Tablet Studios

This week on Unorthodox, we’re getting jiggy with it.  Our Jewish guest is Lenny Solomon, frontman of the Jewish rock band Shlock Rock. He talks with us about what it takes to create a great parody song, the role of humor in music, and accounting. You can donate to his fundraiser for his musical, Daniel in Babylon, here. Our Gentile of the Week is professor and writer Devoney Looser, who teaches u...

This week on Unorthodox, we’re lifting off.  This week we’re doing things a little differently. With the situation in Ukraine heating up, two Tablet writers offer their perspective. Vladislav Davidzon talks to us from the ground in Kyiv and Armin Rosen takes us to Uman for the annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.  We love to hear from you! Send us your emails a...

This week on Unorthodox, we’re ordering gazpacho for the table.  Our Jewish guest this week is Tablet’s very own Wayne Hoffman, whose new book is The End of Her: Racing Against Alzheimers to Solve a Murder. He talks with us about family legends, coming to terms with his mother’s decline, and the morass of memory. We’re giving away a few free copies of Wayne’s book on our Instagram and Facebook acc...

This week on Unorthodox, we’re throwing it back.  Our Gentile of the week is writer Chuck Klosterman, whose new book is The Nineties. He tells us why the 90s were the last real decade, plus what it’s like to earnestly promote a book about an era when apathy reigned supreme. We, on the other hand, are happy to be commercial sellouts—we’re giving away copies of The Nineties on our Instagram and Face...

This week on Unorthodox, we’re all self-upgrading to business class.  Our Jewish guest is investigative journalist Carl Bernstein, of Watergate team Woodward and Bernstein, whose new memoir is Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom.   Our Gentile of the Week is The Great British Baking Show semi-finalist Jürgen Krauss, who won our hearts with his Passover plava recipe on Season 9. Krauss, who isn’...

This week on Unorthodox, we’re bringing you a conversation with Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker of Temple Beth Israel in Colleyville, TX, who was held hostage along with three congregants during a Shabbat service two weeks ago Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Join our Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get a behind-the-scenes look a...

This week, we’re reflecting on the rabbi and three congregants held hostage at a Texas synagogue last Saturday.  We’re also sharing an interview with Mark Podwal, an artist who has illustrated for the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Times —and who has a day job as a dermatologist. He tells us how his art, rich with Jewish themes and imagery, is his expression of his Jewish identity Subscribe t...

This week on Unorthodox, more Israel-related animal conspiracy theories.   Before she was Liz Lange, our Jewish guest was Liz Steinberg, niece of corporate raider Saul Steinberg. She tells the story of her family’s spectacular rise and eventual fall in the new podcast, “The Just Enough Family.”  Our Gentile of the Week is Delvyn Case, a Christian composer who has written a cantata about the bindin...

This week, we’re celebrating a major milestone: 300 episodes. That’s more than 18,000 minutes of tape over six years, featuring thousands of News of the Jews items, hundreds of amazing Jews and Gentiles of the Week, and way too many jokes about Belgium. We’ve been through a lot together, J-Crew. There was the Saran Wrap vs. tin foil fight, the debate over backing into parking spaces, and endless d...

This week on Unorthodox, we’re drinking the eggnog and going all in on Christmas. Did you know your favorite Christmas song was probably written by a Jew? Marc Tracy returns to the show to shed light on the surprising history of Jewish songwriters and Christmas music, and shares a list of the 10 best Christmas songs written by Jews.  It wouldn’t be a bunch of Jews talking about a holiday—even one...

This week on Unorthodox, we’re diving deeper into the cream cheese shortage.  Our first guest is Dorothy Kalins, cookbook writer and former editor in chief of Saveur magazine. Liel talks to her about her new book, “The Kitchen Whisperers: Cooking with the Wisdom of Our Friends.” Then Liel sits down with retired Harvard professor Ruth Wisse, whose new memoir is “Free Like a Jew: A Personal Memoir o...

This week on Unorthodox, we’re prepping for the great cream cheese shortage of 5782. First we call up friend of the show Joshua Malina, who wrote an impassioned essay in the Atlantic asking why, after such a public history of antisemitism, Mel Gibson is still getting work in Hollywood.  Then we talk to Yonit Levi, Israel’s Channel 12 evening news anchor, who recently launched the podcast Unholy wi...

This week on Unorthodox, we really can’t stop talking about Hanukkah—read our op-ed all about it in the Washington Post. First we talk to actress Sarah Podemski, who stars on the new FX on Hulu show Reservation Dogs. She tells us about her “Anishinaabe/Ashkenazi” heritage and growing up in Toronto’s Jewish community, plus her experience working with an all-Indigenous cast and creative team on Rese...

