The Frieda Vizel Podcast

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...

Video format of this interview: https://youtu.be/lzVUnyxpcEE The most beautiful media content created about the Hasidic community is, arguably, the Israeli hit TV show Shtisel. It was co-created by Yehonatan Indursky, who grew up Haredi in Jerusalem, left the community, and is now in some sort of place of return. He calls it "living on the border," the most interesting place to be. You might have...

Link to video version of this interview: https://youtu.be/teadpfXWCO4 Martha Ross grew up Old Order Amish in Middlefield Ohio, left it, and now does YouTube videos about it on the channel  @AmishTransformed  . Please check out her fundraiser for her husband's much needed dental work here: https://gofund.me/d49b3276 Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-viz...

Link to video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/MnFddZtaWdQ Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support .

This is the song to advertise the Tzohar organization, which I have referenced in the episode comparing the Netflix Unorthodox show to this song. Here is the video: https://youtu.be/78XBSSDdwjo?si=aXMAEQ4pOPnYhbwZ I am sharing the music since it's essentially and ad and it will help create a fuller resource/reference to my commentary Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/pod...

Video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/78XBSSDdwjo The stories we tell affect the ways we process events around us. How we make sense of things like someone's departure from a community. Every society has their own stories; their own mythologies, their own tropes. In this video, I do an analysis of two different societies and their tropes, by comparing the Netflix show Unorthodox with the...

Video link: https://youtu.be/28lP8j8swA0 Please support Rochel Yenty Bodek's wonderful work by donating: https://insightbeyondeyesight.org/donate Rochel Yenty Bodek is a Hasidic woman who lost her sight as a young woman due to a genetic condition. She has faced tremendous challenges as a wife and mother in the Hasidic community and has risen to the challenge with tremendous resilience. In this int...

Link to video version of this interview: https://youtu.be/hKN0_75EuqE Anna Shternshis is a Professor of Yiddish studies and the director of the department of Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto and the author of "Soviet and Kosher", "When Sonia Met Boris" and the forthcoming "Jews in the soviet union: post war life, hopes and fears". In this interview we talk about the fascinating history...

Video link to this episode: https://youtu.be/pVfY5wZlPec There's a whole emerging world of Hasidic theater, acted by men, and including a cast and stories of men only. This has been a tiny element of the Hasidic world for years - it definitely wasn't a viable career for anyone until recently. In recent years, the Hasidic theater scene has exploded. So much talent is coming to the fore. It was so m...

Video version of this interview here: https://youtu.be/kMxyRkjljm8?si=hcjjD0_-izvquKxB Today's interview is about psychedelics, Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, and one extraordinary woman's journey! Please join me for the interview with Bruchy Moskovics. Bruchy was raised in the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel. Her story is like no one's I've ever heard, and the way she tells it will take you to another wo...

Video link to this interview: https://youtu.be/ctuFi83643E Antonia Lassar is a Jewish comedian who grew up with very little Judaism. She later became interested in various forms of religion, going on a seeker's journey for community with soulful musical connection. She loves singing and is a professional comedian. Our journeys couldn't be more different, yet we have so much in common in our apprec...

Video version of this interview: https://youtu.be/blLciT0egb4 Jessica Roda just published the book "For Women and Girls Only" on Orthodox Jewish women's performances. You can find her book here: https://amzn.to/4jKRJgj In this long form discussion we talk about what's happening in the scene of Orthodox Jewish women's performances. Because of modesty rules, women are not allowed to perform in front...

Video version of this interview: https://youtu.be/HoTzWaF7dU8 So many stories about the Hasidic Jews of the village of Kiryas Joel come from people who have left it. Or, often it will come from village official PR people who tell a very rosy story. In this interview, we get an exclusive peak into an everyday woman walking an exceptional line; risking everything in her community to express her voic...