Unorthodox

Passover has always offered solace and meaning during difficult times. This year's Seder looks very different from all other Seders, and we've got you covered. This episode walks you through the steps of the Seder, with special guests, perfect-for-Passover music, and more. Our guide is Tablet's new Passover Haggadah: An Ancient Story for Modern Times, which you can still order online on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. A digital version is available at bit.ly/tablethaggadahdigital. Tell us how you're making this year's Passover Seder special. Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Our tour events for April 2020 have been postponed. Stay tuned for updates on rescheduled dates, and join our Facebook group to see much more of us, virtually, in the coming weeks. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here. Sponsors: In this time of anxiety,

Producer Josh Kross goes deep into the Facebook group to make another Havdalah service to bring a little light into your Saturday night social distancing. If you want to keep these minisodes going, we’d love for you to rate Unorthodox on iTunes and set up a recurring donation—we suggest $5/month, which is to say one fancy coffee a month—at tabletmag.com/donate And, as always, if you want to keep up with all things Unorthodox, join our Facebook group here! Shalom, friends. Stay well.

On today’s Unorthodox dispatch, Liel prepares for a much-needed Shabbat with a joke by Columbia University professor Jeremy Dauber, an expert on Jewish humor, as well as a couple songs by Avi Wisnia, and a few timely words of wisdom from this week's parsha. Avi Wisnia is an award-winning singer, songwriter, storyteller and educator based in Philadelphia. For more information visit www.aviwisnia.com or find him on social media @aviwisnia You can also stream and download all music at aviwisnia.bandcamp.com If you want to keep these minisodes going, we’d love for you to rate Unorthodox on iTunes and set up a recurring donation—we suggest $5/month, which is to say one fancy coffee a month—at tabletmag.com/donate And, as always, if you want to keep up with all things Unorthodox, join our Facebook group here! Shalom, friends. Stay well.

This week on Unorthodox, the hosts catch up from their home studios and discuss the latest News of the Jews in this strange new world. Actor and writer Jesse Eisenberg returns to the show to discuss his two new movies out this week, Resistance and Vivarium. He tells us about playing a young Marcel Marceau saving Jewish children in France during the Holocaust in Resistance, and how Coronavirus shutdowns are affecting the movie industry. (You can watch Resistance on Video on Demand starting March 27.) We’re going to continue dropping mini episodes in addition to our weekly Thursday episodes, so watch your podcast feeds for more (and subscribe on iTunes). Our tour events for March and April 2020 have been postponed. Stay tuned for updates on rescheduled dates, and join our Facebook group to see much more of us, virtually, in the coming weeks. Let us know what you think of the show! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes

Producer Josh Kross does another impromptu Havdalah service to bring a little light into your Saturday night social distancing. If you want to keep these minisodes going, we’d love for you to rate Unorthodox on iTunes and set up a recurring donation—we suggest $5/month, which is to say one fancy coffee a month—at tabletmag.com/donate And, as always, if you want to keep up with all things Unorthodox, join our Facebook group here! Shalom, friends. Stay well.

On today’s Unorthodox dispatch, Liel prepares for a much-needed Shabbat with a joke by Columbia University professor Jeremy Dauber, an expert on Jewish humor, as well as a song by the Jewbador, Jim Knable, and a few timely words of wisdom from this week's parsha. If you want to keep these minisodes going, we’d love for you to rate Unorthodox on iTunes and set up a recurring donation—we suggest $5/month, which is to say one fancy coffee a month—at tabletmag.com/donate And, as always, if you want to keep up with all things Unorthodox, join our Facebook group here! Shalom, friends. Stay well.

This week, our hosts are connecting via Zoom conference to discuss their new remote realities and read a lot of listener mail. We also hear from Tablet writer Yair Rosenberg, who composed and recorded an album of original modern melodies for traditional Jewish songs (listen to the first single, a Mumford and Sons-esque “Shalom Aleichem,” here). We’re going to continue dropping mini episodes in addition to our weekly Thursday episodes, so watch your podcast feeds for more (and subscribe on iTunes). Our tour events for March and April 2020 have been postponed. Stay tuned for updates on rescheduled dates, and join our Facebook group to see much more of us, virtually, in the coming weeks. Let us know what you think of the show! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here. Sponsors: The Great Cours

On today’s Unorthodox dispatch, producer Sara Fredman Aeder shares an audio diary recorded over the last week as her family has been living under quarantine in Westchester, NY. If you want to keep these minisodes going, we’d love for you to rate Unorthodox on iTunes and set up a recurring donation—we suggest $5/month, which is to say one fancy coffee a month—at tabletmag.com/donate And, as always, if you want to keep up with all things Unorthodox, join our Facebook group here! Shalom, friends. Stay well.

