting her own spin on the Jewish tradition of counting the Omer—the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot—with a daily practice that includes everything from exploring the lyrics of Steven Sondheim, interviewing a ballet dancer, immersing herself in nature, and more. This first week is all about Chesed, or Lovingkindness.
Apr 24, 2022•54 min
This week, we’re grabbing our passports. First we talk to Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman about their off-Broadway musical Harmony, which tells the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, a trailblazing troupe of Jewish-and-gentile entertainers in 1920s Germany. Professor Andy Markovits joins us to discuss his new memoir, The Passport as Home: Comfort in Rootlessness, about what he learned growing up as a Jew in Romania and Vienna before emigrating to the United States, and why he’s chosen to emb...
Apr 21, 2022•54 min•Ep. 314
We're excited to share a brand new Tablet Studios podcast hosted by our friend Kylie Unell. You might remember Kylie's spiritual journey in the lead-up to the High Holidays last year on "How to Fix a Soul in 30 Days". Now, Kylie is back with another show for another holiday season. The Jewish tradition of counting the Omer, or Sefirat Haomer, marks the 49 days between the second night of Passover and the start of Shavuot, and offers daily opportunities for spiritual challenge and growth. Kylie i...
Apr 15, 2022•11 min
This week we’re sharing a special bonus episode to accompany your pre-Passover prep. You heard musician Josh Warshawsky sing the order of the Seder on last week’s Passover episode, proving that even the Haggadah's table of contents offers musical inspiration. Today we’re airing Mark’s interview with Warshawsky, in which the rabbi and song leader discusses the various melodies of the Haggadah and takes us on a song-filled journey from start to finish. We love to hear from you! Send us your emails...
Apr 14, 2022•28 min
This week on Unorthodox, we’re digging into Passover traditions. Stephanie Butnick rids her home of chametz, or leavened bread, with a legalistic assist from producer Robert Scaramuccia. Featuring Rivkah Slonim. Liel Leibovitz explores the tradition of Jewish first-born sons fasting before Passover, which takes him in some unexpected literary directions. Featuring Erica Brown and Andre Aciman. Producer Josh Kross interrogates the Wicked Child archetype, with the help of his teenage son. Featurin...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 313
This week on Unorthodox, we’re calling the lox-smith. Our Jew of the Week is Massachusetts State Senator Eric Lesser, who worked for the Obama campaign and administration and helped bring the first Seder to the White House. He’s now running for Lieutenant Governor, and he joins us for some Western Massachusetts Jewish geography and Friendly’s reminiscences. Then we share a segment from our producer Quinn Waller. She’s converting to Judaism, and with her first Passover coming up, she’s getting in...
Mar 31, 2022•57 min•Ep. 312
This week on Unorthodox, we’re all connected. Our Jewish guest is Julie Platt, the new chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, and the mother of some very talented Jewish children. She tells us about the work JFNA is doing to help Jews in Ukraine, and shares her theories on why so many Camp Ramah alums end up on Broadway, her sons included. Our Gentile of the Week is Father Thomas Soroka, an Eastern Orthodox priest at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Pittsburgh. He’s one of the faith le...
Mar 24, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 311
This week on Unorthodox, we’re throwing a party. Our Jewish guest this week is Judith Rosenbaum, CEO of the Jewish Women’s Archive, who joins us to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the bat mitzvah in America. We talk about the first girl to be become a bat mitzvah, in 1922, plus what bat mitzvahs have meant for Jewish girls and women in the intervening century . We also speak with Debbie Haback, who co-wrote the 1986 Preppy Handbook parody, The Jewish American Princess Handbook. Plus, we hear ...
Mar 17, 2022•56 min•Ep. 310
This week on Unorthodox, we’re doing the Wordle. Evan Jacobson is a TikTok saxophone sensation. You might have seen his viral series where he adds sax solos to “songs that don’t need them.” We got him to compose sax solos to such cultural Jewish anthems as "Sunrise, Sunset" and Jeff Buckley’s cover of "Hallelujah." Shawn Setaro is a writer and podcaster, who created and hosted The Cipher, a hip-hop podcast produced by Unorthodox's own Josh Kross. He talks with us about his new book, Dummy Boy: T...
Mar 10, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 309
This week on Unorthodox, we’re getting jiggy with it. Our Jewish guest is Lenny Solomon, frontman of the Jewish rock band Shlock Rock. He talks with us about what it takes to create a great parody song, the role of humor in music, and accounting. You can donate to his fundraiser for his musical, Daniel in Babylon, here. Our Gentile of the Week is professor and writer Devoney Looser, who teaches us about Jane Austen and roller derby, and the surprising ways in which these two subjects intersect. ...
