Ask a Jew

Yael and ChayaLeah need therapy over their first negative review.Yael explains that ChayaLeah failed at meditation and should never try again.They also answer a listener's questions about seven days of post-wedding parties, and give legal opinions on religious liberty (considering that neither of us went to law school you can take it or leave it!)ChayaLeah describes visiting her dead grandparents and the Rebbe, while Yael explores doing triathlons and moving to Idaho.Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.comEmail us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Want to help us grow? Rate and review us 5 stars on Apple podcasts and Spotify ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit askajew.substack.com/subscribe

Please take a moment to like and review us, and also sign up to receive updates at  https://askajew.substack.com/  It's a back to school special! Today we talk about the trauma inflicted by Sesame Street (spanning continents and age groups), Chaya Leah's business idea for a fat-person only gym, the holy site to all religions that is Target, and some podcast recommendations that will make you smarter. Plus, did Covid kill swinging? Also, what is swinging? At some point of course we get serious (not too serious, but a little) and talk about how Yael's relationship to Judaism has changed since meeting Chaya Leah, why seculars feel embarrassed by religious Jews, and why hugging is amazing even though the torah doesn't like it when y'all touch each other.Book recommendation: The SourcePodcast recommendations: find them on: https://askajew.substack.com/Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.comEmail us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Want to help us grow? Rate and review us 5 stars on Apple podcasts and Spotify ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit askajew.substack.com/subscribe

Sign up for FREE on our Substack to stay in touch!Today we welcome national security correspondent, journalist and podcaster Eli Lake. Since we have such an esteemed guest with us, we spend plenty of time talking about reality tv, hot members of congress, and circumcisions. But also: why are people so obsessed with Israel, the ortho-woke, Salman Rushdie, Trump vs. Netanyahu, Kanye West, Zen and the art of dodging missiles, getting high in the bible, and much much more...Check out The Re-Education with Eli LakeJoing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.comEmail us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Want to help us grow? Rate and review us 5 stars on Apple podcasts and Spotify ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit askajew.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of AAJ the girls go real deep on being confident and dealing with their shortcomings, all while blaming their moms (and the Holocaust) for their problems. They also discuss Yael's bday party that you weren't invited to, ChayaLeah's obsession with a Mormon family on Instagram, why Yael refuses to be saved by a podiatrist, and of course, cats that look like Hitler.Movie Rec: The Little Dictator Book rec: The Hitler Haggadah Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.comEmail us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Want to help us grow? Rate and review us 5 stars on Apple podcasts and Spotify ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit askajew.substack.com/subscribe

Yael and Chaya Leah debate the hot issues of the day, from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to something happening to someone in China? (We weren't really paying attention). Also: how we define our Judaism (surprisingly the girls have very different answers for this), the best and worst airports, Chaya Leah gets fat-shamed by an (anti-semitic) TSA dog, Yael pulls off a major international smuggling operation at the age of 14, and much much more! Book recommendation: Spies of No Country, by Matti Friedman.Broadway recommendation: MJ the Musical (It's amazing. Don't @ me.)Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.comEmail us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Want to help us grow? Rate and review us 5 stars on Apple podcasts and Spotify ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit askajew.substack.com/subscribe

Chaya Leah and Yael welcome parenting guru and "America's Worst Mom", Lenore Skenazy. We talk about how to let your child grow freely (whatever the opposite of helicopter parenting is), deadly laundry baskets, anxious parents, and crappy kids. We talk about the importance of play, take some questions about screen time, and how parents and kids can slowly learn how to chill. This is a great conversation even if you don't have kids!Lenore  is the president of Let Grow, the nonpartisan nonprofit promoting childhood independence and resilience. A reporter by trade – including 14 years at The New York Daily News -- Lenore came to prominence/infamy after her newspaper column “Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone” landed her on The Today Show, MSNBC, Fox News and NPR. Allowing her son that unsupervised trip garnered  her the nickname “America’s Worst Mom.” She went on to write Free-Range Kids, the book-turned-movement claiming “Our kids are safer and smarter than our culture gives them credit for.” The book’s second edition just came out this summer, with a forward by Let Grow co-founder Jonathan Haidt. (And his wife! And daughter!) Lenore has been profiled in The New Yorker, lectured everywhere from Disney to DreamWorks to the Bulgarian Happiness Festival (a real thing). And you may have seen her reality show, World’s Worst Mom.Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.comEmail us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Want to help us grow? Rate and review us 5 stars on Apple podcasts and Spotify ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit askajew.substack.com/subscribe

