Tablet Studios

This week on Unorthodox, who said it: Harry Potter star Emma Watson or Hillel the Elder? Our Jewish guest is professional football player Geoff Schwartz, one half of the first set of Jewish brothers to play in the NFL since Ralph and Arnold Horween in 1923. He and his brother, Mitchell Schwartz, are the authors of a new book called Eat MySchwartz: Our Story of NFL Football, Food, Family, and Faith. Our Gentile of the Week is Patricia Napier-Fitzpatrick, founder and president of The Etiquette School of New York, which offers lessons on everything from dining etiquette and table manners to social media protocol and workplace small talk. She tells us the most frustrating etiquette faux pas she sees young people committing today, and asks us about proper etiquette for a non-Jewish person attending a synagogue.Join us Monday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m., at our live taping at the JCC of Greater New Haven. Tickets are available here. Like listening to Unorthodox? Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes and more. We love hearing from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com with comments, questions, and complaints. We may share your letter on air.

This week on Unorthodox, the hottest meal in Scottish prisons is… kosher.Our Jewish guest is Willard Spiegelman, longtime English professor at Southern Methodist University and author of the new book of essays, Senior Moments: Looking Back, Looking Ahead. He tells us the worst fashion trend among college students today and why retiring to Manhattan is the secret to a long life. Our Gentile of the Week is R.J. Hernández, whose new novel, An Innocent Fashion, which tells the story of a Cuban-American Ivy League grad who lands an internship at an elite fashion magazine and assumes a genteel-sounding name and pedigree, is based on his own experiences (R.J. interned at Vogue under the name Seymour Glass.) He tells us why he felt he had to hide his heritage to make it in the high fashion world, and schools us on Fashion Week, currently underway in New York City.Like listening to Unorthodox? Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes and more. We love hearing from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com with comments, questions, and complaints. We may share your letter on air.

This week on Unorthodox, singer Sia gets sued for a sub-par Tel Aviv concert.Our Jewish guest is Justin Sakofs, creator of MagneticShul, a toy designed to engage kids in ritual Jewish life (yes, we try it out). Our Gentile of the Week is Paris-based writer Thomas Chatterton Williams, who tells us about his perspective on American politics as an ex-pat and his next book, a reckoning with how we define race in America, based on his 2015 essay about being a black man with a blonde daughter. His question for us: Are Jews white?Like listening to Unorthodox? Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes and more. We love hearing from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com with comments, questions, and complaints. We may share your letter on air.

This week on Unorthodox, we’re obsessed with the Olympics. Our Jewish guests are 20-year-old twins Jack and David Cahn, co-authors of a new book called When Millennials Rule: The Reshaping of America. They tell us what they think of the 2016 election, which twin is better at chess, and how to prepare for the Millennial takeover. Our Gentile ofthe Week is Gaura Vani, a lifelong Hare Krishna and performer of Mantra Music, which is based on the ancient call-and-response devotional tradition known as Kirtan. He leads us in a chant and even tells us we have good voices. Like listening to us each week? Consider making a contribution to support the show.We love hearing from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com with comments, questions, and complaints. We may share your letter on air.

We’ve got a special show for you this week, Unorthodoxers. We’re excited to have Tablet columnist Marjorie Ingall back on to discuss her new book, Mamaleh Knows Best: What Jewish Mothers Do to Raise Successful, Creative, Empathetic, Independent Children, which comes out August 30. In it, she challenges the stereotype of the overbearing, coddling Jewish mother, arguing that Jewish mothers actually instill in their children confidence, independence, and a healthy skepticism of authority. She’s joined on-air by Rav Danya Ruttenberg, author of Nurture the Wow: Finding Spirituality in the Frustration, Boredom, Tears, Poop, Desperation, Wonder, and Radical Amazement of Parenting, which came out this spring.Our fundraising drive is coming to an end. Thank you to everyone who contributed, we geniunely appreciate the support (and funny notes!). And if you’re catching up on episodes, it’s never too late to give some shekels to your favorite Jewish podcast.We love hearing from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com with comments, questions, and complaints. We may share your letter on air.

