

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

Jan 8, 2023 • 36min
152: Russian Doll 2:6
The penultimate Russian Doll episode! This time we're orbiting the whirlpool of birth, the multiverse, yearning, demanding your conjugal rights and four cats guarding your bed from snakes.
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.

Jan 2, 2023 • 38min
151. Russian Doll 2:5
Nadia goes to Budapest and discovers...inter-generational trauma! In this episode, I finally connect this whole Russian Doll series to my own mother, we talk about the sacredness of the ordinary, broken tablets, and the futility of time travel.
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.

Dec 26, 2022 • 1min
150. Vacation break
We're taking a week off. See you all in 2023!
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.

Dec 19, 2022 • 44min
149. Russian Doll 2:4
The first Alan episode! We get goodies like gay exploration, loosening of the past, place lag, the decay of location, doing DMT at a warehouse party in Hungary, and a bunch of other stuff.
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.

Dec 12, 2022 • 39min
148. Russian Doll 2:3
Nadia gets haunted by her mom! And vice versa? Plus, reincarnation, magnetic souls, the epigenetic K Hole and learning to accept the limits of our agency.
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.

Dec 5, 2022 • 40min
147. Mailbag Part Deux
We're answering a bunch of questions at once! Thanks to all our listeners for such wonderful topics: vampires, evil, BDSM, the origins of the minyan, and the mussar movement.
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 28, 2022 • 43min
146. Russian Doll 2:2
Can any of us escape our pasts? Is time travel Jewish? We explore these questions on today's Russian Doll epi! Also featured: spiritual ennui, living in the present, and Satanist pawn shops.
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 21, 2022 • 37min
145. Praying East
A listener asks why we pray facing east, and the answer lies somewhere along this episode's meandering path through Talmudic disagreements, shifting historical meanings, and a discussion of sacred place.
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 14, 2022 • 41min
144. Venice Pilled
A listener asks: what's the deal with halakhic water rights? The answer? Flooding the world, a floating throne, legislating the commons and proximity to the source.
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 6, 2022 • 40min
143. Russian Doll 2:1
Season 2 premiere of Russian Doll is finally here! It asks us the question we're all always thinking about: are we all pregnant with ourselves? Is HaShem pregnant with themselves?
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.