Ask a Jew

Dr. Jonathan Schanzer is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies , host of the FDD Morning Brief , and formerly a terror finance analyst for the US Treasury. There’s a lot to talk about this week, especially the hostages, an upcoming ceasefire deal that brings up all kinds of feelings, and of course - Houthi dance moves. Follow Jonathan on X and don’t forget to check ou...

This week we welcome on of our favorite podcast hosts and top 5 favorite lesbians, non-Jew Katie Herzog! Katie is the co-host of the wonderful Blocked and Reported podcast about internet drama with Jesse Singal , which makes her a victim of antisemitism by association. Join the conversation on Substack today! Askajew.substack.com We discuss: * Wigs * Head nipples * What’s the difference between Se...

What do you people call it? 2025? Anyway, we hope it’s awesome! Is your new year’s resolution to listen more of the Jewish weave, covering everything from Hanukkah to TJ MAxx? If so, you’re in for a treat. Also: * Our sufganiyot (seasonal donuts) game-plan * Being Jewish out loud * Are celebrities allowed to be jewish? * A 2nd Hanukkah without the hostages * The bombshell Assad divorce * We are th...

Brendan O’Neill is the chief political writer for Spiked and host of The Brendan O’Neill Show podcast. He writes for numerous publications, including the Daily Mail, the Spectator, the New York Post and The Australian. His latest book is After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation (Spiked, 2024) which you should all buy immediately. Brendan attempts to explain to us what the...

This week we welcome Judy Gold, comedian, writer, actor and author of "Yes, I can say that! When they come for the comedians we're all I trouble ". We go everywhere in this one - feminism, lesbians Israel, comedy, cat calling - you name it, we laugh about it. Don't listen if you have kids in the car (unless your kids are cool) Follow Judy on Instagram , check out her website , and catch her perfor...

Jonathan Elkhoury is just your typical Lebanese, Israeli, Christian, Gay Zionist. Born in Lebanon, Jonathan fled the country at the age of 8 with his family when Hezbollah took over their village. Since his father was in the South Lebanese Army and worked closely with the IDF, the family (along with about 6,000 other SLA members and their families) were offered refuge in Israel, where they have be...

The girls share everything they know about Syria (not much), argue passionately about faith in the Messiah vs. faith in the Iron Dome, and try to determine who is the better Jew (the answer may suprise you!) In New York Dec 12th? Join us both for our Hanukkah party! Check askajew.substack.com for details or email askajewpod@gmail.com .  Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.com...

Chaya Leah heeds the activists' advice and goes back to Poland. Also: Trumps hottest cabinet picks, our *least* favorite type of antisemites, and a wholesome dip into Mormon Twitter. Don't forget to RSVP for our Hanukkah party, Dec 12 in NYC! Details on Askajew.substack.com . Happy Thanksgiving! Links: The Perelmuters in Poland Hanukkah party details   Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askaj...

Today we welcome Zibby Owens, bestselling author, CEO, bookstore owner , “ book-fluencer ”, and host of the widely succesful “ Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books ” podcast. Most recently she published “ On Being Jewish Now ”, a collection of essays on Jewish identities in a post-October 7th world.  Save the Date! Dec 12th AAJ Hanukkah Party in NYC! Sign up for substack for details: Askajew.substac...

DECEMBER 12 HANUKKAH PARTY IN NYC! Follow askajew.substack.com for details. Some rational and irrational responses to the election that are sure to equally offend all the listeners, plus movies, planes, the orthodox draft in Israel, and more. This is probably the only podcast where a passionate argument about skincare will lead to a passionate argument about a hostage deal. Joing the AAJ conversat...

Looking for a non-election podcast? How about 75 minutes of soothing soviet antisemitism? We got you. Our guest today is Izabella Tabarovsky, a scholar of Soviet antizionism and contemporary antisemitism. We discuss how everything old is new again, why being a self-hating Jewish celebrity is sooooo 1970s, and what you can do today to de-program your brain from stale propaganda. You should read pre...

Bonjour from Paris! (Bonjour means “hello” in French). Miss us? We missed you, each other, and the sound of our own voices. That maybe explains the fact that neither of us could shut up on this one, in fact we almost forgot we were recording and maybe went a little more vulnerable than expected (people like that stuff, right?). In this episode, we catch up about the holidays, Iran, the beef betwee...

