Judaism

People Jew Wanna Know

Welcome to People Jew Wanna Know, a podcast sharing stories of remarkable Jewish people! Hosted by Margarita Lyadova, each episode features conversations with interesting Jewish guests of today and historical figures who’ve shaped Jewish culture and identity. Together, we seek answers to today’s essential questions facing the Jewish people.

New episodes every Wednesday.
Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @peoplejewwannaknow for extras, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.

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Latest Episodes:

Eitan Levine - Looking For Allies Before Enemies Aug 19, 2026

Show notes

Eitan Levine - you know him, you love him. He's a popular Jewish comedian, political commentator, and the man behind the beloved "Jewish or Antisemitic" series.

This episode goes deeper than expected. Eitan opens up about the sarcoma that shaped his teens and twenties. He also delivers a blistering and hilarious critique of how Jewish organizations spent money after October 7th — and why he thinks it backfired.

Follow @eitanthegoalie on Instagram and check out his work at www.eitanlevine.com

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What We Discuss:

00:00 Intro & Episode Agenda

03:41 From celebrity journalism to Jewish comedy

06:00 Cancer at ten and the Russian leg-lengthening device

14:00 Manischewitz Matchmakers and reinjecting Jewish joy

23:00 Why the post-October 7th messaging failed

30:00 Watching Trump press conferences from a bomb shelter

33:00 Jewish or Antisemitic: New York City edition

38:00 Find allies before enemies

40:00 Brad Lander, endorsements, and showing up in city government

43:00 Closing Remarks & Guest Nomination

"Zionists for Zohran" with Adam Malev Aug 12, 2026

Show notes

Adam Malev has performed at over 1,000 stand-up shows, built an app that maps every open mic in New York City, and once did a full minute of 9/11 jokes on Kill Tony. He's a proud Zionist, the self-proclaimed last Jew in his family's lineage, and — brace yourself — a genuine, non-satirical Zohran Mamdani voter.

Margarita was sure the "Zionist for Zohran" bit was a joke. It is not. This episode is a real-time reckoning, a lot of laughing, and zero eye-to-eye. They stay friends anyway.

Follow Adam on Instagram @adammalev & @malevcomedy

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What We Discuss:

00:00 Intro & Episode Agenda

05:04 From EY consultant to full-time comedian

07:30 Building Comediq, the open mic app

09:00 Last Jew in the family

13:00 Zionist for Zohran, explained (and not satire)

17:00 Affordability, potholes, and the case for Mamdani

20:00 Synagogue buffer zones and Jewish safety

24:00 The @Antisemitism account and manufactured outrage

27:00 Kill Tony regrets and the Jewish Kanye West

31:30 Closing Remarks & Guest Nomination

Transcending Hate w/Arno Michaelis (former white supremacist) Aug 05, 2026

Show notes

Arno Michaelis is a former Neo-Nazi turned activist, writer, and tremendous ally to the Jewish people. He was a founding member of a racist skinhead crew, lead singer of a hate metal band, reverend in a violently antisemitic church — and then he walked away, worn down by exhaustion and undone by the kindness of the people he was taught to hate.

Today he's a Buddhist, an author, and a peer specialist at Parents for Peace who talks pissed-off young men out of the abyss for a living.In this episode, Arno explains why every extremist ideology, left or right, eventually converges on hating Jews. And why that's not a Jewish problem to solve.

Follow Arno on Instagram @ArnoMichaelis and check out www.parents4peace.org

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What We Discuss:

00:00 Intro & Episode Agenda

02:45 Storytelling and the work of Parents for Peace

07:30 The archetype of "Joe Pissed Off White Kid"

11:00 Arno's childhood, addiction, and the roller coaster of hate

18:00 The night his newborn daughter changed everything

22:00 Regret vs. remorse — the mechanism of real change

25:00 How white nationalism recruits today

31:00 Why every extremist ideology converges on Jew hatred

36:00 Whose problem antisemitism actually is

39:00 Arno's question to Margarita

41:00 Closing Remarks

Raheel Raza on Muslims and Jews in an Age of Tension Jul 29, 2026

Show notes

Raheel Raza is a Pakistani-Canadian author, journalist, and president of Muslims Facing Tomorrow. She'll help you understand everything you'd like to know about Radical Islam. She's testified at the UN, spoken at Harvard and Oxford, and visited Israel 14 times. She also happens to be one of the warmest humans you'll ever meet.

