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This week on Unorthodox, we’ve got a bit of a mish-mash (mish-mosh?) for you.First, a taste of our visit to Cleveland, where we recorded a live episode at the Mandel JCC (and ate a lot of deli).Then, Stephanie sits down with Jewish author Gary Shteyngart, whose new novel Lake Success is about a Manhattan hedge fund manager named Barry Cohen who abandons his wife and son for a Greyhound road trip across America with the backdrop of the 2016 election. In the wake of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, Gary talks about his personal connection to Squirrel Hill, and how HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, resettled him and his family when they fled the Soviet Union for America. Plus, he explains why dachshunds are the ultimate Jewish dog.Our gentile of the week is comedian and Risk! podcast host Kevin Allison, recorded live at the Manhattan JCC earlier this month. A member of the 90s sketch comedy troupe The State, Kevin told us about working as a bartender at the Grammys while having a show on MTV (Sarah McLachlan recognized him), plus how he started his storytelling podcast, where notable figures share true stories they never thought they’d dare to share. His question for the panel: Why are so many American Buddhists Jews?We love to hear from you! Send comments and questions for Unorthodox to Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at our new listener line: 914-570-4869.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group to chat with the hosts and see what happens behind-the-scenes! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Show your love for Unorthodox with our new T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies. Get yours at bit.ly/unorthoshirt! Shalom, friends.Sponsors:Little Passports. A subscription to Little Passports is the perfect holiday gift for the curious kid in your life. Each month they’ll get a fun-filled package with hands-on activities and interactive projects designed to spark their curiosity about geography, world cultures or science. Order today at Little Passports.Rabbi Eitan Tours, a unique way to experience Israel. Go to rabbieitan.com/unorthodox for a free consultation and itinerary planning. Unorthodox listeners also get $50 off a tour of at least one day with Rabbi Eitan.The Branch, a new podcast from Hadassah. Each episode explores how positive relationships between Israeli Jews and Arabs can bring new hope for a truly shared society. Check it out at Hadassah.org/thebranch.Harry’s, a great shave at a great price. Get your trial shave set at Harrys.com/UNORTHODOX.

On Saturday morning, 11 Jews were murdered in a synagogue in Pittsburgh. Like Jews and their friends everywhere, we were heartbroken by this heinous anti-Semitic massacre, the first-ever large-scale attack against Jews on American soil. To grieve with our brothers and sisters in Pittsburgh and hear their stories, We traveled to Squirrel Hill, the city's Jewish enclave, along with a team from Tablet.What we found was a unique and committed Jewish community, where congregations are intertwined and neighbors check in on each other and young adults return to raise their families. A close-knit community, within a larger city, now reeling from the weekend's senseless horror.In this special episode, we bring you the voices we captured, from the French family who fled violence in Paris only to meet it again in Pennsylvania, to the rabbis whose congregations were targeted, to the neighbors and community members who now face the daunting task of mourning the dead and rebuilding all that was destroyed.If you want to share thoughts or stories about Pittsburgh's Jewish community, email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at our new listener line: 914-570-4869. Unorthodox is a smart, fresh, fun weekly take on Jewish news and culture hosted by Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick, and Liel Leibovitz and brought to you by Tablet Studios.

This week on Unorthodox, we're going fer-mental.Liel and Stephanie sit down with chef David Zilber, the director of the fermentation lab at Noma, the Copenhagen restaurant credited with redefining Nordic cuisine. He and Noma chef and co-owner Rene Redzepi just came out with The Noma Guide to Fermentation, which has everything you could ever want to know about fermenting. He tells us about growing up eating Ashkenazi and Caribbean cuisine in Toronto, seeing Drake and the cast of Degrassi on the subway, and what his favorite Jewish comfort food, latkes, would look like fermented.Sophia talks to journalist Alix Wall, whose March 2018 article about inmate James A. White Jr. in J., the Jewish News of Northern California, may help get the septuagenarian pardoned next month. White, who is serving life without parole for murder and has been incarcerated for the past 37 years, spearheaded programs that give inmates a college education—1,500 men in his prison have since gotten their college degrees.We're heading to Cleveland! Join us Nov. 5 for a live show at the Mandel JCC with special guests David Gilbert, CEO of Destination Cleveland, and former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame president Terry Stewart. Get your tickets here. We'll also be in We'll also be in Houston Nov. 6, at the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC with Rice Jewish Studies professor Joshua Furman and other guests. Those tickets are here.Have a question for Unorthodox? Send it to Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at our new listener line: 914-570-4869.