Mar 03, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 308
This week on Unorthodox, we’re lifting off. This week we’re doing things a little differently. With the situation in Ukraine heating up, two Tablet writers offer their perspective. Vladislav Davidzon talks to us from the ground in Kyiv and Armin Rosen takes us to Uman for the annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. We love to hear from you! Send us your emails and voice memos at [email protected], or leave a voicemail at our listener line: (914) 570-4869....
Feb 24, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 307
This week on Unorthodox, we’re ordering gazpacho for the table. Our Jewish guest this week is Tablet’s very own Wayne Hoffman, whose new book is The End of Her: Racing Against Alzheimers to Solve a Murder. He talks with us about family legends, coming to terms with his mother’s decline, and the morass of memory. We’re giving away a few free copies of Wayne’s book on our Instagram and Facebook accounts. We’ve got events coming up! Thursday, April 7 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll be doing a live show...
Feb 17, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 306
This week on Unorthodox, we’re throwing it back. Our Gentile of the week is writer Chuck Klosterman, whose new book is The Nineties. He tells us why the 90s were the last real decade, plus what it’s like to earnestly promote a book about an era when apathy reigned supreme. We, on the other hand, are happy to be commercial sellouts—we’re giving away copies of The Nineties on our Instagram and Facebook accounts. We love to hear from you! Send us your emails and voice memos at unorthodox@tabletmag....
Feb 10, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 305
This week on Unorthodox, we’re all self-upgrading to business class. Our Jewish guest is investigative journalist Carl Bernstein, of Watergate team Woodward and Bernstein, whose new memoir is Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom. Our Gentile of the Week is The Great British Baking Show semi-finalist Jürgen Krauss, who won our hearts with his Passover plava recipe on Season 9. Krauss, who isn’t Jewish himself but is married to a Jewish woman and raising a Jewish family, tells us about represent...
Feb 03, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 304
This week on Unorthodox, we’re bringing you a conversation with Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker of Temple Beth Israel in Colleyville, TX, who was held hostage along with three congregants during a Shabbat service two weeks ago Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Join our Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our recording sessions on our YouTube channel! Check out The Tab, Tablet magazine's new printable ...
Jan 27, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 303
This week, we’re reflecting on the rabbi and three congregants held hostage at a Texas synagogue last Saturday. We’re also sharing an interview with Mark Podwal, an artist who has illustrated for the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Times —and who has a day job as a dermatologist. He tells us how his art, rich with Jewish themes and imagery, is his expression of his Jewish identity Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Join our Facebook group, and follow Un...
Jan 20, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 302
This week on Unorthodox, more Israel-related animal conspiracy theories. Before she was Liz Lange, our Jewish guest was Liz Steinberg, niece of corporate raider Saul Steinberg. She tells the story of her family’s spectacular rise and eventual fall in the new podcast, “The Just Enough Family.” Our Gentile of the Week is Delvyn Case, a Christian composer who has written a cantata about the binding of Isaac, based on his reading of one rabbi's midrash that suggests that Abraham actually killed Isaa...
Jan 13, 2022•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 301
This week, we’re celebrating a major milestone: 300 episodes. That’s more than 18,000 minutes of tape over six years, featuring thousands of News of the Jews items, hundreds of amazing Jews and Gentiles of the Week, and way too many jokes about Belgium. We’ve been through a lot together, J-Crew. There was the Saran Wrap vs. tin foil fight, the debate over backing into parking spaces, and endless discussions of what activities might accurately be categorized as “Jewish.” We’ve shared stories of c...
Dec 30, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 300
This week on Unorthodox, we’re drinking the eggnog and going all in on Christmas. Did you know your favorite Christmas song was probably written by a Jew? Marc Tracy returns to the show to shed light on the surprising history of Jewish songwriters and Christmas music, and shares a list of the 10 best Christmas songs written by Jews. It wouldn’t be a bunch of Jews talking about a holiday—even one that isn’t our own—without a serious discussion of food. Jewish cookbook author and New York Times Co...
