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This week on Unorthodox, we’re very literally all over the place.

First, we bring you News of the Jews from our live show earlier this week at the Valley of the Sun JCC in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona. Then we call Wall Street Journal reporter Louise Radnofsky to figure out why so many figure skaters perform to the Schindler’s List theme song.

Stephanie sits down with Sarah Hurwitz, a former speechwriter for Michelle Obama and the author of the new book Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life—in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There). She tells us about rediscovering and embracing Judaism while working in the White House, how she’s using the skills she honed as a speechwriter to make Judaism more accessible, and the advice she has for people who want to make Jewish practice a bigger part of their life but aren’t sure how to do so.

Our Gentile of the Week is Jackson Crawford, a professor of Old Norse mythology, who chatted with Mark while we were in Denver last month. He tells us about translating Norse poetry, bringing an ancient world to life through his YouTube channel, and the strange conspiracy theories circulating about him on the internet.

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 15 – New Haven, Connecticut: Brunch and book talk with all three hosts

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, NJ: Book talk with Stephanie & Liel

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

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

March 12, 2020 – Boca Raton, FL: 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:

Soom Foods makes delicious tahini products that are dairy-free, nut-free, gluten-free, and certified kosher. Try the pantry sampler, which includes their tahini, chocolate sweet tahini halva spread, and silan date syrup. Head to soomfoods.com and use code UNORTHODOX to get 15 percent off your order.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 bookstoreHarry’s limited-edition holiday sets are the perfect gift this season. Get $5 off any shave set when you go to Harrys.com/UNORTHODOX. (Free shipping through Dec. 16.)

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

This week on Unorthodox, we’re kicking off December with three very festive interviews.

First up, designer Jonathan Adler and his husband, three–time Unorthodox guest Simon Doonan. Jonathan tells us about growing up with a one-room shul-house in rural southern New Jersey and how he developed his love for pottery and ceramics at summer camp. Simon talks about his new book, Drag: The Complete Story, and explains how Barbra Streisand became an icon in the drag world and in gay culture more broadly.

Next up is Stephen Schragis, whose One Day University offers continuing education experiences across the country. He offers his theories on why Jews love learning for learning’s sake (or at least sign up so frequently for his courses), and tells us about the time he got Donald Trump to lecture to a group of 30,000 people.

Finally we check in with our favorite food blogger and TV personality, Molly Yeh, who tells us about her upcoming latke-filled Food Network special, Ultimate Hanukkah Challenge, which premieres Saturday, December 21. (Listen to Molly’s previous Unorthodox appearances here.)

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 5 – Port Washington, New York: Book talk

December 6-7 – Encinitas, California: An Unorthodox Shabbat and Unorthodox live show

December 9 – Phoenix: Unorthodox live show

December 15 – New Haven, Connecticut: Brunch and book talk

December 19 – St. Louis: Book talk

January 8, 2020 – Westport, Connecticut: Book talk

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:

Our world needs more healing, and our tradition needs more caring and committed leaders. 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 on January 15, 2020.

Soom Foods makes delicious tahini products that are dairy-free, nut-free, gluten-free, and certified kosher. Try the pantry sampler, which includes their tahini, chocolate sweet tahini halva spread, and silan date syrup. Head to soomfoods.com and use code UNORTHODOX to get 15 percent off your order.

Adeena Sussman’s Israeli cookbook Sababa is the perfect Hanukkah gift for the foodie in your life. Named a best Fall 2019 cookbook by The New York Times and Bon Appetit, Sababa shares the vibrant flavors of Israeli home cooking. Get a copy of Sababa online or at your favorite bookstore.

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

Live from Detroit with Jackie Victor of Avalon International Breads and Phil Goldsmith of New York Bagel, plus a road trip to Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, MI

We talked carbohydrates and community on stage at the JCC of Metro Detroit with two Jewish guests who run Detroit institutions: Jackie Victor, CEO and co-founder of Avalon International Breads, and Phil Goldsmith, fourth-generation owner of New York Bagel.

