Tablet Studios
by Tablet Magazine
From weekly series examining unique angles on Jews’ place in the world, to inquiries into the details of Jewish text and tradition, Tablet Studios podcasts bring you insight and inspiration for the modern-day Jew. Our shows include How to Be a Jew, Unorthodox, Rootless, Re-Form, and more to come.
Episodes
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Full Interview: Yaniv Rosnai
As part of our coverage of the Battle for Israel's Soul, we're going to be sharing the full interviews we did while prepping the series. Most of these will be for subscribers only, but this first one with Yaniv Rosnai is available here for all. In this installment, Leela is speaking with Yaniv...
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Episode Three: The War at Home
By the summer of 2023, it was clear that judicial reform was never really the story: The real battle was over Israel’s identity. And that battle touched on the deepest fears and disagreements Israelis were too busy surviving to address ever since the nation’s inception. Can an Israel occupied by…
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Episode Two: De-Mo-Krat-Ya!
Early in 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu’s newly elected government announced its intention to embark on sweeping reforms to the country’s judicial system. The announcement was soon met with the biggest wave of popular protests in the nation’s history, dividing Israel like few issues before. But what…
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Episode One: Vienna Waits for You
The real fight tearing Israel apart these days isn’t against Hamas, Hezbollah, or even Iran. It’s a struggle to answer some very urgent—and very old—questions, the same questions that haunted Zionism’s founding fathers more than a century ago. Should Israel be a state for the Jews, the thoroughly...
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The Battle for Israel's Soul - Coming June 9th
Early 2023 was a good time in Israel. The attack of October 7 was months in the future, and Israelis were enjoying a period of peace and prosperity. The economy was booming. The country came out fourth in the ranking of the world's happiest nations. You'd expect Israelis to sit back and celebrate...
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How to Be a Jew …. Who is Starting a Print Magazine, with Alana Newhouse
Tablet has launched a new print magazine, beginning this June. Why start something so "old fashioned" in the year 2025? Alana Newhouse, our editor in chief, joins us to explain why the current media landscape is actually begging for news you can hold in your hands. If you’re interested in...
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How to Be a Jew ... Who Says Yes to the Dress
Pnina Tornai became a recognizable name to Americans across the country as a personality and designer on TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress. She shares the surprisingly spiritual story of her success and talks about what it means to represent Israel on the global stage.
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How to Be a Jew … Like Israel's Most Famous Female Architect
Ada Karmi-Melamede is an architect who has designed famous buildings across Israel, including the Supreme Court building and the gateway to Ben Gurion airport. Her daughter, filmmaker Yael Melamede, talks to us about her new film, ADA: My Mother the Architect, which is a heartfelt investigation…
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How To Do Activism Right, with Jay Ruderman, Tuly Weisz, and Pesach Wolicki
These days, it seems like everyone is a so-called activist. Activism itself seems to have morphed into something different; it’s not about organizing communities or advocating for legislation, it’s about blocking roads and intimidating anyone with a different opinion. This week on Rootless, Liel...
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How to Be a Jew ... or an ally like Zarna Garg
Zarna Garg is a comedian whose standup centers around her life as an Indian mom in America. She joins us to discuss her new book, This American Woman: A One-in-a-Billion Memoir, as well as how she's supporting the Jews in a post 10/7 world.
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Israel’s Most Controversial Politician, with Itamar Ben-Gvir
There’s no more divisive Israeli public figure than Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir. Starting out his career as a Kahanist firebrand known for his controversial stances—like decorating his living room with a photograph of Baruch Goldstein, or working to free Yigal Amir, Yitzhak...
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How to Be a Jew … like Matisyahu
After bursting onto the music scene with his 2005 single “King without a Crown,” Matisyahu has built a career mixing a unique combination of reggae, hip hop, and deeply Jewish soul. We talk to him about his wandering journey with Judaism, his experiences touring after October 7th, and even the...
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Passover Crossover - How to Be a Jew ... Like Dara Horn
Rootless is off this week for Passover, but we wanted to bring you an episode of How to Be a Jew we think you'll like. Like most Jews, the news of the murder of the Bibas children not only saddened us, but it also made us ANGRY. How do we deal with our own thoughts about the event, and the…
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Passover Crossover - Rootless - Why Dual Loyalty is Good for the Jews, with Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz
We're off this week for Passover, but we wanted to bring you an episode of Rootless we think you'll like. Rootless: Here's Why Dual Loyalty is Good for the Jews, with Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz The charge of dual loyalty has long been a key weapon in the arsenal of anti-Semites everywhere. But in his…
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Why Oct. 7 Victims Are Suing a Palestinian Mogul, with Gary Osen
When people concerned with the future of the Palestinian people talk about the future, they often say, hopefully, that change will come only once we can replace Hamas and other terror groups with entrepreneurial technocrats more interested in building projects than in starting wars. They’re...