This week on Unorthodox, we're on patrol. We talk to Ruchie Freier, the founder of Ezras Nashim, the first all-female volunteer ambulance in New York City, founded and staffed by Hasidic women in Borough Park, Brooklyn. Ruchie and Ezras Nashim are the subject of the documentary '93Queen', made by filmmaker Paula Eiselt, who also joins us.Ruchie Freier is a New York City Criminal Court judge, and the first Hasidic woman to hold elected office in the US. Paula Eiselt is an independent filmmaker. '93Queen' is her feature film directorial debut.Join us at October 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the Marlene Meyerson JCC! Our special guests are New York Times writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner, RISK! podcast host Kevin Allison, and rapper MC Paul Barman. Get your tickets here!.This episode is sponsored by the 2019 Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards. Do you know a Jewish teen making a difference? Nominate them for the $36,000 award at dillerteenawards.org.This episode is sponsored to you by Harry’s. Get your trial shave set at Harrys.com/UNORTHODOX.This episode is sponsored by Belvedere Vodka, certified Kosher by the Orthodox Union and produced in accordance with the legal requirements of Polish Vodka. For more, visit belvederevodka.com.Reimagine End of Life is a weeklong festival to spark dialogue, break down taboos, and bring diverse communities together around the universal topics of life and death. Reimagine End of Life is taking place all over New York City from October 28th to November 3rd. For a full list of events, visit jccmanhattan.org/reimagine.

This week on Unorthodox, we're still recovering from all the Jewish holidays.Our Jewish guest is Benyamin Cohen, host of the weekly podcast "Our Friend from Israel." He's also the guy who manages the official social media feeds for Albert Einstein, which might just be the best job ever. He tells us about tweeting for the late genius, plus his journey into megachurches while writing his 2009 book, “My Jesus Year: A Rabbi’s Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith."Our gentile of the week is Wall Street Journal sports columnist Jason Gay, who returns to the show to talk unconventional baseball propositions, Yiddish colloquialisms, and the other Ben Cohen.Join us at our next NYC live show on October 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the Marlene Meyerson JCC! Returning to the show will be New York Times writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner, plus some special surprises. You won't want to miss itHave a question for Unorthodox? Send it to Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at our new listener line: 914-570-4869. We’re also looking for stories about Jewish superstitions for our Halloween episode.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group to chat with the hosts and see what happens behind-the-scenes! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Show your love for Unorthodox with our new T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies. Get yours at bit.ly/unorthoshirt!This episode is also sponsored by One Day University. Get 20% off your ticket to see Mark Oppenheimer's Oct. 14 lecture on religion in America by using the code MARK when you register at OneDayU.com.Additional support for this episode comes from The Branch, a new podcast from Hadassah. Each episode explores how positive relationships between Israeli Jews and Arabs can bring new hope for a truly shared society. Check it out at Hadassah.org/thebranch.

