

Xai, how are you?
Michael Sokolovsky and Xava De Cordova
Queer Jews Michael Sokolovsky and Rabbi Xava De Cordova play with the multi-millennial dialectic that is the Talmud. Join them as they throw drash, seek prophetic insight and uncover the rabbinic smuttiness inherent in the system.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 14, 2021 • 21min
92a. How do we deal with problematic yahrzeits?
We got a wonderful listener question this week about how to handle the memories of widely beloved figures who also behaved quite badly during their lives. Weirdly enough, the Talmud has something straightforward to say about this! Visit our website to ask us questions at xaihowareyou.com and call or Text the Talmud Hotline at 401-484-1619 and leave us a voicemail! Support us on patreon at patreon.com/xaihowareyou. Follow us on twitter @xaihowareyou and @miss_figured. Music by Ben Schreiber.

Nov 7, 2021 • 29min
91a. Why do the Best Doctors go to Hell?
On Kiddushin 82a, we find some wild anti-doctor sentiment. A listener was wondering how to square that with the iconic status of the Jewish Doctor, so we're doing our best to find an explanation. Visit our website to ask us questions at xaihowareyou.com and call or Text the Talmud Hotline at 401-484-1619 and leave us a voicemail! Support us on patreon at patreon.com/xaihowareyou. Follow us on twitter @xaihowareyou and @miss_figured. Music by Ben Schreiber.

Oct 31, 2021 • 28min
90a. What do Jews believe about Hell?
Shockingly, the answer is complicated! Thanks to a wonderful listener question, we're diving into the punishments and practicalities of the Jewish afterlife. Visit our website to ask us questions at xaihowareyou.com and call or Text the Talmud Hotline at 401-484-1619 and leave us a voicemail! Support us on patreon at patreon.com/xaihowareyou. Follow us on twitter @xaihowareyou and @miss_figured. Music by Ben Schreiber.

Oct 24, 2021 • 27min
89a. What about secular-religious collaboration?
A wonderful listener asked us our opinion on the Spring 2021 DSA shabbat scandal, so we're doing our best to use Talmud as a way to understand secular-religious relations in Judaism. Visit our website to ask us questions at xaihowareyou.com and call or Text the Talmud Hotline at 401-484-1619 and leave us a voicemail! Support us on patreon at patreon.com/xaihowareyou. Follow us on twitter @xaihowareyou and @miss_figured. Music by Ben Schreiber.

Oct 17, 2021 • 27min
88a. Why is Talmud full of minutiae?
Why does the Talmud care if we wash our hands after cutting our hair? How did they even decide what shoe we are supposed to put on first? And why should we care, today? We do our best to answer on this episode. Visit our website to ask us questions at xaihowareyou.com and call or Text the Talmud Hotline at 401-484-1619 and leave us a voicemail! Support us on patreon at patreon.com/xaihowareyou. Follow us on twitter @xaihowareyou and @miss_figured. Music by Ben Schreiber.

Oct 10, 2021 • 30min
87a. Is anal sex permitted?
Tying up our arguments from last week's episode, we're finding out what the Talmud and halaxa have to say about "overturning the table", sexually. Visit our website to ask us questions at xaihowareyou.com and call or Text the Talmud Hotline at 401-484-1619 and leave us a voicemail! Support us on patreon at patreon.com/xaihowareyou. Follow us on twitter @xaihowareyou and @miss_figured. Music by Ben Schreiber.

Oct 3, 2021 • 30min
86a. Who counts as what gender?
We're analyzing the gender and sexuality categories of the Talmud and Leviticus, and how they might transform our understanding of the verse about men lying with men. Visit our website to ask us questions at xaihowareyou.com and call or Text the Talmud Hotline at 401-484-1619 and leave us a voicemail! Support us on patreon at patreon.com/xaihowareyou. Follow us on twitter @xaihowareyou and @miss_figured. Music by Ben Schreiber.
CW: This episode contains mention of biological essentialism, sexual abuse and homophobia.

Sep 26, 2021 • 29min
85a. Why do Jewish women cover their hair?
We're diving into that sweet listener question backlog! In this episiode, we explore the origins of Jewish hair covering, as well as some interesting edge cases like hair covering for single women and a ruling exempting women from it entirely! You can get our merch here: https://xai-how-are-you.creator-spring.com/
Visit our website to ask us questions at xaihowareyou.com and call or Text the Talmud Hotline at 401-484-1619 and leave us a voicemail! Support us on patreon at patreon.com/xaihowareyou. Follow us on twitter @xaihowareyou and @miss_figured. Music by Ben Schreiber.

Sep 19, 2021 • 46min
84a. X-Men with Abraham Riesman
My friend Abraham Riesman, author of True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, comes on the show to talk X-Men, origins of Magneto's Jewishness, collective storytelling, apocalypse and queer allegories. Visit our website to ask us questions at xaihowareyou.com and call or Text the Talmud Hotline at 401-484-1619 and leave us a voicemail! Support us on patreon at patreon.com/xaihowareyou. Follow us on twitter @xaihowareyou and @miss_figured. Music by Ben Schreiber.

Sep 12, 2021 • 34min
83a. Hasidism, Part 3: Neo-Hasidism with Lex
Friend of mine, friend of the show and Judaism Unbound co-host Lex Rofeberg returns to the show to discuss Neo-Hasidism, its connections to Paleo-Hasidism, plus its future, problems, benefits and history. Visit our website to ask us questions at xaihowareyou.com and call or Text the Talmud Hotline at 401-484-1619 and leave us a voicemail! Support us on patreon at patreon.com/xaihowareyou. Follow us on twitter @xaihowareyou and @miss_figured. Music by Ben Schreiber.