Tablet Studios

Latest Episodes:

Can we Forgive Our Worst Enemies? Should We? With R.R. Reno Jan 14, 2025

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For the past two years, a group of esteemed Christian and Jewish thinkers and theologians met regularly to discuss the one thing they felt was most sorely missing from the cultural and political landscape: Forgiveness. Rather than rage or despair, they argued, society ought to turn to the possibility that even the bitterest of foes can reconcile and even the most brutal of transgressions be atoned for and forgiven. R.R. Reno, editor of First Things Magazine, joins Liel to discuss the statement the group eventually released, ask whether we can reconcile forgiveness with justice, and expound on the immensely healing power of hope.

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How to Be a Jew … in Los Angeles right now Jan 11, 2025

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History-making wild fires have been raging nearly out of control across the Los Angeles area, destroying homes, businesses, schools, and even synagogues. How is the community responding, and what can the greater jewish community do? Rabbi Beau Shapiro joins us to give a clergy’s eye view on how our faith helps us cope with loss and events beyond our control.

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Hosted by Courtney Hazlett, Rabbi Diana Fersko, and Josh Kross, each episode of How to Be a Jew takes a look at a current, cultural topic and what it means for us as Jews, and how we react to it because we are Jews.

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Will We All Soon Be Haredi? With Rabbi Gil Student Jan 09, 2025

Show notes

In 2012, tens of thousands of Orthodox Jews packed Citi Field to protest the Internet and demand that believers tune out of the new nascent new medium. Rabbi Gil Student, an influential writer and thinker, opposed the move, arguing that even the most stringently observant Jews could learn to live out their values while still making good use of the new technology. His latest book, Articles of Faith (https://kodeshpress.com/product/articles-of-faith/), is a collection of meditations on this and other provocative questions that arise when the old time

religion meets new world platforms and values.

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How to Be a Jew ... like Jesse Eisenberg Jan 08, 2025

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Movies about remembrance are incredibly complicated and difficult to pull off. In his latest film, A Real Pain, actor, writer, and director Jesse Eisenberg tackles grief, family, and memory with echoes of the Holocaust as a haunting background. The film, which was inspired by a piece Jesse wrote for Tablet in 2017, was nominated for four Golden Globe awards.

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How to Be a Jew ... on New Year's Jan 01, 2025

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This show takes no weeks off for holidays, whether they are on the Jewish or Gregorian calendars. What are the differences and similarities between Rosh Hashanah and the “secular” new year’s and more importantly how are we marking them? Tablet’s executive editor Wayne Hoffman joins us to discuss the true meaning of starting a new year.

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Jewish Studies Unscrolled: “Raisins and Almonds” and Yiddish Folksong in Classical Folk Music with Alex Weiser Dec 31, 2024

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Today on Jewish Studies Unscrolled, we explore the history and evolution of “Rozhinkes mit Mandlen” (Raisins and Almonds), the iconic Yiddish lullaby written by Avrom Goldfaden for his 1880 operetta Shulamis. Our guest, Pulitzer Prize finalist Alex Weiser, Director of Public Programs at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, joins us to discuss the song’s transformation from its original folk origins in the rendition, “Unter dem Kinds Vigele” (Under the Child’s Cradle), to a theatrical centerpiece, as well as its lasting influence on Jewish music. Beginning with a field recording by the folklorist Ruth Rubin, we discuss how this simple lullaby inspired classical compositions by Lazare Saminsky, Joseph Achron, Stefan Wolpe, and Judith Shatin.

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Jewish Studies Unscrolled: American Horror and Sidney Lumet’s film The Pawnbroker (1964), with Jeremy Dauber Dec 30, 2024

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Today on Jewish Studies Unscrolled, we delve into a rare cultural intersection: Jewish life and the genre of horror. While Jewish contributions to American culture often focus on comedy, literature, or music, horror remains largely unexplored, even by prominent Jewish filmmakers. We’re joined by Jeremy Dauber, Columbia University professor and author of American Scary: A History of Horror from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond. Together, we examine Sidney Lumet’s 1964 film The Pawnbroker as a rare exception, highlighting its haunting depiction of Holocaust survivor Sol Nazerman’s trauma, particularly through the “thin place” of the subway—a space where the present collides with the horrors of the past.

You can watch the subway scene we discuss here.

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Jewish Studies Unscrolled: The Petitions of Rabbi Elijah Guttmacher, with Glenn Dynner Dec 27, 2024

Show notes

Today on Jewish Studies Unscrolled, we dive into the fascinating world of kvitlekh—19th-century petitions addressed to Rabbi Elijah Guttmacher, a misnagdic rabbi whose miracle-working reputation drew thousands of supplicants. Discovered in a Polish attic in 1932 and preserved by the YIVO Institute, these handwritten pleas offer vivid, if fragmentary, snapshots of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, revealing stories of financial struggles, illness, and family crises. Glenn Dynner, historian and author of The Light of Learning: Hasidism in Poland on the Eve of the Holocaust, joins us to share how he has teased history from these tantalizingly incomplete records.

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Jewish Studies Unscrolled: Bruce Springsteen, with Rabbis Elliot Cosgrove and Neil Zuckerman Dec 26, 2024

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Today on Jewish Studies Unscrolled, we talk about Bruce Springsteen and his iconic song “Thunder Road.” While Springsteen himself isn’t Jewish, this song, and his songwriting in general, invites reflections on themes central to Jewish life: tradition, leaving home, and coming back again. We’re joined by noted Bruce fans, Park Avenue Synagogue rabbis Elliot Cosgrove and Neil Zuckerman.Drawing on their personal connections to the song and their shared journey through rabbinical training, Cosgrove and Zuckerman unpack the spiritual resonance of Springsteen’s work, asking why certain texts—whether Torah or rock lyrics—speak to us anew across the decades.

You can buy Rabbi Cosgrove’s book, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today, here.

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Jewish Studies Unscrolled: Hostages and Nathan Hanover’s The Abyss of Despair, with Adam Teller Dec 26, 2024

Show notes

Today on Jewish Studies Unscrolled, we explore Nathan Hanover’s 17th-century work, The Abyss of Despair, or, in the original Hebrew, Yeven Metsulah. The text documents the Chmelnitski Revolt of 1648, a catastrophic uprising that devastated Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. We’re joined by Adam Teller, historian and author of Rescue the Surviving Souls: The Jewish Refugee Crisis of the Seventeenth Century, to examine how Jews across Europe and the Middle East organized a remarkable rescue network to ransom hostages, despite the era’s limited communication tools. Drawing parallels to modern events, Adam Teller sheds new light on this often-overlooked chapter of history, showing how The Abyss of Despair holds untapped insights into Jewish resilience and global solidarity.

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