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How to Be a Jew … on Passover
This week on How to Be a Jew, we have questions, and answers too. As we all get ready for Passover we’re tackling some of the thorniest… and tastiest questions we’ve gotten. Need to save your matzah balls? What’s up with Christian Seders? Should we feel guilty about the plagues? Tune in for…
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Why God Was Right, with Mark Gerson
Like most highly successful entrepreneurs, Mark Gerson likes things he can measure, quantify, and know for certain. So as a student of the Torah, a question came to mind: If the Torah is supposed to be a guide to life, can we prove that its claims are true? In his epic new book, God Was Right,...
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How Israel Will Save Western Civilization, with Josh Hammer
In his new and best-selling book, Israel and Civilization, Josh Hammer makes a bold claim: the future of Western civilization depends on the State of Israel and the Jewish people thriving. He joins Liel to talk about the dangers of the Neo-Nietzschean right, about why liberal Jews have lost the...
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How to Be a Jew… Who Contemplates the Pig
For more than 3,000 years, prohibitions against eating pig has been central to Jewish dietary laws, but it’s also been a potent symbol of Jewish identity. Other non-kosher animals, like horses, rabbits, squirrels, and even vultures don’t carry the same weight that the pig does in the Jewish...
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How Universities Lost Their Way, With Cary Nelson
Universities are meant to be spaces of free inquiry, knowledge, and rigorous debate. But according to academic and writer Cary Nelson, they’ve instead become hotbeds of ideological conformity—long before October 7. In his new essay Mindless, published in the Jewish Quarterly, Nelson traces how...
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How to Be a Jew ... At the World Championships
A few weeks ago, we brought you a conversation with AJ Edelman, the first Orthodox Jew to compete in the Winter Olympics and the pilot of the current Israeli bobsled team. Shortly after that interview, Tablet signed on as a sponsor for his bobsled team, complete with merch you can find at...
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Why Dual Loyalty is Good for the Jews, with Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz
The charge of dual loyalty has long been a key weapon in the arsenal of anti-Semites everywhere. But in his new book, The Case for Dual Loyalty: Healing the Divided Soul of American Jews, Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz of Los Angeles’ Valley Beth Shalom argues that it’s time to embrace the idea. He joins...
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How to Be a Jew ... And an Accidental Gunslinger
Salvador Litvak, also known as the Accidental Talmudist, is the filmmaker behind the 2005 cult classic When Do We Eat and the author of Let My People Laugh: The Greatest Jewish Jokes of All Time!. He joins us to discuss his new film, Guns and Moses, in which a small-town rabbi becomes an unlikely...
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Why Trump’s Deportation of Mahmoud Khalil is Perfectly Legal, with Ilya Shapiro
Last Saturday, ICE agents detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian who was one of the leaders behind the year-long Tentifadah in Columbia University. Khalil and his group have repeatedly expressed their support for Hamas and other terrorist organizations, a violation of U.S. immigration...
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What to Do in Ukraine, and in Gaza? With Eli Lake
It’s been a week of fast-paced breaking news, from a bit of Hamas propaganda winning the Academy Award for best documentary to President Trump and Vice President Vance presiding over a heated meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky in the White House. Journalist and podcaster Eli Lake joins…
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How to Be a Jew … like a Shtisel
Shtisel was a world wide phenomenon, and after the success of the original, co-creator Yehonatan Indursky is back with a new story, Kugel, focusing on Libbi and her dad Nuchem Shtisel during their days in Antwerp. Hadas Yaron, who stars as Libbi, joins us to talk about the difference between...
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How to be a Jew … Like Dara Horn
Like most Jews, the news of the murder of the Bibas children not only saddened us, but it also made us ANGRY. How do we deal with our own thoughts about the event, and the greater world’s response as well? Dara Horn, a prolific author known for her book People Love Dead Jews (and the podcast...
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Can Orthodox Judaism Be Reformed? with Rabbi Irving Greenberg
One of American Jewry’s leading theologians and thinkers, Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg has spent decades engaging—and enraging—orthodoxy by suggesting it was time for religious Jews to examine some of their closest-held beliefs, including on such controversial issues like gay marriage or female...
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How to Be a Jew ... Like Olympian AJ Edelman
AJ Edelman is the first Orthodox Jew to compete in the Winter Olympics and serves as the pilot of the Israeli bobsled team. He joins us to make the case for Jews in sports, recounts his unconventional path to “sliding sport” acclaim (and the setbacks he’s faced), and talks about what it’s meant…
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Is This the End of Woke Capitalism?, With Jennifer Sey
Jennifer Sey was a national gymnastics champion who then won awards for exposing the abuse many female gymnasts suffered at the hands of their male coaches. She was also a celebrated executive with fashion giant Levi Strauss before being canceled for speaking her mind. Now, she’s the founder and...
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How to Be a Jew … Among Friends
In today’s hyper-paced, screen-driven world, making—and keeping—new friends has become incredibly challenging. Same goes for nurturing long-lasting friendships. So, what’s a Jew to do? Journalist, author, and unofficial friendship correspondent Anna Goldfarb joins us to talk about modern...
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Are We Really About to Empty Gaza of Palestinians?, with Tony Badran
Welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump has repeatedly made a bombshell proposal: Empty Gaza of its 1.8 million Palestinian residents, resettling them elsewhere in the Arab world and rebuilding the devastated strip. Tony Badran, Tablet...
