The Dating Option: Ep. 101

If you love listening to Unorthodox every week, please consider making a donation to keep us going for another hundred episodes. We put together a bunch of fun gifts for donors, from tote bags to studio visits to a cocktail party with Mark, Liel, and Stephanie. We’re #blessed with three Jewish guests this week: Leah Gottfried, Jessica Schechter, and Danny Hoffman, the team behind the popular web series 'Soon By You,' which depicts the dating drama of young, modern Orthodox Manhattanites. They tell us about their worst dates, how they differ from their on-screen personas, and the relationship roadblocks specific to the observant community, like disagreement about making aliyah. Our gentile of the week is Rod Dreher, senior editor at The American Conservative and the author of The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. He tells us why we would all be better off living in cloistered communities given the fragmentation and atomization of religious life in America today, and poses an interesting question for us: whether we believe Jewish culture can endure without religion. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, behind-the-scenes photos, and more! Email us at [email protected]—we may read your note on air. Follow us on Twitter: @tabletmag, @markopp1, @liel, and @stuffism. This episode is brought to you by Harry’s. Get a free trial shave set, valued at $13, when you sign up at harrys.com/unorthodox. Music: "Mikveh Bath" by Golem "If You Could See Her" by John Kander and Fred Ebb, from the Cabaret Original Soundtrack "Money (Instrumental)" by Pink Floyd "Thoroughly Modern Millie" by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan, from the film Thoroughly Modern Millie "Wishin' and Hopin'" by Nancy Sinatra