This is the conversation where Margarita finally gets to ask the questions that feel too "icky" to ask — about dhimmitude, about why Western Muslim leaders skew extreme, and about how Jews and Muslims can actually still be friends. Raheel answers every single one with patience and zero PC filter.

Learn more about Raheel's work at www.raheelraza.com

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What We Discuss:

00:00 Intro & Episode Agenda

02:30 From Karachi to Canada — finding the Jewish world through Anne Frank

05:10 Why the Jewish-Muslim conflict isn't religious

07:40 Inside the Council of Muslims Against Antisemitism

11:00 Defeat radical Islamism, defeat antisemitism

15:30 Hadith-based Islam and the politics of extremism

20:00 What the Palestinian diaspora gets wrong, and the promise of the Abraham Accords

24:30 What Jews can actually do — Rabbi Sacks, samosas, and culinary diplomacy

32:00 Canada's "polite pogrom" and the Mamdani problem

38:00 Dhimmitude vs. reform Islam

44:00 Raheel's three-question litmus test for any Muslim you meet

49:00 Closing Remarks

Marina the Marathon Princess: All Miles, All Smiles Jul 22, 2026

Show notes

Marina the Marathon Princess has run 76 marathons, finished multiple Ironmans, and walked the entire length of Israel. Her running joke, pun intended, is that she's one of the slowest people doing some of the hardest races in the world. Marina is an activism trendsetter who printed "Stand With Israel" on a race shirt years before October 7th.

What started as a couchsurfing trip to Tel Aviv with a giant backpack turned into a years-long love affair with Israel, the Hebrew language, and the runners who cheer her on at every kilometer. Learn from Marina about what it takes to do the hardest things with the biggest smile.

Follow Marina on Instagram @marathon.princess

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What We Discuss:

00:00 Intro & Episode Agenda

02:30 From investment banking to 76+ marathons

05:15 Willpower is overrated — systems and mental tricks for endurance

09:00 The Tinder match that turned into a love for Israel

12:45 Printing a "Stand With Israel" shirt and losing followers

15:30 Why people who visit Israel walk away changed

18:00 What people misunderstand about being Jewish

21:00 Reclaiming Zionism and reframing antisemitism as conspiracy theory

24:30 On Nice Jewish Runners

26:00 Closing Remarks

Brianna Wu - It's Time To Change The Left Jul 15, 2026

Show notes

Brianna Wu is the voice of reason on the left. The video game developer turned political commentator turned Democratic insider has spent her career being first to name what other people are too scared to say out loud — and she brings that same clarity to one of the most uncomfortable conversations on the American left right now.

In this episode, Brianna talks about why democrat elites privately know better, why "respectability politics" are failing Jews, and what an actually effective information war would look like.

Follow Brianna Wu on Instagram @BriannaWuSays

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**What We Discuss:**

00:00 Intro & Episode Agenda

02:45 Mississippi, the Democratic Party, and the long project against Jews

08:20 The Jews who showed up when Brianna transitioned

12:10 Regrets about supercharging the progressive movement

18:30 No panacea for antisemitism (or Jew hatred)

24:15 Stop the conferences, start the information warfare

30:40 What's actually happening to the trans community right now

37:20 Why "as a Jew" isn't a credential

43:50 Brianna's question for Margarita

46:30 Closing Remarks

Everything Misunderstood About Iran - Shay Khatiri Jul 08, 2026

Show notes

Shay Khatiri grew up in an Iranian Communist household where his dad handed him Das Kapital at age 12 — and somehow ended up a neoconservative Persian researcher at CAMERA, fighting media bias against Israel. Shay knows more about Jewish life than most Jews, and will absolutely turn off your lights before leaving Shabbat dinner.