Jackie tells us about opening a bakery in downtown Detroit in the 1990s (much to the surprise of her family and the realtor), and how that bakery continues to champion sustainability and community even as it’s become the largest bread distributor in the area. Phil tells us about taking over the family business, which was founded in Detroit by great-grandfather Morris Goldsmith in 1921, explains how chains like Panera and Einstein Bros Bagels have changed the landscape of bagel-making throughout America (he recently added blueberry bagels to the menu), and clues us into what a ‘dogel’ is (you can buy them online!).

Since that wasn’t enough food for us, the next morning we made a pilgrimage to Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, MI. We ate sandwiches and rugelach and sat down with owner Ari Weinzweig, who told us about the surprising Jewish anarchist roots of his iconic deli (his latest book is a pamphlet called Going into Business with Emma Goldman), his favorite menu offerings, and the upcoming Zingerman’s Food Tours trip to Israel.

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 5 – Port Washington, New York: Book talk

December 6-7 – Encinitas, California: An Unorthodox Shabbat and Unorthodox live show

December 9 – Phoenix: Unorthodox live show

December 15 – New Haven, Connecticut: Brunch and book talk

December 19 – St. Louis: Book event

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.

For more information about the Jewish Star contest, visit JewishRockRadio.com.

This episode is brought to you by Harry’s. Get a free trial shave set when you sign up at Harrys.com/Unorthodox.

This episode is also sponsored by J. Press. Get 15 percent off your first order when you use the code Unorthodox15 at jpressonline.com or in one of their retail stores in New Haven, New York, or Washington, D.C. Offer good through Dec. 24, 2019.

Looking for the perfect Hanukkah gift for the foodie in your life? Get them Adeena Sussman’s new Israeli cookbook, Sababa. Named a best Fall 2019 cookbook by The New York Times and Bon Appetit, Sababa shares the vibrant flavors of Israeli home cooking. Get a copy of Sababa online or at your favorite bookstore.

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

This week on Unorthodox, we’re coming to you from, well, all over the place. First, we check in on our hosts to see what was up when they were in Cincinnati this past weekend, and we even get some news fresh from Cincinnati’s Jewish newspaper, The American Israelite.

Our first Jewish guests are Mike Solomonov and Steve Cook, co-owners of the James Beard award-winning restaurant Zahav and several other Philadelphia mainstays. We visited them at Zahav and talked about what makes the place so special, what “Israeli” food really is, and how food will be the key to future diplomacy. They also share recipes from their cookbooks, Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking and Israeli Soul: Easy, Essential, Delicious.

Our Second interview is with writer and Parsha in Progress podcast host Abigail Pogrebin. We talk about her journey from unaffiliated Jew to active synagogue member and author of several books about Judaism, including Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish and My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew. She also tells us how her journey lead to creating the Tablet podcast Parsha in Progress a 10 minute look into each week’s Torah portion, which she hosts alongside Rabbi Dov Linzer.

Come see us on tour!

November 21 – New York: Book talk

November 22 – New York: Shabbat book talk

December 5 – Port Washington, New York: Book talk

December 6-7 – Encinitas, California: An Unorthodox Shabbat and Unorthodox live show

December 9 – Phoenix: Unorthodox live show

December 15 – New Haven, CT: Brunch and book talk

December 17 –  New York: Stephanie talks to the team behind Hadassah’s podcast The Branch, Dina Kraft and Josh Kross

December 19 – St. Louis: Book event

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.

Email us at [email protected] 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 and join our Facebook group. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here.

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

This week on Unorthodox, we’re coming to you from Temple Beth El in Stamford, CT. Our Jewish guest is Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author of more than 15 books, including the recently updated and reissued Words that Hurt, Words that Heal. Rabbi Telushkin tells us about the most common types of questions he fields as a rabbi, why he’s so interested in Jewish laws of ethical speech, and what he learned from the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Our gentile of the week is Farooq Kathwari, CEO of the Ethan Allen furniture company and author of Trailblazer: From the Mountains of Kashmir to the Summit of Global Business and Beyond. He tells us about his childhood in Kashmir, his interfaith work on the Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council, and and why it feels perfectly right to be an immigrant at the helm of a famous furniture company named after a Revolutionary War hero.