Stacy Keach joins Liel to discuss his upcoming presentation of the play "Vienna," created by Stacy Keach Zoom Theater (SKZ). The show begins airing on YouTube on Sunday, November 28, and will be available through Wednesday, December 1. Admission is free. Donations are welcome to benefit The Actors Fund of America. To access the production, visit stacykeachzoomtheater.com.

Unorthodox is off this week for Thanksgiving, but we're bringing you "Pigging Out," an episode from our friends at Israel Story: "Not once, but twice, does the Bible admonish us to abstain from eating the flesh of the pig. And though there are many other animals we are commanded to avoid, the pig has—over the centuries—become the quintessential symbol of all that is unkosher, impure, and morally r...

This week on Unorthodox, it’s beginning to look a lot like Hanukkah! The Festival of Lights starts Sunday, Nov. 28, and we could think of no better way to kick off a holiday about the triumph of Jewish observance over assimilation than with a special episode featuring some amazing Jews whose work celebrates Jewish culture and identity.  Comedian and proud Jew Judy Gold—aka @jewdygold—joins us to d...

This week on Unorthodox, are we ready for a Better Bagel? Our guest is novelist Alice McDermott, whose latest book is What About the Baby? Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction. She tells us about her 1998 National Book Award-winning novel, Charming Billy, as well as her Catholic faith, relationship with the church, and what she misses now that she’s no longer teaching. Unorthodox is produced by Tab...

This week on Unorthodox, our national nightmare is over: Stephanie returns to the show! We talk to comedian Alex Edelman, whose new one-man show, “Just For Us,” is about the time he infiltrated a white supremacist gathering. Edelman, who was raised Orthodox, tells us about starting to wrap tefillin again during the pandemic, his work on Saturday Night Seder, and why some Jewish comedians miss the...

Three years after the Tree of Life synagogue shooting that killed 11 Jews, we return to Pittsburgh with a special episode based on Mark Oppenheimer's reporting for his new book, Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood. You’ll hear from the local high schoolers who planned the Saturday night vigil that drew thousands of people, from the Pulitzer-winning edi...

This week on Unorthodox, former guest Gavriel Savit joins us for a spooktacular Halloween episode. We talk about the Jewishness of Dune, William Shatner’s mission to the moon, why some religious Jews don’t celebrate Halloween, and more. Our Jewish guest is actor, author, and substance abuse counselor Stacey Nelkin, who starred in the 1982 film Halloween III: Season of the Witch. She joins us to re...

This week, while Mark’s on book tour and Stephanie is dancing with diapers, we’re bringing you a minisode with a special story of the impact of a single hungry draft dodger. Enjoy! On October 19 at 12pm ET, Liel will be moderating a live discussion along with Manya Brachear Pashman of American Jewish Committee's podcast, People of the Pod. This is the first in a four-part series by Tablet Magazine...

In this week's news, the Orthodox Union won't certify "Impossible Pork," Maccabi Haifa receives an interesting welcome in Berlin, and Mark owns a wetsuit. Tablet Studios is proud to bring you Radioactive, a new narrative podcast about Radio Priest and renowned antisemite Father Charles Coughlin. Enjoy this sneak peek, as well as Liel's conversation with host Andrew Lapin, and make sure to subscrib...

This week on Unorthodox, we interrupt our usual programming to talk about interrupting, and the battle between extroverts in introverts. Liel speaks with Professor Jacques Berlinerblau about his new book The Philip Roth We Don't Know: Sex, Race, and Autobiography, and Mark speaks with Hanna Stein, who portrays Shira Liedman on the Netflix's Never Have I Ever, and who was connected to us by her dad...

Happy Sukkot, J-Crew! While we sit here in our huts, shaking our palm fronds and citrons,we bring you a slew of Jews redefining the term "modern day heroes." First, Tablet Chief Administrative Office Sam Hacker heroically swoops in to guest host, saving the show from another week of just Mark and Liel. Then, Liel speaks with author E. Lockhart, the author of Whistle: A New Gotham Hero, featuring D...

Welcome to our annual apology episode! As we do every year, we searched far and wide for stories about apologies, forgiveness, and repentance. We hope this episode inspires you to approach Yom Kippur with some new insights and appreciation for making amends. First, we speak with legal scholar and Former Dean of Harvard Law School Martha Minow about US law and forgiveness, and whether the justice s...