In this week’s episode of “people we thought were Jewish” - Christine Rosen! Christine is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute , columnist for Commentary magazine , cohosts of The Commentary Magazine Podcast , and author of the new book The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. We talk about Christine's very unique acknowledgments page, the good, bad and ugl...

On the eve of October 7th, we gathered with 100+ of our closest friends (you guys!) to share our feelings, frustrations, sad tears and happy tears. Don't worry, we still found some space for holocaust jokes and hot dictators. Thank you to everyone who joined, from Portland to Iran -  we are very lucky to have you. Special thanks to Super Friends and former guests Eli Lake ( The Reeducation , The F...

Sunday October 6 listener Zoom!! Go to askajew.substack.com for details. Shana Tova from the bomb shelter! Just kidding, the IDF said we can go out, plus, after an hour we finished folding laundry and drinking a bottle of whiskey, and we were bored. This episode was recorded before Iran launched a ballistic missile attack at our faces, so if we sound a little too cheerful and irreverent....well, I...

This episode is brought to you by the Federated States of Micronesia. No, they aren't paying us for sponsorship, but they are the only country that still loves us, so this one's on us! This week we discuss the Hezbollah pager explosions, the list of countries that can no longer sit with us, Hassan Nasrallah's glow-up, decolonized pizza at MIT, tips on how to focus,and more.  The UN being the UN MI...

Greg Lukianoff is a First Amendment lawyer, President and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), and co-author of the hits " The Coddling of the American Mind"  with Jonathan Haidt and "The Canceling of the American Mind" with Rikki Schlott. He joins us to talk all things free speech, like why campuses are burning, how violence is kind of bad, actually, and why he fight...

David Christopher Kaufman is a columnist and editor at the NY Post and an adjunct fellow at the Tel Aviv institute. He joins the girls this week to talk elections, Israel, and the identity of the half black, half Jewish, totally Zionist American journalist.    Also:  * The mood in Israel * The difference between being a Jew and being Jewish * Why Hamas is like dating in New York * A Zionist Jew an...

We are joined by Brianna Wu, the Executive Director of Rebellion Pac, who proudly calls herself queer, progressive - and a friend of Israel. We discuss growing up in Mississippi, what progressives can learn from Hasidic Jews, the Women's March, Gamergate, being an inspiration for a Law & Order episode, her global ranking as an elite Super Mario 2 Runner - and more! Follow Brianna on X The famous L...

We hopped on to record with a heavy heart this morning, after hearing the devasating news of the murder of 6 Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity: Carmel Gat, Ori Danino, Almog Sarusi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alex Lobanov and Eden Yerushalmi. They managed to survive 11 months, only to be executed somewhere between Thursday and Friday by their captors. We're angry, sad, contemplative, fearful - and th...

The girls are joined by retired British Army Major Andrew Fox, who has spent time in Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza, and other exotic tourist destinations. We discuss wars of choice, try to pick a fight with Taylor Swift, compare military MREs, and wonder why Americans love tiny dogs and Hezbollah flags. Also: Wait why does England need an army? The US Military is rubbish at drinking Learn from our fails...

This week we take your questions, very politely and with no conflict at all discuss Jewish extremism, and float the idea of a listener trip to Israel… You can send us your questions to askajewpod@gmail.com Make sure to check out our podcast recommendations and more on Substack askajew.substack.com Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.com Email us your questions askajewpod@gmail...

America’s favorite Nepo baby after Jesus, the greatest one-eye war hero since Moshe Dayan, the man who puts the Ho in Idaho - we are honored to welcome Ben Dreyfuss to Ask A Jew today. In this vulnerable, first of its kind tell-all, Ben opens up to us about his relationship with social media, his famous father, Judaism - and why he still hasn’t forgiven Bin Laden. Make sure to check out Ben’s hila...

  A haunting and beautiful skit from the Israeli show "Hayehudim Baim" ("The Jews are coming") Peter Paltchik, olympic medalist, with his coach Oren Smadja who just lost his son in Gaza Isael's Olympic team (6 medals and counting!) Dr. Mijal Bitton at the NYU rally Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.com Email us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com   ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐  Want to he...

Karmela Waldman may be a Holocaust survivor with a heartbreaking story, but the true victim of the Nazis is clealrly her son, Joel, as he tells us. The hilarious mother-son duo join the girls to talk about optimism, the True Crime podcast they co host, Surviving the Survivor ,  and the book Joel wrote about his mother by the same name, which he calls a living eulogy, but she refers to as “A poor m...