Come see us on tour!

November 14 – Margate, New Jersey: Book talk

November 17 – Cincinnati: Unorthodox live show

November 20 – Dresher, Pennsylvania: Book talk

November 21 – New York: Book talk

November 22 – New York: Shabbat book talk

December 5 – Port Washington, New York: Book talk

December 6-7 – Encinitas, California: An Unorthodox Shabbat and Unorthodox live show

December 9 – Phoenix: Unorthodox live show

December 15 – New Haven, CT: Brunch and book talk

December 19 – St. Louis: Book event

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.

Email us at [email protected] 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 and join our Facebook group. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here.

Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you by Harry’s. Get a free trial shave set when you sign up at Harrys.com/Unorthodox.

Get ready for Thanksgiving with KOL Foods. Go to kolfoods.com and use the code UNORTHODOX to receive a 10 percent discount on your next order.

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

We’re taking this week off, but we wanted to bring you an unedited look into a conversation Mark was desperate to set up between two of his friends, Liel Leibovitz and Jay Michaelson.  These are two Jews who are very in sync in some ways, but extremely different in others.  Come explore with them as they talk about some of the most important issues we’re all facing.

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

This week on Unorthodox, comedian Nick Kroll returns to the show to talk about 'Big Mouth,' his raunchy Netflix animated show about puberty, now in its third season. He tells us about hosting Purim talent shows with 'Big Mouth' co-creator Andrew Goldberg at their Jewish day school in Westchester, NY, explains how his own adolescent experiences influenced the show, and shares his bar mitzvah horror story.

Our Gentile of the Week is Sarah Blake, author of the novel The Guest Book, which tells the story of the uber-WASPy Milton family over three generations, centered around the island in Maine that the family bought during the Depression. She tells us how the story was modeled on elements of her own upbringing, describes how the few Jewish characters who appear throughout the book ultimately change the course of the Milton dynasty, and speaks candidly about what it's like to be a WASP in 2019 America.

Come see us on tour! Copies of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia will be sold and signed at each event:

November 2 – Detroit, MI: Unorthodox live show

November 3 – Detroit, MI: Panel event

November 4 – Denver, CO: Book talk and Unorthodox live show

November 6 – Houston, Texas: Jewish Book Fair signing and teen event

November 14 – Margate, NJ: Book talk

November 17 – Cincinnati, OH: Unorthodox live show

November 20 – Dresher, PA: Book talk

November 21 – New York, NY: Book talk

November 22 – New York, NY: Shabbat book talk

December 5 – Port Washington, NY: Book talk

December 7-8 – Encinitas, CA: An Unorthodox Shabbat and Unorthodox live show

December 9 – Phoenix, AZ: Unorthodox live show

December 19 – St. Louis, MO: Book event

Like the book? Leave us a review! (Amazon or Goodreads).

Email us at [email protected] or leave a message at our listener line: 914-570-4869.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies at bit.ly/unorthoshirt.

This episode is also sponsored by J. Press. Get 15 percent off your first order when you use discount code Unorthodox15 at jpressonline.com or in one of their retail stores in New Haven, New York, or Washington, D.C. Offer good through December 24, 2019.

Get ready for Thanksgiving with KOL Foods. Go to kolfoods.com and use the code UNORTHODOX to receive a 10 percent discount on your next order. Order before November 3, 2019 and you can get $1 off per pound on all whole turkeys with the KOL Foods Thanksgiving Early bird sale.

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

This week on Unorthodox, we're marking the one-year anniversary of the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, which occurred on October 27, 2019. Two days after the shooting, we aired a special episode recorded from Pittsburgh, featuring voices from the community. This year we're revisiting the horror of the massacre and checking in with local Pittsburgh Jews about their reflections one year later.