This week on Unorthodox, we're going down to the station.Our guests are Hal Linden and Ryan Ochoa, who co-star in the new film The Samuel Project. Linden is best known for his portrayal of police precinct captain Barney Miller in the eponymous TV series, which aired from 1975-1982 (millennials, you can binge it on Amazon Prime), but his prolific six-decade career has included perfomances on stage and in film. Ochoa is an actor and musician who has appeared in the Disney series "Pair of Kings" and the Nickelodeon series "iCarly." They tell us about their intergenerational new film, about a Jewish grandfather and grandson who connect over a school project that reveals the grandfather's little-known story of survival. They also tell us about their real-life frienship: Linden, born Harold Lipshitz in the Bronx in 1931, has become something of a mentor to the 22-year-old Ochoa as he works to break out of the Disney-kid mold and take on serious roles. Ochoa is serious in his study: Linden is the only person he actually calls on the phone.We also drop by a Yiddish for Dogs workshop in New York's Central Park hosted by the Workmen's Circle.Have a question for Unorthodox? Send it to Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at our new listener line: 914-570-4869. We’re also looking for stories about Jewish superstition for our Halloween episode.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group to chat with the hosts and see what happens behind-the-scenes! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Show your love for Unorthodox with our new T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies. Get yours at bit.ly/unorthoshirt!This episode is brought to you by Harry’s. Get your trial shave set at Harrys.com/UNORTHODOX

This week on Unorthodox, we're celebrating the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot! Farmers and Etrogs and more!Who says Jews don't farm? Stephanie Butnick reports from Petaluma, CA, where activist Jews fleeing Eastern Europe in the early 1900s settled and became chicken ranchers. The politically-minded chicken-farming Jews of Petaluma even got a visit from Golda Meir!What's Sukkot all about anyway? And what's with the lulav and etrog? Liel Leibovitz and producer Josh Kross head to West Side Judaica to check out their etrog selection and chat with customers looking to stock up before Sukkot.Where exactly do those etrogs come from? We sent our assistant editor Sophie Steinert-Evoy to Lindcove Ranch in Exeter, CA, to visit the country's only commercial etrog farm. It's run by two generations of the Kirkpatrick family, who aren't Jewish but know way more about etrogs than most Jews.And finally, we have a visit with our favorite Minnesotan sugar beet farmer, Nick Hagen, and we find out how his produce winds up our tables and at Russ and Daughters.And Have a question for Unorthodox? Send it to Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at our new listener line: 914-570-4869. We’re also looking for stories about Jewish superstition for our Halloween episode.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group to chat with the hosts and see what happens behind-the-scenes! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Show your love for Unorthodox with our new T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies. Get yours at bit.ly/unorthoshirt!This episode is sponsored by One Day University. Get 20% off your ticket to see Mark Oppenheimer's Oct. 14 lecture on religion in America by using the code MARK when you register at OneDayU.com.Additional support comes from The Branch, a new podcast from Hadassah. Each episode explores how positive relationships between Israeli Jews and Arabs can bring new hope for a truly shared society. Check it out at Hadassah.org/thebranch.

This week on Unorthodox, we're really, really sorry.We're marking the Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur with our annual apology show. We're joined again this year by Tablet contributor Marjorie Ingall, who runs the website SorryWatch, which analyzes apologies in the news. She goes over the best and worst public apologies of 5778, and offers tips for how to make a meaningful apology.Storyteller Hal Karp tells of how, during a particularly dark period of his life, he goaded his brother into a fight that got him arrested—and how he ultimately repaired that relationship years later.Plus, our producer Noah Levinson catches up with Yonkers resident Quai Stewart, who gained Internet notoriety after his video mocking a young Hasidic boy’s haircut went viral—and whose subsequent apology video won him fans in the Jewish community.And finally, Sarah Lefton from BimBam.com joins us with a little lesson about Tzom Gedaliah.Want more Yom Kippur inspiration? You can listen to our previous apology episodes.In honor of the Jewish new year, we're giving away 10 beautiful mezuzahs from Apeloig Collection, a line of sleek and modern Judaica founded by sisters Daniela and Gabriela Apeloig. Join our Facebook group and look out for a prompt to enter.We love hearing from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com with memories from your favorite episodes or leave a message at our new listener line: 914-570-4869. We may share your note on the air.Want more Unorthodox in your life? Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and our Facebook group to chat with the hosts and see what happens behind the scenes! Show your love for Unorthodox with our T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies. Get yours here.This episode is brought to you by Harry’s. Get your trial shave set at Harrys.com/UNORTHODOX.Additional support comes from The Branch, a new podcast from Hadassah. Each episode explores how positive relationships between Israeli Jews and Arabs can bring new hope for a truly shared society. Check it out at Hadassah.org/thebranch.

