Ask a Jew

Hi everyone, It’s a week of hope, despair, commemoration and as usual, unbridled rage. We caught up Friday to cover the many events of the last few weeks. Also we recorded this before the announcement of the Trump plan, sorry. Hard to keep up with the madness of the times. Want to see photos? Hear about special events? Subscribe on Substack askajew.substack.com Also: * Chaya Leah apologizes, and n...

Shana Tova from Chaya Leah’s kitchen table! It is not even 8am, and she already peeled 400 apples, made 200 matza balls, and skinned 3 chickens. I am sitting here trying to stay out of the way while working on our business aka this podcast. It’s very t...

Shana Tova from Chaya Leah’s kitchen table! It is not even 8am, and she already peeled 400 apples, made 200 matza balls, and skinned 3 chickens. I am sitting here trying to stay out of the way while working on our business aka this podcast. It’s very trad-wife. Check out CL’s resolutions and photos on our substack and see you in 5786! John Podhoretz is the editor of Commentary Magazine and co-host...

Sarah Hurwitz served as a White House speechwriter from 2009 to 2017, first as a senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama and then as head speechwriter for First Lady Michelle Obama. She’s with us to discuss her new brilliant book: As a Jew: Recl...

Sarah Hurwitz served as a White House speechwriter from 2009 to 2017, first as a senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama and then as head speechwriter for First Lady Michelle Obama. She’s with us to discuss her new brilliant book: As a Jew: Reclaiming Our Story From Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us , which is a must-read for every Jew who often has mixed feelings about their fait...

We are happy to welcome author, cultural critic, and social media explainer Leigh Stein to Ask A Jew today! We discuss her new novel, If You’re Seeing This, It’s Meant for You — a modern-day gothic page-turner set in a Los Angeles social media influenc...

We are happy to welcome author, cultural critic, and social media explainer Leigh Stein to Ask A Jew today! We discuss her new novel, If You’re Seeing This, It’s Meant for You — a modern-day gothic page-turner set in a Los Angeles social media influencer hype house (if you don’t know what a hype house is, even more of a reason to tune in!) We discuss whether or not the internet is real life, what...

A long overdue solo awaits for those who dare! First of all we apologize for the lack of Taylor/Travis content here, we recorded this a few days ago before the breaking news. We hope you can still enjoy this discussion that covers: * ICE and immigratio...

A long overdue solo awaits for those who dare! First of all we apologize for the lack of Taylor/Travis content here, we recorded this a few days ago before the breaking news. We hope you can still enjoy this discussion that covers: * ICE and immigration (in the first, like, 30 seconds) * Our nonexistent beef with The Commentary podcast * Unpopular opinions (Matcha and musicals?) * The entirety of...

Shabbos Kestenbaum is probably the most famous Jewish Harvard grad since Natalie Portman. You may know him as a former Bernie Bro and divinity student who went on to sue Harvard for discrimination, speak at the Republican National Convention, and accom...

Shabbos Kestenbaum is probably the most famous Jewish Harvard grad since Natalie Portman. You may know him as a former Bernie Bro and divinity student who went on to sue Harvard for discrimination, speak at the Republican National Convention , and accompany President Trump to the gravesite of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. We talk about what to do with all this sweet, sweet Jewish money, where Israel goes...

This week we welcome one of our favorite journaists of the moment, Olivia Reingold of The Free Press! We discuss her Jewish roots, atheism, how she went from an NPR fangirl to working for (gasp!) Bari Weiss, what’s wrong with Gen Z, accidental antisemi...

This week we welcome one of our favorite journaists of the moment, Olivia Reingold of The Free Press! We discuss her Jewish roots, atheism, how she went from an NPR fangirl to working for (gasp!) Bari Weiss, what’s wrong with Gen Z, accidental antisemitism, reading each and every one of Zohran Mamdani’s tweets, Mahmoud Khalil, and at the end we get into a very heated argument about…podiatrists. Th...

We are so excited to have the one and only Babka King, Chris Cares None with us! If you haven’t seen Chris’s videos on Instagram and TikTok where he reviews foods from different ethnicities, with some special love to Babka and Rugelach, why are you eve...

We are so excited to have the one and only Babka King, Chris Cares None with us! If you haven’t seen Chris’s videos on Instagram and TikTok where he reviews foods from different ethnicities, with some special love to Babka and Rugelach, why are you even still here? MORE VIDEOS https://askajew.substack.com/ Chris rose to fame after his Jewish food reviews attracted both love and hate, and let us te...

Happy Sunday and a blessed week to everyone, except Mandy Patinkin. In this catch-up we talk about the unfolding situation in Gaza (spoiler: some healthy disagreement!), the meaning of being able to criticize someone you love, toothaches and heartaches...

Happy Sunday and a blessed week to everyone, except Mandy Patinkin. In this catch-up we talk about the unfolding situation in Gaza (spoiler: some healthy disagreement!), the meaning of being able to criticize someone you love, toothaches and heartaches. Also: You don’t hate the UN enough Some Astronomer talk…sorry if no one cares anymore. But have you seen t his great response they put out?? .Lena...

Helen Lewis is a big deal y’all, and yes we’d be saying that even if she didn’t have a British accent. She’s a staff writer at The Atlantic, author of the new book The Genius Myth: A Curious History of a Dangerous Idea, as well as Difficult Women: An I...

Helen Lewis is a big deal y’all, and yes we’d be saying that even if she didn’t have a British accent. She’s a staff writer at The Atlantic, author of the new book The Genius Myth: A Curious History of a Dangerous Idea , as well as Difficult Women: An Imperfect History of Feminism . She has written and presented several BBC (ooh!) Radio shows including " The New Gurus "and our personal favorite, "...

Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman is a cognitive scientist, podcaster, mentalist and author of 11 (!!) books. We had him on to talk about his latest “ Rise Above: Overcome a Victim Mindset, Empower Yourself, and Realize Your Full Potential, and were diagnosed wi...

Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman is a cognitive scientist, podcaster, mentalist and author of 11 (!!) books. We had him on to talk about his latest “ Rise Above: Overcome a Victim Mindset, Empower Yourself, and Realize Your Full Potential , and were diagnosed with Vulnerable Narcissm (Yael) and being a Neurotic Jew (CL). We also mocked our negative self-talk, evaluated the usefuleness of self-deprecating h...

Bethany Mandel is the co-author of the bestseller “ Stolen Youth ” (with former guest Karol Markowicz!) and blogger/podcaster at The Mom Wars. We recorded this one a little while ago (there’s been an entire war in between) so excuse our tardiness. We t...

Bethany Mandel is the co-author of the bestseller “ Stolen Youth ” (with former guest Karol Markowicz !) and blogger/podcaster at The Mom Wars . We recorded this one a little while ago (there’s been an entire war in between) so excuse our tardiness. We talk conversion, birthing 6 kids at home (well, one in a car), homeschooling and much more. Enjoy! Also: * How Bethany chose Judaism at the ripe ag...

Chaya Leah is back from Israel, and boy does she have a story to tell! It has everything: bombs, planes, boats, sandwiches, and horny birthright kids. We’re so happy she’s home safe, and hope that her grandchildren will retell her story to the next gen...

Chaya Leah is back from Israel, and boy does she have a story to tell! It has everything: bombs, planes, boats, sandwiches, and horny birthright kids. We’re so happy she’s home safe, and hope that her grandchildren will retell her story to the next generations. You can also read her testimony in this Times of Israel piece. As promised, here is a link to the Chabad in Cyprus and the Chabad in Germa...