Tablet Studios

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 [email protected] 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 with Stephanie and Mark

March 6 – Amherst, Massachusetts: Stephanie @ Yiddish Book Center

March 12 – Boca Raton, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel

March 17 – Long Island, New York: Book talk with Stephanie

March 19 – Virginia Beach, Virginia: Unorthodox live show

Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more.

Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram and join our Facebook group.

Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here.

Sponsors:

Send your kids to a Jewish camp this summer! More than 180,000 campers and college-age counselors use the Foundation for Jewish Camp website to find their camp every summer. Go to onehappycamper.org/unorthodox and find the right camp for you.

Get ready for Purim with an order of delicious tahini products from Soom Foods. Head to soomfoods.com and use the code UNORTHODOX to receive 15 percent off your order. Try the pantry sampler, which includes their tahini, chocolate sweet tahini halva spread, and silan date syrup.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 [email protected] 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 with Stephanie and Mark

March 6 – Amherst, Massachusetts: Stephanie @ Yiddish Book Center

March 12 – Boca Raton, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel

March 17 – Long Island, New York: Book talk with Stephanie

March 19 – Virginia Beach, Virginia: Unorthodox live show

Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more.

Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram and join our Facebook group.

Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here.

Sponsors:

Send your kids to a Jewish camp this summer! More than 180,000 campers and college-age counselors use the Foundation for Jewish Camp website to find their camp every summer. Go to onehappycamper.org/unorthodox and find the right camp for you.

This episode is also sponsored by Harry's. New customers get $5 off any shave set with a 5-blade razor, weighted handle, foaming shave gel with aloe, and a travel cover when they go to Harrys.com/UNORTHODOX.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 [email protected] 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 with authors Goldie Goldbloom and Abby Chava Stein

Feb. 26 – Naples, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Mark

March 6 – Amherst, Massachusetts: Stephanie @ Yiddish Book Center

March 12 – Boca Raton, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel

March 17 – Long Island, New York: Book talk with Stephanie

March 19 – Virginia Beach, Virginia: Unorthodox live show

Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more.

Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram and join our Facebook group.

Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here.

Sponsors:

Send your kids to a Jewish camp this summer! More than 180,000 campers and college-age counselors use the Foundation for Jewish Camp website to find their camp every summer. Go to one happycamper.org/unorthodox and find the right camp for you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 some of the questions he’s received about his undertaking, both from Jewish congregants and his Christian friends.

Let us know what you think of the show: Email us at [email protected] or leave a message at 914-570-4869.

Come see us on tour!

Feb. 6 – Scotch Plains, NJ: Book talk with Stephanie

Feb. 9 – Wyomissing, PA: Book talk with Mark

Feb. 11– New York, NY: Stephanie moderating Q&A following ‘Latter Day Jew’ screening

Feb. 20 –New York, NY:

Stephanie in conversation with authors Goldie Goldbloom and Abby Chava Stein

Feb. 26 – Naples, FL: Book talk with Stephanie and Mark

March 6 – Amherst, MA: Stephanie @ Yiddish Book Center

March 12 – Boca Raton, FL: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel

March 17 – Long Island, NY: Book talk with Stephanie

March 19 – Virginia Beach, VA: Unorthodox live show

Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more.

Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram and join our Facebook group.

Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here.

Sponsors:

“Those Who Were There” is a podcast presented by the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University. The Fortunoff Archive holds more than 4,400 testimonies recorded in over a dozen countries, and the first season of the podcast features 10 episodes drawn from the archive. In every episode, a survivor or witness shares their own story. For more visit fortunoff.library.yale.edu/podcast

The Yiddish Book Center’s Great Jewish Books Summer Program brings rising high school juniors and seniors together to read and discuss modern Jewish literature, study with outstanding professors, and meet published authors. Every participant receives a scholarship for the full cost of tuition, room, board, books, and special events. Learn more and apply at www.yiddishbookcenter.org/greatjewishbooks

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 [email protected] 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, New Jersey: Book talk with Stephanie

Feb. 9 – Wyomissing, Pennsylvania: Book talk with Mark

Feb. 26 – Naples, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Mark

March 12 – Boca Raton, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel

Copies of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia will be sold and signed at each event. Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more.

Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram and join our Facebook group.

Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here

This episode is sponsored by a new podcast called Those Who Were There, presented by the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University. The Fortunoff Archive holds more than 4,400 testimonies recorded in over a dozen countries, and the first season of the podcast features 10 episodes drawn from the archive. In every episode, a survivor or witness shares their own story. For more visit http://fortunoff.library.yale.edu/podcast

This episode is also sponsored by Harry's. New customers get $5 off any shave set with a 5-blade razor, weighted handle, foaming shave gel with aloe, and a travel cover when they go to Harrys.com/UNORTHODOX.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Unorthodox: Three Jews, infinite opinions.

First, Mark sits down with Yiscah Smith, a Jewish educator, spiritual activist, and author. Yiscah discussed her journey as a trans woman and teacher of Torah; her documentary, I Was Not Born a Mistake will be shown at the New York Jewish Film Festival on Tuesday, January 21. More info here.

Our next guest is Danny Dayan, Israel’s Consul General in New York. Liel spoke with him about the communities he’s prioritized outreach to, the challenge he faces in getting Israeli and American Jews to understand each other, and his solutions to that challenge.

And finally, Mark speaks with Dr. Carol Gilligan, feminist activist and NYU professor, about anti-Semitism and the Women’s March, which takes place this weekend across the country.

Let us know what you think of the show: email us at [email protected] or leave a message at 914-570-4869.

Come see us on tour!

Jan. 8, 2020 – Westport, Connecticut: Book talk with Mark and Liel

Jan. 10, 2020 — Fountain Valley, CA: Book talk with Stephanie

Feb. 6, 2020 – Scotch Plains, New Jersey: Book talk with Stephanie & Liel

Feb. 9, 2020 – Wyomissing, Pennsylvania: Book talk with Mark and Liel

Feb. 26, 2020 – Naples, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Mark

March 12, 2020 – Boca Raton, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel

Copies of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia will be sold and signed at each event. Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more.

Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram and join our Facebook group.

Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here

Do you know a high school student who wants to deepen their engagement with Judaism? Nominate them today for the Maimonides Scholars Program, where they’ll debate and discuss Jewish thought, Zionism, philosophy, and politics at Yale University over two weeks in the summer of 2020. The application closes on January 27, so nominate a student today at maimonidesscholars.org/Unorthodox

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unorthodox is off this week, so instead we're introducing you to Take One, the new Daf Yomi podcast from Tablet Magazine hosted by our own Liel Leibovitz.

As Jews around the world begin a new seven-and-a-half year cycle of Daf Yomi, reading the entire Talmud one page per day, Tablet Magazine's new podcast, Take One, will offer a brief and evocative daily read of the daf. We launch the cycle with a brief introduction to the Talmud at large before diving into the text with Tractate Berakhot, page 2, and a meditation on the meaning of time, why you might want to think twice before you Netflix and chill, and how all these rabbinic strictures can help us make sense of our modern, messy lives.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re starting 2020 with our favorite combo: Talmud and food.

First, Adam Kirsch reflects on completing the seven-year cycle of Daf Yomi, the practice of reading one page of Talmud each day, which he chronicled in a column for Tablet. He tells us what he learned as a reader and literary critic from this intense textual undertaking, plus how his life has changed in the seven years since he started. He also makes the case that more Jews should take on Daf Yomi, if only to better understand what our ancestors were up to, and offers some tips for beginners.

Then we sit down with the Seattle-based food writer and podcaster Rachel Belle, host of “Your Last Meal.” She tells us about asking people like Isaac Mizrahi, Rainn Wilson, and William Shatner what their last meal on earth would be, and dishes about how food ties into her Jewish identity. Then she asks the hosts what their last meals would be, in a beshert-cross-podcast segment airing on her show as well.

Let us know what you think of the show: email us at [email protected] or leave a message at 914-570-4869.

Come see us on tour!

Jan. 8, 2020 – Westport, Connecticut: Book talk with Mark and Liel

Jan. 10, 2020 — Fountain Valley, CA: Book talk with Stephanie

Feb. 6, 2020 – Scotch Plains, New Jersey: Book talk with Stephanie & Liel

Feb. 9, 2020 – Wyomissing, Pennsylvania: Book talk with Mark and Liel

Feb. 26, 2020 – Naples, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Mark

March 12, 2020 – Boca Raton, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel

Copies of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia will be sold and signed at each event. Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more.

Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram and join our Facebook group.

Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here.