On today’s Unorthodox dispatch, we’re talking to Tablet’s book critic Adam Kirsch about what to read now that you might have a bit more time on your hands. If you want to keep these minisodes going, we’d love for you to rate Unorthodox on iTunes and set up a recurring donation—we suggest $5/month, which is to say one fancy coffee a month—at tabletmag.com/donate. And, as always, if you want to keep up with all things Unorthodox, join our Facebook group here! Shalom, friends. Stay well. 

On the latest Unorthodox COVID-19 minisode, Mark pulls his daughter Klara, age nine, into his basement studio, where she offers reflections on how real-life self-quarantine differs from the good times she’d come to expect from the scarlet-fever chapter in Sydney Taylor’s classic children’s novel. Also, Mark reflects on attending twins’ double bat mitzvah on Shabbat morning ... despite all the shul closings around the country. With music from Coma Svensson. If you want to keep these minisodes going, we’s love for you to rate Unorthodox on iTunes and set up a recurring donation—we suggest $5/month, which is to say one gourmet coffee a month—at tabletmag.com/donate. And, as always, if you want to keep up with all things Unorthodox, join our Facebook group here! Shalom, friends. Stay well.

Unorthodox producer Josh Kross tries to bring some light at the end of Shabbat with some help from our Facebook group and Stephanie's talk with Swipe Out Hunger's Rachel Sumekh about her organization's response to COVID-19.

While the world is quarantining and canceling around us, we decided to bring you all a little Shabbat light.

This week, it’s coronavirus vs. Purim, with a quarantine update from one of our producers. Our Jewish guest is Wall Street Journal sports reporter Ben Cohen, who joins us to discuss his new book, The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks. The last of the host’s spouses to appear on the show, Ben tells us about his deep dive into the world of patterns, probability, and statistics, plus the many Israeli psychologists he encountered in his research, and, of course, life with Cat Stevens. Our Gentile of the Week is Mo Rocca, who returns to the show to discuss his new book Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving, an outgrowth of his podcast of the same name. He tells us why he was inspired to dig through history to discover quirky and overlooked life stories, and what he learned about humanity along the way. Our tour events for March 2020 have been postponed. Stay tuned for more information about livestream offerings and rescheduled dates. Let us know what you think of the show! Email us at Unorthodox@t

This week, we’re getting into the festive Purim spirit. Our first guest is fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi, who tells us about growing up gay in Brooklyn’s Syrian Jewish community, how his years at Yeshiva at Flatbush instilled in him a strong work ethic, and getting his first taste of high fashion at synagogue. For more from Isaac, check out his memoir, I.M. (You can read Adam Kirsch’s review for Tablet here.) Next Stephanie talks to Simi Polonsky and Chaya Chanin, the sisters behind The Frock NYC, which offers high end, unique, modest clothing. They tell us about growing up Orthodox in Australia and bristling against the restrictive clothing conventions of their religious community, and explain why they believe being modest and fashionable aren’t mutually exclusive. Finally Rabbi Ari Lamm returns to the show to offer a truly unexpected take on the Purim story. Let us know what you think of the show. Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Come see us on tour! March 12 –

 This week on Unorthodox: Jewish royal watching, Belgian parades, and more. Liel speaks with Harvard professor emeritus Ruth Wisse about the reissue of her book Jews and Power. She shares her theory about how the impulse to want to be a mensch might be leaving Jews defenseless, why she thinks the Holocaust is being mistaught in American schools, and more. Our Gentile of the Week is Antonia Eliason, an associate professor of law at the University of Mississippi who is running for U.S. Congress as a democratic socialist. She tells us what democratic socialism means, why she thinks her campaign has a shot in a red state, and gives us a bit of background on Jews and socialism. Her Gentile of the Week question is about Tisha B’Av today. Let us know what you think of the show. Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Come see us on tour! March 2 – New York, NY: Stephanie in conversation with Matti Friedman @ 92Y March 6 – Amherst, Massachusetts: Stephanie @ Yiddish Book Center M