Happy birthday to us! We're celebrating three years of Unorthodox with a very special episode featuring our hosts, producers, and Tablet staffers reflecting on some of our most memorable segments.Tablet editor-in-chief Alana Newhouse revisits our very first episode, and shares her initial doubts about our audio adventure; host Liel Leibovitz reflects on his contentious Ep. 25 interview  with Jewish Voice for Peace's Rebecca Vilkomerson, and what he learned from the interaction; and Tablet executive editor Wayne Hoffman delights in our Ep. 121 live show interview with comedian Judy Gold, where she offered a Field Guide to the Jewish Mother.Producer Noah Levinson teleports a few hundred news cycles back to Ep. 120 , where we called up Roy Moore's Jewish lawyer Martin Wishnatsky, who also happens to be a practicing Christian; and producer Shira Telushkin shares her unexpected takeaway from Ep. 137, where Yossi Klein Halevi discussed his book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Host Mark Oppenheimer reminisces about his Ep. 119 interview with West Virginia rabbi Joseph Hample, who described his unlikely journey to the rabbinate—and West Virginia; Producer Josh Kross gets taken for a ride in the Mitzvah Tank in Ep. 143, and is surprised to find he doesn't hate it; and host Stephanie Butnick takes a trip to East Grand Forks, Minnesota, to visit one of our favorite guests.We love hearing from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com with your favorite interviews over the past three years, or leave a message at our listener line: 914-570-4869. We may share your note on the air. Please also consider leaving a review in iTunes.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group to chat with the hosts and see what happens behind-the-scenes! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Show your love for Unorthodox with our new T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies. Get yours at bit.ly/unorthoshirtThis episode is also brought to you by Harry’s. Get your trial shave set at Harrys.com/UNORTHODOX.This episode is also sponsored by the 2019 Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards. Do you know a Jewish teen making a difference? Nominate them for the $36,000 award at dillerteenawards.org.

This week on Unorthodox, we're all about Eichmann. We sit down with Operation Finale director Chris Weitz and actor Nick Kroll to discuss the new film, which depicts the 1960 covert mission to capture Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi architect of the Final Solution, who was living under an assumed identity in Argentina. Kroll, who is best known as a comic actor, plays Rafi Eitan, the Shin Bet leader who coordinated the mission, alongside Oscar Isaac as legendary Mossad agent Peter Malkin, Ben Kingsley as Eichmann, and French actress Mélanie Laurent, of Inglourious Basterds fame. They tell us how their respective backgrounds and upbringings, while different, each drew them to this film; what it was like to work with Ben Kingsley; and why telling this story now is more important than ever.Our summer fundraising effort is almost over! Consider making a donation at tabletmag.com/donate. Write the name of your favorite host in the note.We love hearing from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at our listener line: 914-570-4869. We may share your note on the air. Please also consider leaving a review in iTunes.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group to chat with the hosts and see what happens behind-the-scenes! Sign up [http://bit.ly/UnorthodoxPodcast] for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Show your love for Unorthodox with our new T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies. Get yours at bit.ly/unorthoshirtSupport for this podcast comes from the MGM film Operation Finale, starring Golden Globe winner Oscar Isaac and Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley, in theaters now.Additional support comes from The Branch, a new podcast from Hadassah. Each episode explores how positive relationships between Israeli Jews and Arabs can bring new hope for a truly shared society. Check it out at Hadassah.org/thebranch.This episode is also brought to you by Harry’s. Get your trial shave set at Harrys.com/UNORTHODOX.