Tablet Studios

Latest Episodes:

Absolute Citron: Ep. 333 Oct 06, 2022

Show notes

This week on Unorthodox, we’re shaking the lulav and the etrog and celebrating Sukkot.

First, we’re learning all about the global history of the etrog thanks to Be Fruitful: The Etrog in Jewish Art, Culture, and History. We talk to Warren Klein, one of the collection’s editors, and Jenna Weissman Joselit, a favorite Unorthodox guest and contributor to the collection.

Next, we talk with Roger Studley, the founder of Urban Moshav, a nonprofit dedicated to creating Jewish co-housing communities, about Berkeley Moshav and the role that co-housing plays in building community.

Finally, we’re re-sharing the 2018 trip our former editor Sophia Steinert-Evoy’s took to the only commercial etrog farm in the U.S., in Exeter, CA, to meet the non-Jews running it.

We’re heading back on the road! Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive.

We love to hear from you! Send us emails and voice memos at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail at our listener line: (914) 570-4869. Remember to tell us who you are and where you’re calling from.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Join our Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our recording sessions on our YouTube channel.

Want to book us for a live show or event in your area, or partner with us in some other way? Email Tanya Singer at tsinger@tabletmag.com.

Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Sponsors:

Soom tahini is the perfect ingredient for your fall meals. Use discount code UNORTHODOX22 for 10% off your next order at soomfoods.com.

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

The Apology Episode, 5783: Ep 332 Sep 29, 2022

Show notes

This week on Unorthodox, we’re sorry.

It’s our eighth annual Apology episode, and we’re bringing you stories of reckoning, atonement and… goats?

Stephanie Butnick visits the goats who inhabit a steep, rocky patch of Manhattan each summer to learn about the biblical scapegoat of Yom Kippur, with help from Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky and former Riverside Park Conservancy President and CEO Daniel Garodnick.

What’s repentance all about, anyway? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain the concept of teshuva, and what the medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides has to say about asking for forgiveness.

Professor and author Stewart Davenport, who grew up in Birmingham, AL, shares a candid reflection about arriving at Princeton as a college freshman and seeing the world differently.

Plus, Liel starts a new Tzom Gedaliah tradition with a call to Rabbi Rachel Timoner.

Don’t miss our previous Apology episodes: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021.

We’re heading back on the road! Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive.

Want to book us for a live show or event in your area, or partner with us in some other way? Email Tanya Singer at tsinger@tabletmag.com.

Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Sponsors:

Soom: Soom tahini is the perfect ingredient for your fall meals. Use discount code UNORTHODOX22 for 10% off your next order at soomfoods.com.

HIAS: This High Holiday season, help HIAS help refugees in the United States, Ukraine and more than 20 other countries. Make a matched gift today at hias.org/unorthodox.

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

Family Hold Back: Ep. 331 Sep 22, 2022

Show notes

This week on Unorthodox, we’re not holding back.

Our Jewish guest this week is Kim Kushner, who joins us to talk about her Moroccan-influenced take on kosher cooking, her favorite Shabbat meals, and her new cookbook, The Modern Table.

We also bring you Gentile-Jewish filmmaker combo Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein, who tell us about the process of making their new PBS documentary, The U.S. and the Holocaust, which explores America’s response to World War II.

Our annual fundraiser is underway, and this year we’re upping the stakes: for every $100 you donate, you’ll be entered to win a mystery gift box curated by Stephanie, Mark, or Liel. Donate at tabletm.ag/mysterybox, and thank you for your support.

We’re heading back on the road! Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive.

Want to book us for a live show or event in your area, or partner with us in some other way? Email Tanya Singer at tsinger@tabletmag.com.

Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Sponsors:

Soom tahini is the perfect ingredient for your fall meals. Use discount code UNORTHODOX22 for 10% off your next order at soomfoods.com.

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

Class Acts: Ep. 330 Sep 15, 2022

Show notes

This week on Unorthodox, lots of lox drama at one Manhattan synagogue.

Our Gentile of the Week is author and podcaster Michael Lewis, who gamely revisits his 1993 Toy Goy article in the New Republic, tells us about being on the receiving end of antisemitic taunts for attending the Isidore Newman School in New Orleans and shares what he learned researching his 2016 book, The Undoing Project, about the friendship between Israeli cognitive psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman.

Our Jew of the Week is Dana Bash, CNN’s chief political correspondent and the co-anchor of CNN’s State of the Union. She joins us to tell us what she learned while reporting her recent CNN special, “Rising Hate: Antisemitism in America,” and why she decided to also make the story personal.

We’re heading back on the road! Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive.

Want to book us for a live show or event in your area, or partner with us in some other way? Email Tanya Singer at tsinger@tabletmag.com.

Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Sponsors:

Soom tahini is the perfect ingredient for your fall meals. Use discount code UNORTHODOX22 for 10% off your next order at soomfoods.com.

