Tablet Studios

This week on Unorthodox, we're all about 5778. Our guest this week is Rabbi Shai Held, president and dean of the continuing education institute Mechon Hadar, and the author of The Heart of Torah, a new two-volume book of essays about each weekly Torah portion. He tells us why he dreaded tackling Leviticus but learned the most from it, explains why he's optimistic about the future of Judaism, and gives us some useful advice for the new year.

Come see us live on October 25 at the Manhattan JCC! Get your tickets here.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, behind-the-scenes photos, and more! And email us at [email protected]—we’ll share our favorite notes on-air.

Follow us on Twitter: @tabletmag, @markopp1, @liel, and @stuffism.

This episode is brought to you by Harry’s! Get a free trial shave set (including razor handle, blades, and gel) valued at $13 when you sign up at Harrys.com/Unorthodox.

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This week, we're all about atonement. For our third annual apology episode, we're joined by University of Nebraska–Lincoln professor Ari Kohen, who explains what makes an apology truly bad (and why he stopped blogging about apologies). Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor turned clemency advocate, tells us about the personal journey behind his career change. Vanessa Zoltan, host of the podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, returns with a true story about a family apology that didn’t quite take. We also share your letters about Yom Kippur atonement, and offer our own apologies. (You can listen to our previous Yom Kippur episodes here and here!)

Want to come to an Unorthodox taping IRL? (Of course you do!) Our next live show will be recorded in New York on October 25—tickets and info right here.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, behind-the-scenes photos, and more! And email us at [email protected]—we’ll share our favorite notes on-air.

Follow us on Twitter: @tabletmag, @markopp1, @liel, and @stuffism.

This episode is brought to you by Harry’s! Get a free trial shave set (including razor handle, blades, and gel) valued at $13 when you sign up at Harrys.com/Unorthodox.

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

This week on Unorthodox: We recap the Butnick-Cohen nuptials (mazel tov!), Liel has a big reveal, and our guests wrestle with complicated legacies—both personal and political.

Our first Jewish guest is Annabelle Gurwitch, the author of Wherever You Go, There They Are, a funny, wise memoir about the families we’re born into—and the families we choose. She talks about growing up with a fabulist father, becoming a drug mule for her elderly mother, her colorful Southern Jewish clan, and the various tribes she’s joined over the years in her quest for belonging.

Our gentile of the week, director Dylan Kussman, comes with a bonus Jewish guest—actor/writer Aaron Davidman. They’re the creative duo behind Wrestling Jerusalem, a new film adaptation of Davidman’s one-man play that explores the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the lens of 17 characters from a range of religious, political, and ethnic backgrounds. Kussman explains what attracted him to a story about one of the world’s most controversial conflicts, and Davidman tells us how he recovers from his marathon stage performances. Wrestling Jerusalem is showing at Symphony Space in New York City through September 17.

We love hearing from you! Email us at [email protected]—we’ll share our favorite notes on-air.

Follow us on Twitter: @tabletmag, @markopp1, @liel, and @stuffism.

This episode is brought to you by Harry’s. Get a free trial shave set (including razor handle, blades, and gel) valued at $13 when you sign up at Harrys.com/Unorthodox.

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

This episode is brought to you by the letter A, for ally.

Our Jewish guest is Brooke Kroeger, author of The Suffragents: How Women Used Men to Get the Vote. She tells us about the men whose support helped women get the vote, and what those of us who want to be allies to marginalized communities today should learn from their efforts. Our gentile of the week is German-Danish historian Thorsten Wagner, the academic director of FASPE: Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics, which sends law, medical, journalism, and business school students on specialized trips to Germany and Poland. He tells us why the FASPE programs deliberately focus on perpetrators and enablers, not victims, and weighs in on the current U.S. debate over monuments and memorials.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, behind-the-scenes photos, and more! Email us at [email protected]—we may read your note on air.

Follow us on Twitter: @tabletmag, @markopp1, @liel, and @stuffism.

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If you love listening to Unorthodox, please make a donation before our fundraising drive ends next week!

