Video version here:
https://youtu.be/1j7yKcjT4K8

Follow Avrum's wonderful podcast here:
https://www.youtube.com/@avrumrosensweigshow

Follow Frieda on Youtube here:
https://www.youtube.com/friedavizelbrooklyn

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

Video link to this episode: https://youtu.be/bY7w9icDKgU

Leah Forster is, as they say in the Hasidic community, “one in a million.” She’s funny, she sings, she’s creative, and she’s been on a spiritual journey for years. She’s an out lesbian woman from the Hasidic community who is now in no box, under no one’s label. She has one daughter. Over the last year, her daughter has been battling a terrible tumor.

Leah agreed to sit down with me to talk about her experience. In true Leah fashion, the conversation didn’t go where I expected, and we had a long, winding talk about all sorts of things, including illness, suffering, and faith. But many other things as well. My takeaway was that it’s often hard to talk about difficult things while they are happening. I pray for Leah’s daughter’s complete recovery, as well as for my mother’s. My mother has been doing so much better, and I thank you all so much for the prayers. Please pray for Leah’s daughter’s continued recovery. 

Please check out more of Leah!
She has a new book out: https://amzn.to/4pEJYuG
Find her on Instagram (she’s back!): https://www.instagram.com/leahforster/
My previous interview with Leah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQgG_Pzxazg&t
My first interview with Leah: https://youtu.be/92nDFiyfVU8 I love talking to comedians, and 

I’ve interviewed quite a few others, including Danielle Jacobs, Riki Rose, Modi Rosenfeld, Antonia Lassar, and of course, Leah! Please check them out here: https://studio.youtube.com/playlist/PLhW2QoO54ycxK9b4GLY9oGn38tXRPT0vQ/videos

Thanks so much to all of you for brightening and lightening dark days.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

video link: https://youtube.com/live/OjxrGU4Ajbc

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

Video link: https://youtube.com/live/8IEgx00P7OE

A livestream about the NYT op doc about the Wedding Night for Orthodox Jewish couples. Watch the opdoc here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/opinion/ultra-orthodox-jewish-wedding-night.html

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

Link to video of this interview: https://youtu.be/qMKonpTHj24

A candid discussion about Orthodox Judaism and its views on abortion, infertility and loss of unborn life.

This discussion is Part 2 of a two-part interview. WATCH PART 1 HERE: https://youtu.be/jjk5K5Rp6e4

In this episode, we explore reproductive halacha: Jewish legal thought on abortion, infertility, contraception, gender identity, sexual norms, and the wider landscape of ethical questions around them. The aim is a thoughtful, free-flowing conversation that makes room for nuance, real history, and lived experience. Rabbi Katz grew up in Hasidic Williamsburg and later left Hasidism while remaining within the Orthodox world. He has served as Senior Rabbi of the Prospect Heights Shul and is currently Chair of the Talmud Department at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. Throughout his career, he has engaged with what he calls “cutting-edge issues” inside halachic discourse — including gender, sexual abuse, and other areas of communal tension. Many viewers also know his mother, Gita Katz, the sharp, unforgettable Hasidic woman featured in several of my videos. Rabbi Katz is her eldest, once considered a standout student in the Williamsburg community before charting his own path. Today he brings a rare mix of insider knowledge, rigorous training, and a willingness to tackle difficult conversations publicly. He also maintains an active presence on Facebook, where he moderates discussions that often get very heated.

Rabbi Katz’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ysoscher.katz

If this conversation resonates, you may also enjoy these related interviews:
Related Videos: 

• Part 1 with Rabbi Katz https://youtu.be/jjk5K5Rp6e4 -
• My earlier interview with Rabbi Katz on the Satmar Rebbe: https://youtu.be/8oVcC5z24c4
• The book I mentioned is 'I am Forbidden' by Anouk Markovits: https://amzn.to/49lfr09
• A Hasidic woman’s views on women’s issues — my interview with Pearl (and yes… Pearl is Gita’s close friend!) https://youtu.be/IaqonzHozVM

A note of thanks: Many thanks to all of you who are able to support this channel. If you do end-of-year giving, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help cover the cost of producing these videos. Many episodes cost far more to edit than YouTube pays in ad revenue, and the channel only continues because of the generosity of its viewers. Donate here: https://shorturl.at/WqXnL



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

Video link to this episode: https://youtu.be/jjk5K5Rp6e4

A conversation on Orthodox Judaism and reproductive laws

Today I’m sitting down once again with Rabbi Ysoscher Katz, a guest many of you have asked to hear more from. Our earlier conversation about the Satmar Rebbe sparked such strong reactions that people stopped me on the street to talk about it. It became a real conversation starter — and this new interview opens the door to another set of complex, meaningful topics.

This discussion is Part 1 of a two-part interview. Part 2 is now released for channel members and will soon be released for all. https://youtu.be/qMKonpTHj24

In this episode, we explore reproductive halacha: Jewish legal thought on abortion, infertility, contraception, gender identity, sexual norms, and the wider landscape of ethical questions around them. The aim is a thoughtful, free-flowing conversation that makes room for nuance, real history, and lived experience.

Rabbi Katz grew up in Hasidic Williamsburg and later left Hasidism while remaining within the Orthodox world. He has served as Senior Rabbi of the Prospect Heights Shul and is currently Chair of the Talmud Department at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. Throughout his career, he has engaged with what he calls “cutting-edge issues” inside halachic discourse — including gender, sexual abuse, and other areas of communal tension.

Many viewers also know his mother, Gita Katz, the sharp, unforgettable Hasidic woman featured in several of my videos. Rabbi Katz is her eldest, once considered a standout student in the Williamsburg community before charting his own path. Today he brings a rare mix of insider knowledge, rigorous training, and a willingness to tackle difficult conversations publicly. He also maintains an active presence on Facebook, where he moderates discussions that often get very heated.

• Rabbi Katz’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ysoscher.katz

If this conversation resonates, you may also enjoy these related interviews:
Related Videos:

• Part 2 with Rabbi Katz (early release for channel members; coming soon to all viewers): https://youtu.be/qMKonpTHj24
• My earlier interview with Rabbi Katz on the Satmar Rebbe: https://youtu.be/8oVcC5z24c4
• My interview with Rabbi Katz’s mother, Gita Katz (about her life): https://youtu.be/2saQ0LEwZXQ
• A Hasidic woman’s views on women’s issues — my interview with Pearl (and yes… Pearl is Gita’s close friend!) https://youtu.be/IaqonzHozVM

A note of thanks:
Many thanks to all of you who are able to support this channel. If you do end-of-year giving, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help cover the cost of producing these videos. Many episodes cost far more to edit than YouTube pays in ad revenue, and the channel only continues because of the generosity of its viewers.
Donate here:
https://shorturl.at/WqXnL


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

Video link to this interview: https://youtu.be/1y8ejrX4Jos

In this episode, I talk with Miriam Udel, who teaches Yiddish language, literature, and culture at Emory University. Miriam has done something quite wonderful—she’s brought to life a wide range of Yiddish children’s stories, translating them into English and making them accessible again. These stories, written before and after the Holocaust, capture the worlds Jews once imagined for their children—worlds that were playful, moral, rebellious, sometimes heartbreakingly earnest.

We talk about how children’s literature works as a cultural time capsule: how it reflects the values and anxieties of its moment, and how it teaches kids who they are supposed to be. It’s a conversation about language, identity, and the quieter ways a culture passes itself on.
Miriam Udel is the Judith London Evans Director of the Tam Institute of Jewish Studies and Associate Professor of German Studies at Emory University. She holds an AB and PhD from Harvard, and was ordained at Yeshivat Maharat in 2019 as part of its first Executive Ordination cohort.

📚 Books by Miriam Udel:
Modern Jewish Worldmaking Through Yiddish Children’s Literature
https://amzn.to/4ovS0W3
Honey on the Page: A Treasury of Yiddish Children’s Literature
https://amzn.to/476aGpF
Never Better!: The Modern Jewish Picaresque (Michigan Studies in Comparative Jewish Cultures)

https://amzn.to/47549LY
🎥 Other videos mentioned:
Why Only Girls? — Hasidic Boys and Envy
https://youtu.be/MnFddZtaWdQ
A Hilf Faren Kind — The Hasidic Children’s Book Series
https://youtu.be/2DTIsRStE3s


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

Today's episode is a repost of my most personal video as I take a bit of time to recover from the months of my mother's illness.

Link to video version of this post: https://youtu.be/GvLO9Vhid44?si=MdFJVuZnUvXPcudP

I was 25 when my husband divorced me. I was so attached to him, yet so firm in my belief that it was also time to let him go. After he left our marital home, he asked me to quickly proceed with the get. A get is a religious divorce; a ceremony with many rituals.

After I got home from the Get, I was very heartbroken. I sat down and wrote about my experience, talking to my husband directly, who had not spoken really to me during the entire ceremony. I needed to speak, to be heard, to have a perspective, to feel human. I was a single mother, young and alone, quite voiceless. I just sat at the computer and sobbed and wrote, and sobbed and wrote. I felt better afterward.

I never for a moment regretted the divorce or reconsidered my leaving the Hasidic community. I think it was the path that was right for me. But I also don’t think my journey is over. I don’t know where this winding road will lead yet.

I’ve raised my son on my own since the Get; happily, and with immense financial struggles. I moved on from the marriage, from the Get, from the intense youthful love. I healed, loved fiercely again, let go again, lived, and most of all, tried to stay true to myself while prioritizing my role as a mother. Now I’m ready for a new page.

I look back at the long arc of life, and I’m grateful for the times I allowed myself to live with the hurt in order to live with what was my truth.

Thanks for listening to my reading of The Get.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

Video version: https://youtu.be/1Vzxhb9kFOk

Riki Rose grew up in the Hasidic community of Williamsburg, and in this video, she comes back for a visit. It’s a return that’s equal parts stressful, triggering, exciting, heartwarming, funny, joyous—and yes, delicious. We eat, we laugh, we talk honestly about what it means to come back after leaving, and we even ask the awkward questions (like: are we okay walking these streets in pants?).

It’s a wide-ranging, soulful, and playful conversation with the brilliant singer Riki Rose.

Follow Riki Rose:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@riki_rose
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riki_rose/
Website: https://rikirose.com/

Watch more of Frieda and Riki:
Full playlist of the Frieda & Riki collection: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhW2QoO54ycwpngXudOzA5as9MfS4Ss6A
Riki shares her life story: https://youtu.be/jiE9cTn6Yi0?si=6kcd3WUinlc7WrVz
A performance by Riki and her sister Mimi: https://youtube.com/shorts/-pZYDWdbvRI

Follow me:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@friedavizel
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friedavizel/
Website: https://friedavizel.com/




Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

Video link to this episode: https://youtu.be/IfWm5mlQRwg

When Jewish worshippers were attacked in the UK during Yom Kippur, it struck a nerve far beyond the synagogue walls. In this wide-ranging conversation, Izzy Posen and I explore the roots and realities of antisemitism in Britain today.

Is immigration really to blame? How does Zionism complicate public attitudes toward Jews? And how has British antisemitism evolved—from old Christian tropes to new political ones?
We also get deeply personal.

Izzy, now two months away from his wedding, reflects on his own transformation—from a Hasidic yeshiva student to a secular thinker and translator. He shares a haunting poem he wrote after being reunited with his estranged family at his mother’s funeral, where he met his youngest sibling for the first time:

It could’ve been at a picnic in the park.
It was at the funeral.
It could’ve been at a festive family dinner.
It was in the house of mourning.
It could’ve been at a family celebration.
It was in the cemetery.
It could’ve been with her at our head.
It was at her coffin.
It could’ve been sooner.
It was too late.

We talk politics, identity, affirmative action, the different faces of antisemitism experienced by religious and secular Jews, and how one man continues to seek meaning through language and love.

Watch my previous interviews with Izzy:
On his Hasidic upbringing and education: https://youtu.be/SeZL920Eae8
Our live conversation: https://youtu.be/JpFVZj83wCw

Follow Izzy’s work:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@izzyposen2092
Blog: https://journeyerblog.wordpress.com/2023/09/05/the-family-reunion/
Twitter: https://x.com/PosenIzzy
Izzy also does beautiful Yiddish translation—he’s available for hire.




Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.