Dec 23, 2021•42 min•Ep. 299
This week on Unorthodox, we’re diving deeper into the cream cheese shortage. Our first guest is Dorothy Kalins, cookbook writer and former editor in chief of Saveur magazine. Liel talks to her about her new book, “The Kitchen Whisperers: Cooking with the Wisdom of Our Friends.” Then Liel sits down with retired Harvard professor Ruth Wisse, whose new memoir is “Free Like a Jew: A Personal Memoir of National Self-Liberation.” Our 300th episode is coming up this month, and we want you to be part of...
Dec 16, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 298
This week on Unorthodox, we’re prepping for the great cream cheese shortage of 5782. First we call up friend of the show Joshua Malina, who wrote an impassioned essay in the Atlantic asking why, after such a public history of antisemitism, Mel Gibson is still getting work in Hollywood. Then we talk to Yonit Levi, Israel’s Channel 12 evening news anchor, who recently launched the podcast Unholy with The Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland. Our Gentile of the Week is University of Oregon professor Annel...
Dec 09, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 297
This week on Unorthodox, we really can’t stop talking about Hanukkah—read our op-ed all about it in the Washington Post. First we talk to actress Sarah Podemski, who stars on the new FX on Hulu show Reservation Dogs. She tells us about her “Anishinaabe/Ashkenazi” heritage and growing up in Toronto’s Jewish community, plus her experience working with an all-Indigenous cast and creative team on Reservation Dogs. Then Liel has a candid conversation with New York Times columnist Ross Douthat about h...
Dec 02, 2021•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 296
Stacy Keach joins Liel to discuss his upcoming presentation of the play "Vienna," created by Stacy Keach Zoom Theater (SKZ). The show begins airing on YouTube on Sunday, November 28, and will be available through Wednesday, December 1. Admission is free. Donations are welcome to benefit The Actors Fund of America. To access the production, visit stacykeachzoomtheater.com.
Nov 26, 2021•13 min
Unorthodox is off this week for Thanksgiving, but we're bringing you "Pigging Out," an episode from our friends at Israel Story: "Not once, but twice, does the Bible admonish us to abstain from eating the flesh of the pig. And though there are many other animals we are commanded to avoid, the pig has—over the centuries—become the quintessential symbol of all that is unkosher, impure, and morally reprehensible. But was that always the case? In an episode that starts in prehistoric times and ends ...
Nov 25, 2021•1 hr 10 min
This week on Unorthodox, it’s beginning to look a lot like Hanukkah! The Festival of Lights starts Sunday, Nov. 28, and we could think of no better way to kick off a holiday about the triumph of Jewish observance over assimilation than with a special episode featuring some amazing Jews whose work celebrates Jewish culture and identity. Comedian and proud Jew Judy Gold—aka @jewdygold—joins us to discuss embracing her Jewishness on stage and off, and lighting Hanukkah candles in hotel rooms as she...
Nov 18, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 295
This week on Unorthodox, are we ready for a Better Bagel? Our guest is novelist Alice McDermott, whose latest book is What About the Baby? Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction. She tells us about her 1998 National Book Award-winning novel, Charming Billy, as well as her Catholic faith, relationship with the church, and what she misses now that she’s no longer teaching. Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation at bit.ly/givetounorthodox. Send comme...
Nov 11, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 294
This week on Unorthodox, our national nightmare is over: Stephanie returns to the show! We talk to comedian Alex Edelman, whose new one-man show, “Just For Us,” is about the time he infiltrated a white supremacist gathering. Edelman, who was raised Orthodox, tells us about starting to wrap tefillin again during the pandemic, his work on Saturday Night Seder, and why some Jewish comedians miss the mark for him. “Just For Us” runs Dec. 1-19 at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York. Then we visit She...
Nov 04, 2021•57 min•Ep. 293
Three years after the Tree of Life synagogue shooting that killed 11 Jews, we return to Pittsburgh with a special episode based on Mark Oppenheimer's reporting for his new book, Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood. You’ll hear from the local high schoolers who planned the Saturday night vigil that drew thousands of people, from the Pulitzer-winning editor of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette explaining how he conceived the paper's famous Hebrew-language fr...
Oct 28, 2021•44 min•Ep. 292
This week on Unorthodox, former guest Gavriel Savit joins us for a spooktacular Halloween episode. We talk about the Jewishness of Dune, William Shatner’s mission to the moon, why some religious Jews don’t celebrate Halloween, and more. Our Jewish guest is actor, author, and substance abuse counselor Stacey Nelkin, who starred in the 1982 film Halloween III: Season of the Witch. She joins us to reminisce about the critically panned cult classic. Our Gentile of the week is Carrie Harris, a fictio...
Oct 21, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 291