Rabbi Aba Perlmutter is back! He wanted to talk about laughter, but being the serious pundits that we are, we went straight to abortions. The orthodox take might surprise you.We also get some spiritual guidance on how not to hate our fellow man (even though they can be really annoying), discuss why we should hold the center and love our country, why we don’t need a Jewish president (or king), Chaya Leah’s royal aspirations, what the rabbi thinks about Meghan and Harry, the Jewish view on divorce, the importance of shame, John Travolta, online communities vs. IRL communities, night terrors, the praying football coach, Muslim and Jewish privilege, and how to fix your life (don't worry, he won't tell you to become orthodox).Also, if you want to know the secret to a happy marriage, you’re going to get through a story about Carson Daly.Please remember to sign up to our substack: askajew.substack.com and email us at askajewpod@gmail.com.Our next guest is Lenore Skenazy, founder of Free Range Kids and America's Worst Mom, according to the biased media.Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.comEmail us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Want to help us grow? Rate and review us 5 stars on Apple podcasts and Spotify ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit askajew.substack.com/subscribe

Your two favorite Jews and backup Jew Nancy Rommelmann are back to talk about everything but abortions!We start with a historical overview of the hotness of First Ladies, a certain Israeli first lady's fondness for cases of pink champagne (I mean, who amongst us?), the royal family, getting older (related), gardening (super related) and Jews surviving in the wild in Peru (the Jews are related to the host).Also:* The Holocaust weight loss challenge* Bodega guy - friend or bro? A crisis communications disaster.* USA! USA! USA!* Stealing silverware from a country club.* Traveling during Covid is a human right.* Working out in the heat is a human right's violation.* Check out friend Meghan Daum's and future friend Sarah Haider's new podcast, A Special Place in Hell Happy Anniversary to Chaya Leah and Baruch, the world's most patient British Orthodox Jew.Make sure to check out Nancy's podcast with Sara Hepola, "Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em" And Nancy's writings at Make More Pie Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.comEmail us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Want to help us grow? Rate and review us 5 stars on Apple podcasts and Spotify ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit askajew.substack.com/subscribe

Chaya Leah manages to ruin Yael's surprise birthday party within the first 5 minutes of the episode. Yael talks about her vegan vacation in Northern Israel, and the girls discuss the Queen's birthday (like, *the* queen, not Yael), our giant fanbase in Kuwait, a listener question about Jewish quibbles over the letters S and T (as in Shabbas vs. Shabbat), new Hebrew words that just dropped, Yiddish is so hot right now, Starbucks makes America great, and even a talmudic take on Amber Heard and Johnny Depp (what is this, May 2022?).If you like Ask a Jew, please consider rating us on Apple Podcasts so we can grow. If you really like it, share with your friends in a mass email (people love those). If you adore us, give us money. But the sharing thing is more important.Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.comEmail us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Want to help us grow? Rate and review us 5 stars on Apple podcasts and Spotify ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit askajew.substack.com/subscribe

The girls welcome Coleman Hughes. If you haven’t heard the name, Coleman is a gifted writer, musician, rapper, podcaster, and probably a Nobel Prize winning physician too.After Chaya Leah makes it awkward right off the bat, we move to topics like: * Afros make you closer to G_d, * The season when Hasidic people bloom * Seeing the best in people* Coleman doesn’t know much about the israeli Palestinian conflict and we love him for it* Campus wars vs actual wars* Anti-racist fetus * Coleman not being funny (?)* A good Neil deGrasse Tyson story * Amare Stoudemire doesn’t play on Shabbos * Famous Jewish Rap legends * An even better Snoop Dogg story * Coleman’s band will make you not want to go home * We Didn’t Start the Fire isn’t a Jewish song? * Sam Harris and other imaginary friends  We could have gone on forever but we were about to pass out from the heat. Check out Coleman’s amazing music, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YEkFBVErK7EAnd work https://colemanhughes.org/Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.comEmail us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Want to help us grow? Rate and review us 5 stars on Apple podcasts and Spotify ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit askajew.substack.com/subscribe