We talk to Pittsburgh-based writer Beth Kissileff, who explains Jewish notions of vengeance and offers her thoughts on the appropriate punishment for the murderer. Mark, who has been reporting a book about the shooting for the past year, shares audio from his interviews with Andrea Wedner, daughter of Rose Malinger, one of the victims, Andrea's husband Ron Wedner, and Joe Charny.Sending our love to the Pittsburgh Jewish community, today and always.

Get your copy of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia, our brand new guide to all things Jewish (and Jew-ish), here [https://workman.com/products/the-newish-jewish-encyclopedia]. Leave us a review! (Amazon or Goodreads).

Email us at [email protected] or leave a message at our listener line: 914-570-4869.

See us on tour! Liel Leibovitz will be at Arts Matter Shabbat in Boston, MA on October 25 at 6 p.m. (details here), and Stephanie Butnick will be at the Jewish Book Festival in Tampa, FL, on October 29 at 7 p.m. (details here).

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies at bit.ly/unorthoshirt.

This episode is sponsored by the fine haberdashery, J. Press. Head to jpressonline.com and use code Unorthodox15 for 15% of your first order through November. You can even use the code in one of their three retail stores in New Haven, New York, or Washington, D.C.

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

This week on Unorthodox, we're celebrating all the Jewish holidays, including reaching our 200th episode! We talk to a gematria expert to find out just what the number 200 symbolizes in Jewish numerology, and hear some words of wisdom from our boss, Alana Newhouse.

Our first guest is Jodi Kantor, co-author of the new book 'She Said,' which details the allegations of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein first reported on by Jodi and Megan Twohey in the New York Times in 2017. She talks to Stephanie about the process of reporting such a complex story, first for the New York Times and then for this book, and the roles that people like Jill Kargman and Gwyneth Paltrow played throughout the process. She also explains why the Weinstein story is fundamentally not a Jewish story, despite the fact that several of the main characters, including Weinstein, are Jewish.

Then Liel sits down with Peter Pomerantsev, author of 'This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality,' to discuss how the Internet is enabling autocratic rulers from Russia to the Phillipines to create disinformation on a massive scale, and how too much access to information can be as hazardous to democracy as not enough.

Get your copy of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia, our brand new guide to all things Jewish (and Jew-ish), here [https://workman.com/products/the-newish-jewish-encyclopedia]. Leave us a review! (Amazon or Goodreads).

Email us at [email protected] or leave a message at our listener line: 914-570-4869.

See us on tour! Liel Leibovitz will be at Arts Matter Shabbat in Boston, MA on October 25 at 6 p.m. (details here), and Stephanie Butnick will be at the Jewish Book Festival in Tampa, FL, on October 29 at 7 p.m. (details here).

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies at bit.ly/unorthoshirt.

This episode is sponsored by the fine haberdashery, J. Press. Head to jpressonline.com and use code Unorthodox15 for 15% of your first order through November. You can even use the code in one of their three retail stores in New Haven, New York, or Washington, D.C.

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

This week on Unorthodox, a special live show recorded at the San Francisco JCC. We’re joined by guest host Bari Weiss, New York Times opinion editor and writer and the author of How to Fight Anti-Semitism [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/616727/how-to-fight-anti-semitism-by-bari-weiss/].

We also talk to New Yorker writer Andrew Marantz, author of the new book Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/562022/antisocial-by-andrew-marantz/9780525522263].

Get your copy of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia, our brand new guide to all things Jewish (and Jew-ish), here [https://workman.com/products/the-newish-jewish-encyclopedia]. Leave us a review! (Amazon or Goodreads).

Email us at [email protected] or leave a message at our listener line: 914-570-4869.

See us on tour! Liel Leibovitz will be at Arts Matter Shabbat in Boston, MA on October 25 at 6 p.m. (details here), and Stephanie Butnick will be at the Jewish Book Festival in Tampa, FL, on October 29 at 7 p.m. (details here).

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies at bit.ly/unorthoshirt.

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