Sponsors:

Do you know a high school student who wants to deepen theirengagement with Judaism? Nominate them for the Maimonides Scholars Program, where they’ll debate and discuss Jewish thought, Zionism, philosophy, and politics at Yale University over two weeks in the summer of 2020. The application closes on January 27, so nominate a student today at maimonidesscholars.org/Unorthodox.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we’re coming to you live from Denver’s JCC Mizel Arts and Culture Center as part of the 12th annual Neustadt Jewish Arts, Authors, Movies, and Music Festival.

Our Jewish guest is Sue Salinger, director of the Denver region of Hazon, the environmental organization working to strengthen Jewish life and contribute to a more environmentally sustainable world. She tells us what Jewish tradition teaches us about farming and sustainability, what makes Denver’s Jewish community unique, and why Judaism calls us to act against climate change.

Our Gentile of the week is Michael Johnston, a teacher and politician who served as the Colorado State Senator from the 33rd district from 2009 to 2017, and is currently a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2020. He tells us about the culture shock of leaving Vail, CO to attend Yale University, explains how his work as a teacher got him interested in politics, and weighs in on the 2020 Democratic primary.

And finally, a musical tribute on the eve of Leonard Cohen’s third yahrzeit from Eve Ilsen, a storyteller, singer, and psychotherapist. She was ordained as a rabbinic pastor of the Aleph Alliance for Jewish Renewal, by her late husband, Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.

Let us know what you think of the show: email us at [email protected] or leave a message at 914-570-4869.

Come see us on tour!

Dec. 19 – St. Louis: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel

Jan. 8, 2020 – Westport, Connecticut: Book talk with Mark and Liel

Jan. 10, 2020 — Fountain Valley, CA: Book talk with Stephanie

Feb. 6, 2020 – Scotch Plains, New Jersey: Book talk with Stephanie & Liel

Feb. 9, 2020 – Wyomissing, Pennsylvania: Book talk with Mark and Liel

Feb. 26, 2020 – Naples, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Mark

March 12, 2020 – Boca Raton, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel

Copies of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia will be sold and signed at each event. Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more.

Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram and join our Facebook group.

Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here.

Sponsors:

Sony Pictures Classics presents The Song of Names, a new film from Francois Girard starring Tim Roth and Clive Owen, and featuring a score by two-time Academy Award winner Howard Shore. When a Jewish music prodigy disappears, a childhood friend starts an obsessive search that spans over two continents and a half century. The Song of Names opens in New York and Los Angeles on December 25th and comes to a theatre near you this January.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York-area listeners: Enter to win a spot at our first-ever Unorthodox Shabbat dinner, January 3rd at the Freehand New York.

This week on Unorthodox, we’re getting into the Hanukkah spirit. 

But first, a discussion of the terrifying anti-Semitic shooting at a Jersey City kosher market that killed four people.

Then, Rabbi Ari Lamm explains the real story of Hanukkah, which is less about oil and miracles and more about Jews battling each other over assimilation.

And since the holiday season is synonymous with movies, we talk to Clive Owen and Howard Shore, the star and composer of The Song of Names, which opens in theaters on Christmas. The film, based on the novel of the same name by Norman Lebrecht, features Owen as a Hasidic violin prodigy.

We also chat with Rabbi Daniel Cohen of Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange, NJ, about how he incorporates the latest technology into his work.

Let us know what you think of the show: email us at [email protected] or leave a message at 914-570-4869.

Come see us on tour!

December 19 – St. Louis: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel

January 8, 2020 – Westport, Connecticut: Book talk with Mark and Liel

February 6, 2020 – Scotch Plains, New Jersey: Book talk with Stephanie & Liel

February 9, 2020 – Wyomissing, Pennsylvania: Book talk with Mark and Liel

February 26, 2020 – Naples, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Mark

March 12, 2020 – Boca Raton, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel

Copies of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia will be sold and signed at each event. Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more.

Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram and join our Facebook group.

Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here.

Sponsors:

Hebrew College’s vibrant and pluralistic community trains aspiring rabbis, cantors, and educational leaders. Learn more at hebrewcollege.edu/explore. Applications for Fall 2020 are due January 15, 2020.

Adeena Sussman’s cookbook Sababa shares the vibrant flavors of Israeli home cooking, and makes a great Hanukkah gift for the foodie in your life. Get a copy of Sababa online or at your favorite bookstore

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices