The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

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   Number 1: The major battle that split Satmar in two | Yumi Lowy

   video link to this interview: https://youtu.be/NtFI3NL4dFE?si=zOhqSNq6aijFxcc4In September 2026, the Satmar community experienced a major historic event. After decades of the community being split into two rival factions, the two brothers who led the rival factions met again. But not just anywhere, but at the White House. After so much time of hurt and estrangement, the rabbis wished each other a sweet year before heading into the White House to meet with the president, Trump, and advocate on behalf of their Jewish community. This is a great time to look back at how this split happened and record some oral history. Yumi Lowy grew up Satmar and paid a lot of attention to the battles. These are his memories. As is the case with oral histories, other people will have other stories. I so look forward to more perspectives in the comments.Follow Yumi Lowy on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/yumilowy/For more on the early battles in Kiryas Joel, watch my interview with lawyer Michael Sussman: https://youtu.be/jcz0xmkm10sMy interview with Hasidic reporter Joseph Kornbluh: https://youtu.be/4MPf67ftXMEMy reflections before the Trump visit: https://youtu.be/_UjXlnOVdugReb Aaron Teitelbaum and AI: https://youtu.be/vUhamjWR_vABecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

   September 06, 2026·1h 14min
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   Number 2: Hasidic Rabbis to visit Trump | Reflections

   Video link to this podcast: https://youtu.be/_UjXlnOVdugIn September 2026, news broke that Hasidic Rabbis will meet with president Trump. This was revealed when the Satmar Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum stepped up to his congregation on Shabbos and pre-emptively told his community that although he accepted an invite to sit with the president, he doesn't want the teenage boys to get too into it and excited about it. In this video, I unpack, from my own personal experience, what I think motivated the speech, what I think motivates the visit, and a little context on the Hasidic community's relationship to America.To watch the full video of my maroon binders, click here:https://youtu.be/ZRhOovJLcBYSome other thoughts on politics - here about NYC mayor Mamdani:https://youtu.be/FMgh3_O13HgMy interview with Hasidic reporter Jacob Kornbluh who covers the Mamdani beathttps://youtu.be/4MPf67ftXMEA conversation with a Satmar woman (Pearl!) about the dynasty:https://youtu.be/tPiKqDCtyIo0:00 Personal reflection2:58 Rabbi's address to students8:23 Analyzing the visit11:28 Political controversy12:21 Historical context14:17 Personal intersectionsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

   September 02, 2026·17min
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   Number 3: Forty years of missionizing the faith before losing it | Jeff Parnell

   Video link to this interview: https://youtu.be/Yy4Tzw-UAUcBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

   August 30, 2026·40min
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   Number 4: 13 differences between SATMAR and CHABAD Jews

   Video link to this episode: https://youtu.be/LK2b0mAYKqAI'm tired of big youtubers conflating all Hasidic groups as one. They are so different.The community in Crown Heights is really different from the communities in Williamsburg.I visited both Brooklyn neighborhoods in order to show you how they are different.Credit:*Videography* -Cristian Delvalle / https://www.instagram.com/cristiandelvallecaicedo/Max *Edit-* Steve Milligan / https://www.instagram.com/shootitsteve/Lee Kupac / https://www.instagram.com/alice.kpc & https://readymag.website/u3245558506/6471652/0:00 Getting kicked out of Williamsburg1:09 Introduction to Hasidic groups3:00 1. Insularity versus outreach7:58 2. Women's spaces and feminism11:46 3. Clothing differences14:10 4. A sense of themselves in relation to others15:50 5. Population size16:55 6. The neighborhood look17:48 7. "The rebbe"18:50 8. Fights and feuds20:46 9. Israel and zionism21:33 10. Neighborhood aesthetics22:22 11. Yiddish, Hebrew, French, English, etc.22:52 12. Conflict between Chabad and Satmar24:55 13. FOOD!25:38 BONUS: Marathon and paradeBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

   September 20, 2026·27min
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   Number 5: The National Desertion Bureau | Eddy Portnoy

   Video link to this episode: https://youtu.be/ixZOxV5BuCIEddy Portnoy is back by popular demand, after our wonderful discussion on the history of Yiddish language. Eddy is the exhibit curator at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and does amazing Yiddish/Jewish curations.Today’s subject is juicy but educational, eye-opening, and enlightening.We are diving into the shocking and largely forgotten story of the National Desertion Bureau, a real organization founded in New York in 1911 to track down runaway Jewish husbands who abandoned their wives and children during the great wave of Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe to North America.For more on this below.Here are some links:-My previous interview with Eddy: https://youtu.be/tq8y3KkAWTk?si=-KdfW3UJBkiMdrh_-The Yivo Exhibit: https://www.yivo.org/National-Desertion-Bureau-📘 THE BOOK ON THIS: Wives without Husbands: Marriage, Desertion, and Welfare in New York, 1900–1935 by Anna R. Igra https://amzn.to/4tGvhbZPopular stereotypes about Jewish husbands tend to be flattering: loyal, hardworking, stable, family-oriented. Which is exactly why so many people have never heard of this dark social crisis that unfolded inside immigrant Jewish communities during the early 20th century. Behind the romanticized image of the immigrant success story was another reality entirely: crushing poverty, overcrowded tenements, fractured families, emotional collapse, and men disappearing without a trace.The problem became so widespread that Yiddish newspapers like the legendary The Forward published daily columns called “The Gallery of Missing Husbands,” complete with mugshots and descriptions of men who vanished and left their families destitute. There were even Lower East Side psychics who specialized in helping women locate missing husbands.From 1905 through the 1960s, the National Desertion Bureau investigated more than 18,000 cases, working with courts, police departments, charities, and governments to track down deserters, force support payments, and sometimes even jail offenders. The surviving files read like tragic little novellas filled with betrayal, desperation, ruined finances, abandoned children, and impossible choices made during an era of massive upheaval.The archives at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research contain roughly 17,000 surviving case files from the Bureau, many of which formed the basis for the exhibition *Runaway Husbands, Desperate Families: The Story of the National Desertion Bureau*, curated by Eddy himself.In this episode, Eddy walks us through this extraordinary hidden chapter of Jewish history and helps unpack what these stories reveal about immigration, masculinity, poverty, shame, survival, and the fragile reality behind nostalgic immigrant mythology.Before we begin, I want to thank those of you who are channel members and help make this work possible. Members get early access to videos before they are released publicly. I deeply appreciate all of you, members, subscribers, commenters, and everyone who participates in these conversations and helps keep this channel alive.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

   July 12, 2026·53min
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