The Frieda Vizel Podcast

Video link to this episode: https://youtu.be/koTlTNYXoxI This video is the extended sit-down conversation from my visit with the Bukharyan Jewish community in Forest Hills, Queens. In this segment, Abe Fuzaylov and his mother-in-law Mazal slow things down and tell their stories—about family, memory, food, and what it means to carry a Central Asian Jewish heritage into New York. Bukharyan Jews once...

Video version here: https://youtu.be/1j7yKcjT4K8 Follow Avrum's wonderful podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/@avrumrosensweigshow Follow Frieda on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/friedavizelbrooklyn Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support .

Video link to this episode: https://youtu.be/bY7w9icDKgU Leah Forster is, as they say in the Hasidic community, “one in a million.” She’s funny, she sings, she’s creative, and she’s been on a spiritual journey for years. She’s an out lesbian woman from the Hasidic community who is now in no box, under no one’s label. She has one daughter. Over the last year, her daughter has been battling a terrib...

video link: https://youtube.com/live/OjxrGU4Ajbc Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support .

Video link: https://youtube.com/live/8IEgx00P7OE A livestream about the NYT op doc about the Wedding Night for Orthodox Jewish couples. Watch the opdoc here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/opinion/ultra-orthodox-jewish-wedding-night.html Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support .

Link to video of this interview: https://youtu.be/qMKonpTHj24 A candid discussion about Orthodox Judaism and its views on abortion, infertility and loss of unborn life. This discussion is Part 2 of a two-part interview. WATCH PART 1 HERE: https://youtu.be/jjk5K5Rp6e4 In this episode, we explore reproductive halacha: Jewish legal thought on abortion, infertility, contraception, gender identity, sex...

Video link to this episode: https://youtu.be/jjk5K5Rp6e4 A conversation on Orthodox Judaism and reproductive laws Today I’m sitting down once again with Rabbi Ysoscher Katz, a guest many of you have asked to hear more from. Our earlier conversation about the Satmar Rebbe sparked such strong reactions that people stopped me on the street to talk about it. It became a real conversation starter — and...

Video link to this interview: https://youtu.be/1y8ejrX4Jos In this episode, I talk with Miriam Udel, who teaches Yiddish language, literature, and culture at Emory University. Miriam has done something quite wonderful—she’s brought to life a wide range of Yiddish children’s stories, translating them into English and making them accessible again. These stories, written before and after the Holocaus...

Today's episode is a repost of my most personal video as I take a bit of time to recover from the months of my mother's illness. Link to video version of this post: https://youtu.be/GvLO9Vhid44?si=MdFJVuZnUvXPcudP I was 25 when my husband divorced me. I was so attached to him, yet so firm in my belief that it was also time to let him go. After he left our marital home, he asked me to quickly proce...

Video version: https://youtu.be/1Vzxhb9kFOk Riki Rose grew up in the Hasidic community of Williamsburg, and in this video, she comes back for a visit. It’s a return that’s equal parts stressful, triggering, exciting, heartwarming, funny, joyous—and yes, delicious. We eat, we laugh, we talk honestly about what it means to come back after leaving, and we even ask the awkward questions (like: are we...

Video link to this episode: https://youtu.be/IfWm5mlQRwg When Jewish worshippers were attacked in the UK during Yom Kippur, it struck a nerve far beyond the synagogue walls. In this wide-ranging conversation, Izzy Posen and I explore the roots and realities of antisemitism in Britain today. Is immigration really to blame? How does Zionism complicate public attitudes toward Jews? And how has Britis...

Video link to this segment: https://youtu.be/87TYqw7aKbI Step into a world where sleight of hand meets Hasidic life. In this episode, I sit down with Dovy, a young magician from the Bobov community who has built a career performing in gender-segregated, kosher spaces. Our conversation opens a window into how Hasidic youth, without traditional pathways like college or conventional careers, find cre...

Video link to this episode: https://youtu.be/IdA3uHWGEtg In today’s video, I’m honored to share with you the remarkable story of Nelly Grussgott. This footage was originally filmed on August 12, 2020—long before I had a YouTube channel. It was part of a project by filmmaker Pearl Gluck, conducted for a documentary she was making with scholar Naomi Seidman about the Bais Yaakov girls' school moveme...