This week: Everything you ever wanted to know about Jewish weddings.

Author Anita Diamant tells us about The Jewish Wedding Now, her newly updated guide to planning a meaningful Jewish celebration. Roberta Grossman, director of the documentary Hava Nagila (The Movie) explains how the catchy Hebrew folk song became a staple at Jewish weddings. Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie of New York’s Lab/Shul explains his recent decision to leave the rabbinic arm of the Conservative movement over its prohibition on performing interfaith weddings. Bat Sheva Marcus, clinical director of Maze Women’s Health and co-host of the Joy of Text podcast, tells us about the importance of communication for maintaining a healthy sex life, as newlyweds and beyond. And finally, Bridesmaid for Hire Jen Glantz explains why she decided to turn a much-maligned obligation into a profession.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, behind-the-scenes photos, and more! Email us at [email protected]—we may read your note on air.

Follow us on Twitter: @tabletmag, @markopp1, @liel, and @stuffism.

This episode is brought to you by Harry’s. Get a free trial shave set, valued at $13, when you sign up at harrys.com/unorthodox.

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

If you love listening to Unorthodox every week, please consider donating to keep us going for another hundred episodes. We put together a bunch of fun gifts, from tote bags to studio visits to an exclusive Sept. 6 cocktail party in New York City with Mark, Liel, and Stephanie.

Our Jewish guest is linguist Sarah Bunin Benor, an expert in Jewish languages and the author of Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism, an in-depth study of American Jewish language. She breaks down the linguistic 'tells' of Orthodox Jews, explains how religious Jews often code switch depending on their audience, and describes her experience as a non-Orthodox Jew immersing herself in Orthodox homes and communities for research.

Our gentile of the week is architect and card-carrying WASP Duo Dickinson, who returns to the show to tell us about his forthcoming book, A Home Called New England. He also tells us what it's like being a white Christian male in America today, especially one who loves football, and poses an interesting question: Are week-long summer trips to Vermont essentially Birthright for WASPS?

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, behind-the-scenes photos, and more! Email us at [email protected]—we may read your note on air.

Follow us on Twitter: @tabletmag, @markopp1, @liel and @stuffism.

This episode is brought to you by Jewish Lives, biographies that illuminate the Jewish experience. Visit JewishLives.org to get 25 percent off all books and curated collections with the code JLBOOKS.

Music:

"Mikveh Bath" by Golem

"C.R.E.A.M." by Wu-Tang Clan

"A Duo" by James Horner, from the film An American Tail

"F Minor Klezmer" by The Underscore Orkestra

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If you love listening to Unorthodox every week, please consider making a donation to keep us going for another hundred episodes. We put together a bunch of fun gifts for donors, from tote bags to studio visits to a cocktail party with Mark, Liel, and Stephanie.

We’re #blessed with three Jewish guests this week: Leah Gottfried, Jessica Schechter, and Danny Hoffman, the team behind the popular web series 'Soon By You,' which depicts the dating drama of young, modern Orthodox Manhattanites. They tell us about their worst dates, how they differ from their on-screen personas, and the relationship roadblocks specific to the observant community, like disagreement about making aliyah.

Our gentile of the week is Rod Dreher, senior editor at The American Conservative and the author of The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. He tells us why we would all be better off living in cloistered communities given the fragmentation and atomization of religious life in America today, and poses an interesting question for us: whether we believe Jewish culture can endure without religion.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, behind-the-scenes photos, and more! Email us at [email protected]—we may read your note on air.

Follow us on Twitter: @tabletmag, @markopp1, @liel, and @stuffism.

This episode is brought to you by Harry’s. Get a free trial shave set, valued at $13, when you sign up at harrys.com/unorthodox.

