This week on the show, we’re taking time to remember.  Memory is at the core of so much of Jewish life and tradition, especially during Passover. So we’re sharing several stories about memories, from the individual to the collective, and from the difficult to the uplifting.  Tablet writer Gabriel Sanders reads his essay about preparing for his first Passover without his father, who spent the last years of his life with Alzeimer's disease. (The version of Ma Lecha Hayam featured in this story is performed by Paul and Lila Shapiro.) Jenny Rozbruch, who designed our Unorthodox and Be ..read more

This week on the show, there’s a new (Jewish) sheriff in town. First, another story from our recent reporting trip to Israel. Liel sat down with IDF soldier Shavit Romero, who shared his journey from growing up non-Jewish in Tel Aviv, to getting wounded in Gaza and starting his conversion process.  Our Gentile of the Week is Caroline D’Amore, founder of Pizza Girl, who tells us how October 7 and its aftermath sparked her viral support for Israel and her visit to one of the kibbutzim attacked by Hamas.  Mixologist Pam Wiznitzer shares her Ten Plagues cocktail recipes, which she wil ..read more

This week on the show, we’re sharing stories from our second reporting trip to Israel.  Former First Lady of Israel Lihi Lapid joins us to discuss her newly translated novel, On Her Own, about two Israeli families in crisis, as well as finding a way through the Jewish state’s present crises.  Jon Polin shares his experience advocating for the return of his son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, nearly 200 days after he was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7.  And we visit Tel Aviv’s Social Grocery Store, a food pantry for asylum seekers and stateless residents in Israel struggling with food ..read more

This week on Unorthodox, we’re hoping the Jewish James Bond rumours are true. Plus, interviews with three awesome Jews:  Dan Pashman, host of The Sporkful podcast, joins us to talk about his new cookbook, Anything’s Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People, which includes a very special kugel recipe. He also talks about how his Jewish identity inspires his inquisitive approach to food and storytelling. Highlights include a recipe. Podcaster and writer Zibby Owens returns to tell us about her debut novel, Blank, plus how she’s helping fight antisemitism in the publishing wor ..read more

This week on the show, we are all about Shabbat.  First, we’re sharing the latest installment of Beautifully Jewish, in which Stephanie Butnick and Tanya Singer explore all the beauty of Shabbat with the help of Adeena Sussman, author of the new cookbook, Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals from My Table to Yours, and AHYIN Judaica designer Micaela Ezra.  We’re also showcasing our newest Tablet Studios podcast, Sivan Says: Taking the Torah Personally with Sivan Rahav-Meir. Each week, Israeli journalist and Torah scholar Sivan Rahav-Meir sits down with our own Liel Leibovitz to draw out pr ..read more

This week on Unorthodox, we can’t believe we missed YentaCon.  Our first guest is director Andrew Goldberg, whose new PBS documentary Armenia, My Home uncovers some of the parallels between Armenian and Jewish life. We also speak with Eylon Levy, official spokesman for the Israeli government. He joined us to talk about manning the war’s digital front, and his viral interview on British TV, aka “the eyebrow incident.”  The version of “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” you heard was by our friends at Yidcore. Write to us at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail on our listener line ..read more

This week on the show, we refuse to refute. Phil Rosenthal of Somebody Feed Phil returns to the show to discuss his new children’s book, Just Try It!, which he co-wrote with his daughter Lily. (You can listen to Phil’s previous Unorthodox interviews here and here.) Eric Cohen and Abe Unger introduce their new school, Emet Classical Academy, set to open this fall, which they describe as the nation’s first Jewish classical school. Rabbi Meni Even-Israel talks about leading the Steinsaltz Center, where he continues the mission of his father, the late Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, to make Jewish ..read more

This week on Unorthodox, we can’t believe we missed YentaCon.  Our first guest is director Andrew Goldberg, whose new PBS documentary Armenia, My Home uncovers some of the parallels between Armenian and Jewish life. We also speak with Eylon Levy, official spokesman for the Israeli government. He joined us to talk about manning the war’s digital front, and his viral interview on British TV, aka “the eyebrow incident.”  The version of “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” you heard was by our friends at Yidcore. Write to us at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave a voicemail on our listener line ..read more

Unorthodox is off this week, but today we're sharing an episode from the Tablet podcast What Really Matters with Walter Russell Mead This week, Walter and Jeremy talk Putin endorsing Biden, Putin dissing Tucker Carlson, Trump dissing NATO, and Biden stumbling in the Middle East ..read more

Unorthodox is off this week, but today we're sharing an episode from Jewish Priorities: Life After 10/7, a 6-part series of panels taken from a live event hosted by Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History last October. This discussion focused on the charged rhetoric we’re seeing within the Jewish community during the war in Israel and features Rabbi Shlomo Elkan, Jodi Rudoren, and Rabbi David Wolpe, with moderators Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz of Unorthodox ..read more