This week on Unorthodox, Amar’e Stoudemire ditches the NBA for the Holy Land. Our Jewish guest is BuzzFeed reporter Rosie Gray, who has spent the past six months following the Republican presidential candidates on the campaign trail, producing behind-the-scenes dispatches from everything from white supremacist rallies to contentious Republican meetings, and reporting on Donald Trump’s nomination at the RNC in Cleveland. Our Gentile of the Week is actor, director, and screenwriter Adam Linn, author of the 2012 novel American Sexy. He tells us how he came to direct movies despite losing his eyesight at a young age, and the most annoying thing to hear as a blind person.This episode marks one year of Unorthodox. If you’ve enjoyed listening to the show as much as we’ve enjoyed making it, please consider making a contribution. We love hearing from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com with comments, questions, and complaints. We may share your letter on air.

This week, Vilnius's hottest wedding destination is a former concentration camp. Our Jewish guest is Deena Gottlieb, who just finished her first year of reform rabbinical school. She tells us what that first year in Israel was like (less Real World, more studying), why she wants to become a reform rabbi, and how she gets through to distracted bar mitzvah students. Our Gentile of the week is Arsalan Iftikhar, aka @TheMuslimGuy, human rights lawyer, media commentator, and author of the recent book Scapegoats: How Islamophobia Helps Our Enemies & Threatens Our Freedoms. He has an interesting question for the panel: As members of a community that has been historically scapegoated, what advice can you give to seven million American Muslims who are witnessing the rise of Islamophobia here in the United States today?Like listening to us each week? Consider making a contribution at tabletmag.com/donate.We love to hear from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com. Sign up for our weekly newsletter at http://bit.ly/UnorthodoxPodcast.

This week, we can't stop talking about the Republican National Convention. Our Jewish guest is the very funny Catie Lazarus, writer and host of "Employee of the Month," a monthly live talk show at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, for which she’s interviewed Bette Midler,Jon Stewart, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. She tells us how she found her calling as a live interviewer and about the time she went to Park Slope, Brooklyn to hawk truly local milk—breast milk. Our Gentile of the Week is Scott Jones, lead pastor at Ascencion Church, and the host of Mockingcast, the podcast of the online magazine Mockingbird (we're calling it the Christian version of our show). Over pizza-flavored Goldfish and whiskey, he tells us how a fundamentalist Christian friend from childhood with a really good curve ball led him to Jesus, and asks about the most Jewish cocktail (Manischewitz fizz). Like listening to us each week? Consider making a contribution at tabletmag.com/donate.We love to hear from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com. Sign up for our weekly newsletter at http://bit.ly/UnorthodoxPodcast.

This week on Unorthodox, our favorite Jewish gymnast is headed to Rio.Our Jewish guest is Deborah Pardo-Kaplan, a freelance journalist working on a memoir about her life as a Messianic Jew. She explains what Messianic Jews believe, and her journey from a traditional Jewish upbringing to ultimately adopting those beliefs—plus the unexpected difficulties of dating as a Messianic Jew. Our Gentile of the Week is Bruce Barber, the general manager of WNHU-FM, the campus and community run radio station at the University of New Haven. He asks about yarmulke protocol for non-Jews in a synagogue, and we call up an expert to get the answer. Like listening to us each week? Consider making a contribution at tabletmag.com/donate.We love to hear from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com. Sign up for our weekly newsletter at http://bit.ly/UnorthodoxPodcast.

Our Jewish guest is writer and illustrator Christopher Noxon, author of the novel, Plus One, and the husband of Weeds and Orange is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan. He tells us why he prefers the term ‘domestic first responder’ to ‘house husband,’ and about the ritual bloodletting required to complete his conversion to Judaism. Our Gentile of the Week is rock critic Jim DeRogatis, co-host of the WBEZ talk show “Sound Opinions.” He tells us how meeting Lester Bangs made him want to become a rock critic, and how to discover good new music today. If you like listening to us each week, consider making a donation to support the show at tabletmag.com/donate. We love to hear from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com. Sign up for our weekly newsletter at http://bit.ly/UnorthodoxPodcast.