Music:

"Mikveh Bath" by Golem

"If You Could See Her" by John Kander and Fred Ebb, from the Cabaret Original Soundtrack

"Money (Instrumental)" by Pink Floyd

"Thoroughly Modern Millie" by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan, from the film Thoroughly Modern Millie

"Wishin' and Hopin'" by Nancy Sinatra

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We’re celebrating two years—and 100 episodes!—of Unorthodox with a very unorthodox fundraising drive. We've put together a bunch of fun gifts, from tote bags to studio visits to a cocktail party with Mark, Liel, and Stephanie. If you love listening to Unorthodox every week, please consider making a donation to keep us going for another two years.

This week, we turn the show over to Tablet contributor Periel Aschenbrand, who interviews hosts Mark, Stephanie, and Liel about the past two years of Unorthodox. They discuss how the show got started, how it’s changed over the past 100 episodes, and how it’s changed them. It gets real.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, behind-the-scenes photos, and more! Email us at [email protected]—we may read your note on air.

Follow us on Twitter: @tabletmag, @markopp1, @liel, and @stuffism.

This episode is brought to you by Jewish Lives, biographies that illuminate the Jewish experience. Visit JewishLives.org to get 25 percent off all books and curated collections with the code JLBOOKS.

This episode is also brought to you by Harry’s. Get a free trial shave set, valued at $13, when you sign up at harrys.com/unorthodox.

Music:

"Mikveh Bath" by Golem

"Money Trees" by Kendrick Lamar ft. Jay Rock

"Liam Rides a Pony" by The Polyrhythmics

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

Episode description: This week, we’re coming at you live from JCC Manhattan, with some very special guests and other fun surprises.

But first: If you're a fan of Unorthodox—and if you're reading this, you must be!—please consider making a donation to our fundraising drive so we can keep producing the podcast you love for another 99 episodes. We've put together a whole range of fun gifts to sweeten the deal, from tote bags to studio visits to a cocktail party with Mark, Liel, and Stephanie.

Our Jew of the week is Harry Enten, senior political writer and analyst for FiveThirtyEight and a regular on the site’s Politics Podcast. He tells us about the Catskills resort his grandparents owned—where Neil Sedaka met Enten’s aunt, whom he later married—plus why he loves Twitter, where he has nearly 95,000 followers, and what dating was like as a poll analyst after the election.

Our Gentile of the Week is Haroon Moghul, author of How to Be a Muslim: An American Story and a fellow in Jewish-Muslim Relations at the Shalom Hartman Institute. He tells us the dumbest things he’s been asked while promoting his book, plus how a 2015 trip to Israel with Muslim and Jewish leaders changed the course of his career, and what he wants the rest of us to know about American Muslims.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, behind-the-scenes photos, and more! Email us at [email protected]—we may read your note on air.

Follow us on Twitter: @tabletmag, @markopp1, @liel, and @stuffism.

Today's podcast is sponsored by Jewish Lives, biographies that illuminate the Jewish experience. Visit JewishLives.org to get 25% off all books and curated collections with the code JLBOOKS.

Music:

"Mikveh Bath" by Golem

"Ruthless" by the Statler Brothers

"Harry Enten is Looking for a Girlfriend" by Jonathan Mann

"Love Will Keep Us Together" by Neil Sedaka

"Mounsell Forts/Accent on the 'A'" by Roger Plexico, prod. Squish Turner, ft. Haroon Mogul

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First things first: Don't forget to get tickets for our live show Tuesday, July 25 at 7:30 p.m. at JCC Manhattan!

This week, we find out Mark isn't the only Oppenheimer who sneaks into movies without paying. And we've got two Jewish guests joining us: First, our favorite film critic Jordan Hoffman returns to tell us all about the summer's best movies, including the new film War For the Planet of the Apes, which he explains is actually a story about Jews. Then we talk to Stacy Berman about her journey from running fitness boot camps in Central Park to apprenticing as a shaman and incorporating natural medicine into her training program, The System by Stacy.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, behind-the-scenes photos, and more! Email us at [email protected]—we may read your note on air.

Follow us on Twitter: @tabletmag, @markopp1, @liel, and @stuffism.

Today's episode is sponsored by Jewish Lives, biographies that illuminate the Jewish experience. Visit JewishLives.org to get 25% off all books and curated collections with the code JLBOOKS.

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