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

Gatecrashers: Our Newest Podcast Sep 08, 2022

Show notes

We're excited to introduce Gatecrashers, our newest Tablet Studios podcast. This 8-part series, hosted by our own Mark Oppenheimer, tells the hidden history of Jews in the Ivy League. Each episode focuses on one of the Ivies, and the series spans the last hundred years. Today, Mark shares the trailer and offers a behind the scenes look at Gatecrashers, with the help of Tablet Studios producer Quinn Waller and director of partnerships Tanya Singer. Stick around to the end for an exclusive preview of the first episode, about Columbia University and its forgotten campus for Jews.

Gatecrashers launches on September 13 with two episodes: Columbia and Princeton.

Subscribe now to Gatecrashers on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find Unorthodox.

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

Mystery Box 5782 Aug 25, 2022

Show notes

We're off this week, but our fundraiser keeps going! For every $100 you donate, you’ll be entered to win a mystery gift box curated by Stephanie, Mark, or Liel. Donate at tabletm.ag/mysterybox. We're so grateful for your support, which lets us continue to make not just Unorthodox, but also our growing slate of Tablet Studios shows. One of them is Liel's daily Talmud podcast, Take One, and today he is sharing a favorite episode from the archive.

We’ll be in the Chicagoland area on September 8th for a live podcast taping at Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook, Illinois. Our Jewish guest is Chicago food writer John Kessler and our Gentile of the Week is Corey Brooks, founder and Senior Pastor of New Beginnings Church of Chicago and founder and CEO of Project H.O.O.D. We'll also be joined by Meredith Shiner, the host of our forthcoming podcast about Jews and sports. There will be schmoozing, giveaways, and more. Get your (free!) tickets at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive.

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

Dog Days: Ep. 329 Aug 18, 2022

Show notes

Our Jew of the Week is Ilana Horwitz, who teaches the sociology of religion and education at Tulane. She joins us to talk about her new book, God, Grades, and Graduation: Religion's Surprising Impact on Academic Success.

Our gentile of the week is Australian writer Tim Winton, who chats with us about surfing, writing, and the feral camel population in Australia.

We’re heading back on the road! Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive.

Want to book us for a live show or event in your area, or partner with us in some other way? Email Tanya Singer at tsinger@tabletmag.com.

Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Sponsors:

Explore the fundamentals of Jewish mindfulness practices with Awaken: Essential Jewish Mindfulness, the new four-week intro program from the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Sign up today at JewishSpirituality.org.

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

Inside and Out: Ep 328 Aug 11, 2022

Show notes

This week on Unorthodox, we’re kicking off our annual fundraiser and upping the stakes: for every $100 you donate, you’ll be entered to win a mystery gift box curated by Stephanie, Mark, or Liel. Donate at tabletm.ag/mysterybox.

Abby Pogrebin returns to the show to tell us about the latest installment of The Minyan, her roundtable interview series for Tablet. She spoke with 10 Orthodox women about their identities and experiences and shares some of that conversation, and the insights it inspired. Check out The Minyan at tabletmag.com/minyan.

We also talk to Allison Josephs of Jew in the City about her work getting Hollywood to portray Orthodox Jews with more accuracy and depth.

We’re heading back on the road! Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive.

Want to book us for a live show or event in your area, or partner with us in some other way? Email Tanya Singer at tsinger@tabletmag.com.

Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Sponsors:

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

Moving Forward: Ep 327 Aug 04, 2022

Show notes

This week on Unorthodox, we’re getting serious. It’s Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of mourning that commemorates the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. (Read more about it here.)

Our Jewish guest is Rebecca Soffer of Modern Loss, who returns to the show tell us about her new book, The Modern Loss Handbook: An interactive Guide to Moving Through Grief and Building Your Resilience.

Our Gentile of the Week is Walter Russell Mead, who joins us to discuss his new book, The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People. He tells us why he wanted to dispel many preconceived notions about America’s support for Israel, and explains why so many non-Jews throughout American history have supported the creation of a Jewish state.

We’re heading back on the road! Check out our tour schedule at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive.

Send us emails and voice memos at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail at our listener line: (914) 570-4869. Remember to tell us who you are and where you’re calling from.

Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive.

Want to book us for a live show or event in your area, or partner with us in some other way? Email Tanya Singer at tsinger@tabletmag.com.

Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

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

Staying Cool: Ep. 326 Jul 28, 2022

Show notes

This week on Unorthodox, we’re melting down. To beat the heat, we’re bringing you interviews with two very cool Jews.

First we talk to singer songwriter Lisa Loeb, who has been entertaining music lovers of all agessince her breakout 1994 hit “Stay.” She shares how her childhood love of summer camp inspired her “Camp Lisa” record and foundation, plus she tells us about her eyewear collection and the similarities she’s discovered between performing for toddlers and drunk adults.

Our second guest is cantor-turned-jazz-singer Yisroel Leshes, who tells us about digging into the rich archives of 1920s-1940s Yiddish theater and reinterpreting those songs for a modern audience. You can catch Yisroel performing his music and showcasing other Jewish and Israeli music at his monthly pop-up series in New York City.

Send us emails and voice memos at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail at our listener line: (914) 570-4869. Remember to tell us who you are and where you’re calling from.

Find out about our upcoming events at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive.

Want to book us for a live show or event in your area, or partner with us in some other way? Email Tanya Singer at tsinger@tabletmag.com.

Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

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

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