This week we’re bringing you two interviews from our live show at the Valley of the Sun JCC in Phoenix, Arizona. First up, we get a double shot of rabbinical wisdom from Pinchas Allouche, the founding rabbi of Congregation Beth Tefillah, and Shmuly Yanklowitz, the president & dean of Valley Beit Midrash. They each share the story of their unlikely journey towards becoming a rabbi, and explain how they’re trying to make Judaism accessible to all sorts of Jews today. Our Gentile of the Week is NBA Hall-of-Fame player Paul Westphal. Westphal won an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in 1974 and coached the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals in 1993. He tells us about his love of Israel, and brings the hosts one of the thorniest Gentile of the Week questions ever. We also have a special treat: Mark and Stephanie’s appearance on Liel’s other podcast, Take One. Let us know what you think of the show! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Come see us on tour! Feb. 20 – New Y

This week, we’re celebrating secular Tu B’Av, aka Valentine’s Day. The creator of stars of Soon By You, the popular web series that’s basically ‘Friends’ with modern Orthodox Jews, return to the show to update us on their latest season, deciding to take on controversial issues like LGBT dating in the religious world, and what it’s like to write and star in a show about singles now that they’re married. Next, very few things leave all three of us speechless, but this update from contributor Hal Karp truly blew us away. We hope you enjoy listening. And finally, Cantorial student Jacob Sandler joins us to teach us how to bring more life info synagogue services, and leads us in a rousing rendition of “Adon Olam,” set to a Backstreet Boys song. Let us know what you think of the show! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Come see us on tour! Feb. 20 –New York City: Stephanie in conversation with authors Goldie Goldbloom and Abby Chava Stein Feb. 26 – Naples, Florida: Book talk

This week, we’re putting more truth on the wheel. First, Mark talks to Mark Galli, who until recently was the editor in chief of evangelical magazine Christianity Today. Just before retiring he published a highly controversial editorial arguing that President Trump should be removed from office. He describes the fallout from the article, and shares his thoughts about where evangelical Christians stand politically and culturally today. Then we welcome back film critic Jordan Hoffman, who tells us about the Jewish films, actors, and directors to look out for at this Sunday’s Academy Awards, and gives us his Oscars predictions. Let us know what you think of the show! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Come see us on tour! Feb. 6 – Scotch Plains, New Jersey: Book talk with Stephanie Feb. 9 – Wyomissing, Pennsylvania: Book talk with Mark Feb. 11– New York City: Stephanie moderating Q&A following ‘Latter Day Jew’ screening Feb. 20 –New York City: Stephanie in conversation

This week, presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg are leaning into their Jewishness (see here and here), and we’re here to analyze their efforts. Our Jewish guest is Andrew Rehfeld, the new president of Hebrew Union College, the Reform movement’s rabbinic and educational training ground. He tells us how the institution is adapting to face the challenges of the 21st century, targeting three areas: strengthening Jewish education, Jewish engagement, and Jewish identity; as he puts it, “the knowing, the doing, and the being of Jewish.” He also explains the history and theology of Reform Judaism, and shares where he sees the movement today and going forward. Our Gentile of the Week is Ed Gaskin, a devout Christian who started attending Shabbat services following the Tree of Life shooting in October 2018, to show solidarity with the Jewish community. He’s attended all but four weekly Shabbat services since. He tells us what he’s learned from a year at Temple Beth Elohim in Boston, as well as som

This week, we learn how to complain better. Our first guest is Amy Fish, the ombudsman for Concordia University in Montreal and the author of I Wanted Fries with That: How to Ask for What You Want and Get What You Need. She tells us what she learned working as “chief complaints officer” for a university (and before that a Jewish nursing home!), and shares a few simple tricks to help us all better ask for what we want—and get it. Then, Mark sits down with Carolyn Karcher, professor emerita at Temple University and the editor of Reclaiming Judaism from Zionism, a collection featuring 40 rabbis, activists, and writers. She explains how she came to oppose Zionism, and how she sees anti-Zionism functioning within the Jewish community today. Let us know what you think of the show: email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Come see us on tour! Jan 26 – New York: Stephanie in conversation with David G. Marwell, author of Mengele: Unmasking the Angel of Death Feb. 6 – Scotch Plains,