Link to video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/QWLnKjrpcuA Join me for a fascinating conversation with documentary filmmaker Paula Eiselt, the Emmy-nominated, Peabody- and DuPont-Columbia award-winning director behind 93 Queen, Aftershock, and Under God. In this interview, we dive into her groundbreaking film 93 Queen, which tells the story of Hasidic women in Boro Park who founded their...

Video link to this interview: https://youtu.be/WSYIhDbY0VY In this conversation, I speak with Rabbi Mayer Schiller, a Hasidic Jew based in Monsey, New York, known for his deep knowledge of the Hasidic community and his rare combination of freethinking, humanist, and unflinchingly critical views. We touched on big themes like Zionism, sectarian divides, and other hot-button topics. Outro Music sele...

Video version of this interview: https://youtu.be/OhEuezMqyaE In this video, I sit down with Mattel, a young YouTuber from the Hasidic community whose passion for languages is truly inspiring. Mattel creates content in many lesser-known tongues, especially Jewish languages, with a unique focus on Hasidic Yiddish. She travels the world on her own, learns constantly, and generously shares that journ...

Link to video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/Uj5wHch-kx4 MOVIES WE DISCUSS IN THIS VIDEO: Yentl – https://amzn.to/3HmMZPQ Fiddler on the Roof – https://amzn.to/4lhQbKo Walk of Shame – https://amzn.to/3UPS0n4 Hester Street – https://amzn.to/3JdvMJ7 Crossing Delancey – https://amzn.to/4mzRvcA Sophie’s Choice – https://amzn.to/3JdvRfT Avalon – https://amzn.to/3HmNpFU A Serious Man – https:...

Video link to this conversation: https://youtu.be/1zQ1rSDUUVE A Balcony in Kazimierz: A Candid Conversation on Jews, Poland, and Post-Holocaust Memory In this deeply personal and thought-provoking episode, I sit with Naomi Seidman on the balcony of our apartment rental in Kazimierz—the historic Jewish district of Kraków, Poland—for an unscripted conversation about Jewish memory, return, and identi...

Video link: https://youtu.be/5JUhkH71qUc How Hasidic Women Dress: A Conversation with Pearl from Williamsburg What does modest clothing mean in the Hasidic world—and how is it taught from such a young age? In this video, I sit down with Pearl, a Hasidic woman from Williamsburg who has been dressing in this tradition for over 70 years. We talk about how Hasidic girls begin learning the rules of mod...

Video link to this interview: https://youtu.be/aAHE9YNnxf8 What was it like to grow up in 1960s Boro Park as the daughter of survivors—and as a girl who wanted to run? In this candid and unfiltered conversation, scholar Naomi Seidman opens up about her Orthodox Jewish upbringing, her discomfort with the gender roles she was expected to fulfill, and her deep desire to escape. We talk about her path...

Video version of this interview: https://youtu.be/UZTQRkr-rIs Long before social media became what it is today, the internet met Rebbetzin Rivka Leah Zelwig—a charmingly extreme ultra-Orthodox rebbetzin who covered her mouth when she laughed and dispensed earnest advice with impeccable comedic timing. But who was behind this early viral sensation? In this deeply personal interview, I sit down with...

Link to video version of this interview: https://youtu.be/IRTvj1_4_14 In this interview, Naftuli Moster reflects on his years as the face of a controversial campaign to reform secular education in Hasidic boys’ yeshivas. As the founder of YAFFED (Young Advocates for Fair Education), Moster positioned himself as a critic of the yeshiva system in which he was raised, arguing that Hasidic schools fai...

Video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/XYPuTNOry3U When I was Hasidic, dieting and brisk walking were part of life—but the gym? Muscle-building? Weight training? That was unheard of. Today, a new movement is emerging from within the Hasidic world: a growing culture of strength training, gym routines, and fitness—all adapted to fit the unique rhythms and values of Hasidic life. In this int...

Video version of this posting: https://youtu.be/uHu_17N9GdE I grew up in a very special place: the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel. It was beautiful and painful all at once. I don't always talk about my own experience in this channel, because I was always careful not to make this channel about me per se but about a larger anthropological project. But today I'm taking a bit of a detour to a personal...

Video link to this interview: https://youtu.be/NXpO0THnx3g A woman who believes that Jews are prohibited by the Torah to fight, to have an army and nation, shares her theology. --- Since I did my first video with Pearl nearly three years ago, my friendship with her has deepened and become richer. Still, we have always had deep ideological differences. I am no longer Hasidic and I reject some of th...