Chosen People Problems

The girls welcome Yehoshua (Jason) Bedrick, fellow at the Heritage Foundation's Center for Education Policy, and the man who literally WROTE THE BOOK on Yeshivas vs. New York. What follows is a friendly sparring over religious liberty, school choice, the importance of the English language, and swinging chickens around your head for spite. 

Follow Jason on Twitter @JasonBedrick

Read his book Religious Liberty and Education 

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It's a back to school special! Today we talk about the trauma inflicted by Sesame Street (spanning continents and age groups), Chaya Leah's business idea for a fat-person only gym, the holy site to all religions that is Target, and some podcast recommendations that will make you smarter. Plus, did Covid kill swinging? Also, what is swinging? 

At some point of course we get serious (not too serious, but a little) and talk about how Yael's relationship to Judaism has changed since meeting Chaya Leah, why seculars feel embarrassed by religious Jews, and why hugging is amazing even though the torah doesn't like it when y'all touch each other.

Book recommendation: 

The Source

Podcast recommendations: find them on: https://askajew.substack.com/

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Today we welcome national security correspondent, journalist and podcaster Eli Lake. Since we have such an esteemed guest with us, we spend plenty of time talking about reality tv, hot members of congress, and circumcisions. But also: why are people so obsessed with Israel, the ortho-woke, Salman Rushdie, Trump vs. Netanyahu, Kanye West, Zen and the art of dodging missiles, getting high in the bible, and much much more...

Check out The Re-Education with Eli Lake

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In this episode of AAJ the girls go real deep on being confident and dealing with their shortcomings, all while blaming their moms (and the Holocaust) for their problems. They also discuss Yael's bday party that you weren't invited to, ChayaLeah's obsession with a Mormon family on Instagram, why Yael refuses to be saved by a podiatrist, and of course, cats that look like Hitler.

Movie Rec: The Little Dictator 

Book rec: The Hitler Haggadah 

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Yael and Chaya Leah debate the hot issues of the day, from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to something happening to someone in China? (We weren't really paying attention).

Also: how we define our Judaism (surprisingly the girls have very different answers for this), the best and worst airports, Chaya Leah gets fat-shamed by an (anti-semitic) TSA dog, Yael pulls off a major international smuggling operation at the age of 14, and much much more!

Book recommendation: Spies of No Country, by Matti Friedman.

Broadway recommendation: MJ the Musical (It's amazing. Don't @ me.)

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Chaya Leah and Yael welcome parenting guru and "America's Worst Mom", Lenore Skenazy. We talk about how to let your child grow freely (whatever the opposite of helicopter parenting is), deadly laundry baskets, anxious parents, and crappy kids. We talk about the importance of play, take some questions about screen time, and how parents and kids can slowly learn how to chill. This is a great conversation even if you don't have kids!

Lenore  is the president of Let Grow, the nonpartisan nonprofit promoting childhood independence and resilience. A reporter by trade – including 14 years at The New York Daily News -- Lenore came to prominence/infamy after her newspaper column “Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone” landed her on The Today Show, MSNBC, Fox News and NPR. Allowing her son that unsupervised trip garnered  her the nickname “America’s Worst Mom.” She went on to write Free-Range Kids, the book-turned-movement claiming “Our kids are safer and smarter than our culture gives them credit for.” The book’s second edition just came out this summer, with a forward by Let Grow co-founder Jonathan Haidt. (And his wife! And daughter!) Lenore has been profiled in The New Yorker, lectured everywhere from Disney to DreamWorks to the Bulgarian Happiness Festival (a real thing). And you may have seen her reality show, World’s Worst Mom.

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Your two favorite Jews and backup Jew Nancy Rommelmann are back to talk about everything but abortions!

We start with a historical overview of the hotness of First Ladies, a certain Israeli first lady's fondness for cases of pink champagne (I mean, who amongst us?), the royal family, getting older (related), gardening (super related) and Jews surviving in the wild in Peru (the Jews are related to the host).

Also:

* The Holocaust weight loss challenge

* Bodega guy - friend or bro? A crisis communications disaster.

* USA! USA! USA!

* Stealing silverware from a country club.

* Traveling during Covid is a human right.

* Working out in the heat is a human right's violation.

* Check out friend Meghan Daum's and future friend Sarah Haider's new podcast, A Special Place in Hell 

Happy Anniversary to Chaya Leah and Baruch, the world's most patient British Orthodox Jew.

Make sure to check out Nancy's podcast with Sara Hepola, "Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em" 

And Nancy's writings at Make More Pie 

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Chaya Leah manages to ruin Yael's surprise birthday party within the first 5 minutes of the episode. Yael talks about her vegan vacation in Northern Israel, and the girls discuss the Queen's birthday (like, *the* queen, not Yael), our giant fanbase in Kuwait, a listener question about Jewish quibbles over the letters S and T (as in Shabbas vs. Shabbat), new Hebrew words that just dropped, Yiddish is so hot right now, Starbucks makes America great, and even a talmudic take on Amber Heard and Johnny Depp (what is this, May 2022?).

If you like Ask a Jew, please consider rating us on Apple Podcasts so we can grow. If you really like it, share with your friends in a mass email (people love those). If you adore us, give us money. But the sharing thing is more important.Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack!

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