Shay breaks down why Iranians were cheering on Israeli fighter jets from their rooftops, the 2,500-year friendship between Persians and Jews that started with Cyrus the Great, and what the future for Iran may entail.

Follow Shay on X @ShayKhatiri

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What We Discuss:

00:00 Intro & Episode Agenda

03:15 Growing up in a Communist household in Iran

08:20 How the West misunderstands a society at war

12:40 Why Iranians cheered for Israeli fighter jets

18:30 What it will actually take to topple the regime

22:15 The 2,500-year friendship between Persians and Jews

30:00 Iranians today: the most pro-Israel nation after Israel itself

34:20 How Americans can actually help the Iranian people

38:45 The "as a Jew" problem and rebellion against immigrant parents

44:10 Closing Remarks

The Office's Andy Buckley: On Comedy w/ Conscience Jul 01, 2026

Show notes

Andy Buckley is David Wallace. You know him. You love him. But before he was Steve Carell's perfectly straight-faced boss at Dunder Mifflin, he spent years as a Merrill Lynch wealth manager — which explains why his corporate deadpan hits so painfully right. He's also one of the most thoughtful and openly supportive non-Jewish allies the community has had since October 7th.

Andy talks about the moment that gave him permission to speak up, the dinner-table education that came with marrying into a Jewish family, and why he thinks the loudest voices in Hollywood are often the least informed. Plus: the lost art of being a straight man, his audition origin story, and the surprising flight he took next to Ana Kasparian's husband.

Follow Andy Buckley on Instagram @AndyBuckley2020

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What We Discuss:

00:00 Intro & Episode Agenda

03:00 From Stanford to Wall Street to David Wallace

09:30 The Underrated Power of the Straight Man

14:00 Trusting Your Voice as an Artist

18:30 Visiting Auschwitz, Marrying Into a Jewish Family, and Learning Slowly

22:00 What Amar'e Stoudemire's Post Unlocked

27:00 Why Hollywood Stays Quiet

32:00 Sitting Next to Ana Kasparian's Husband on a Plane

37:00 What Andy Wants from Hollywood (and What Margarita Doesn't)

39:00 Closing Remarks

Goy You Will Enjoy Returns | SOLO EPISODE Jun 24, 2026

Show notes

Margarita returns for a solo episode to catch you up on the comeback of the “Goy You Will Enjoy” season — dedicated to the allies showing up for the Jewish community — and the current state of Jinsta.

She also reads a powerful letter from a listener about intermarriage that sparked one of the most thoughtful conversations we’ve had in a long time. Truly an incredible note.

Follow People Jew Wanna Know on Instagram @peoplejewwannaknow

Support our work: buymeacoffee.com/peoplejewwannaknow

The Art of Looking Like Yourself - Dr. Monasebian Jun 17, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Monasebian is a board-certified plastic surgeon, and the man Margarita personally trusts with her own face.

A Forest Hills native, Brandeis graduate, and proud half-Sephardic, half-Ashkenazi Jew, Dr. Monasebian has built a reputation not just for exceptional results, but for telling patients the truth.

In an industry full of hype, he’s refreshingly candid about what procedures are worth considering, which ones are overhyped, and why credentials matter more than ever.

In this conversation, we discuss everything from the evolution of rhinoplasty among Jewish patients to the rise of non-surgical treatments, body dysmorphia, aging gracefully, and the biggest misconceptions about plastic surgery. We also explore how he approaches these conversations with his own children—and the procedures he'd never recommend.Follow Dr. Monasebian on Instagram: @parkaveplasticsurgeryListeners get a complimentary consultation — just mention People Jew Wanna Know.

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What We Discuss:

00:00 Intro & Episode Agenda

03:00 Dr. Monasebian's Jewish upbringing

09:30 Why credentials matter (and what can go wrong)

14:00 How rhinoplasty culture has shifted for Jewish patients

17:30 Surgical vs. non-surgical: how to choose

24:00 Aging well after a procedure

29:00 Talking to his own kids about cosmetic work

33:00 Saying no: unrealistic requests and body dysmorphia

38:00 Lightning round — most underrated, most overrated, biggest pet peeves

46:30 CoolSculpting, Kybella, etc.