A Bintel Brief

This episode features a letter from “Richer or Poorer,” a listener wondering whether she can consider a man who earns much less than she does as a potential life partner. The episode features advice from Bintel, perspective from the past via the Forward’s archivist, Chana Pollack, and a special visit from Rabbi Georgette Kennebrae, a financial adviser.

This episode features a letter from “Sick & Tired,” a COVID-cautious listener who contracted the virus at a family reunion from a relative who appears to have a more cavalier attitude toward the pandemic. She asks how to handle the resentment she feels toward the relative. The episode features advice from Bintel, perspective from the past via the Forward’s archivist, Chana Pollack, and a special visit from Alison M. Buttenheim, a professor of nursing and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania who designs and tests inventions to change behaviors to curb the spread of infectious diseases.

This episode features a letter from “No Dice,” a listener in high school who is wondering whether or not to cut ties with her friends who had her enact a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid during a Dungeons & Dragons game. The episode features advice from Bintel, perspective from the past via the Forward’s archivist, Chana Pollack, and a special visit from Susan McCarthy and Marjorie Ingall, co-creators of the website SorryWatch.com, which tracks apologies in the news.

Bintel is on break this week, but we'll be back soon!

This episode features a letter from “Unbrotherly Love,” a listener who wonders whether he should attend a wedding at which he would meet a half-brother his father had through an affair. The episode features advice from Bintel and perspective from the past via the Forward’s archivist, Chana Pollack.

Bintel is on break this week, but we'll be back soon!

This episode features a letter from “Grumpy Gifter,” a listener fed up with the “wedding-and-baby-etiquette industrial complex.” She asks whether she can opt out of the compulsory gift-giving that social norms mandate without offending her community. The episode features advice from Bintel, perspective from the past via the Forward’s archivist, Chana Pollack, and a special visit from Aviva Calmer, founder of the Adventure School.

In this episode, Bintel helps “On the Fence,” a man writing with a moral quandary set in his town’s competitive real estate market. Lynn and Ginna advise, joined as usual by the Forward’s archivist, Chana Pollack. Plus, hear ethics tips from a friendly real estate agent and Talmudic wisdom from Rabbi Paul Arberman.

Last season, Bintel dispensed wisdom to Heartbroken Bubbe, who wrote to express concern that her grandchild, growing up in a mixed-faith household, might not receive sufficient Jewish influence. The letter garnered strong reactions in our listeners. This episode, Ginna and Lynn share and expound on some of those responses. Our regular featured guest, Chana Pollack, returns, as does a special guest: Heartbroken Bubbe herself, who reflects on what she’s learned.

In the first episode of Bintel’s much-anticipated second season, Ginna and Lynn help a listener distressed by a friend’s dismissive comments about the Holocaust. Chana Pollack, the Forward’s archivist, and Boaz Dvir, Founder and Director of the Holocaust Education Initiative, weigh in.