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How to be a Jew ... who claims Israel
Ben M. Freeman’s previous two books, 2021’s Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People and 2022’s Reclaiming Our Story: The Pursuit of Jewish Pride were powerful arguments for rejecting Jew-hate, both internal and external. His latest book, The Jews: An Indigenous People, coming out Feb. 27, is the first...
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Are Science and Religion Mutually Exclusive? With Spencer Klavan
Not long ago, a prominent Silicon Valley technologist told anyone who would listen that he believed he would never die because Artificial Intelligence was basically a God-like machine that could override all human frailties, including aging. This idea, says author and classicist Spencer Klavan,...
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How to be a Jew … Like Lisa Edelstein
Lisa Edelstein has always been a woman of many hats, from 80’s “It” girl, to acting in shows like House, and painting. She joins us to talk about her latest exhibition, “Dance Me to the End of the World,” and how the paintings are so …. Jewish. We also talk about how her Judaism has affected the...
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Saving Western Values: Rotherham and the Perils of Multiculturalism with Melanie Phillips
Elon Musk recently reignited discussion of a decade-old child sex scandal in England, in which more than 1,000 girls were groomed and raped by gangs largely composed of men of Pakistani descent. The scandal was mismanaged by the authorities, and British journalist Melanie Phillips joins us to…
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How to be a Jew … and a pragmatist
On the brink of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, Yohanan ben Zakkai made an astonishing decision. When faced with an opportunity to ask for anything from the new Roman emperor, Vespasian, rather than choosing to ask him to spare the Temple, Yochanan asked only for permission to start a...
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Is the Hostage Deal a Disaster? with Gadi Taub
According to reports, Israel is about to sign a ceasefire deal with Hamas that will secure the return of some hostages in return to a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, paving the way to ending the war. Gadi Taub, the co-host of Tablet’s popular Israel Update podcast and one of Israel’s most...
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UPDATE: How to Be a Jew … in Los Angeles right now
We are re-releasing this episode with an update from Courtney on the situation in Los Angeles. History-making wild fires have been raging nearly out of control across the Los Angeles area, destroying homes, businesses, schools, and even synagogues. How is the community responding, and what can…
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Can we Forgive Our Worst Enemies? Should We? With R.R. Reno
For the past two years, a group of esteemed Christian and Jewish thinkers and theologians met regularly to discuss the one thing they felt was most sorely missing from the cultural and political landscape: Forgiveness. Rather than rage or despair, they argued, society ought to turn to the...
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How to Be a Jew … in Los Angeles right now
History-making wild fires have been raging nearly out of control across the Los Angeles area, destroying homes, businesses, schools, and even synagogues. How is the community responding, and what can the greater jewish community do? Rabbi Beau Shapiro joins us to give a clergy’s eye view on how…
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Will We All Soon Be Haredi? With Rabbi Gil Student
In 2012, tens of thousands of Orthodox Jews packed Citi Field to protest the Internet and demand that believers tune out of the new nascent new medium. Rabbi Gil Student, an influential writer and thinker, opposed the move, arguing that even the most stringently observant Jews could learn to live...
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How to Be a Jew ... like Jesse Eisenberg
Movies about remembrance are incredibly complicated and difficult to pull off. In his latest film, A Real Pain, actor, writer, and director Jesse Eisenberg tackles grief, family, and memory with echoes of the Holocaust as a haunting background. The film, which was inspired by a piece Jesse wrote...
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How to Be a Jew ... on New Year's
This show takes no weeks off for holidays, whether they are on the Jewish or Gregorian calendars. What are the differences and similarities between Rosh Hashanah and the “secular” new year’s and more importantly how are we marking them? Tablet’s executive editor Wayne Hoffman joins us to discuss...
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Jewish Studies Unscrolled: “Raisins and Almonds” and Yiddish Folksong in Classical Folk Music with Alex Weiser
Today on Jewish Studies Unscrolled, we explore the history and evolution of “Rozhinkes mit Mandlen” (Raisins and Almonds), the iconic Yiddish lullaby written by Avrom Goldfaden for his 1880 operetta Shulamis. Our guest, Pulitzer Prize finalist Alex Weiser, Director of Public Programs at the YIVO...
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Jewish Studies Unscrolled: American Horror and Sidney Lumet’s film The Pawnbroker (1964), with Jeremy Dauber
Today on Jewish Studies Unscrolled, we delve into a rare cultural intersection: Jewish life and the genre of horror. While Jewish contributions to American culture often focus on comedy, literature, or music, horror remains largely unexplored, even by prominent Jewish filmmakers. We’re joined by...
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Jewish Studies Unscrolled: The Petitions of Rabbi Elijah Guttmacher, with Glenn Dynner
Today on Jewish Studies Unscrolled, we dive into the fascinating world of kvitlekh—19th-century petitions addressed to Rabbi Elijah Guttmacher, a misnagdic rabbi whose miracle-working reputation drew thousands of supplicants. Discovered in a Polish attic in 1932 and preserved by the YIVO…
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Jewish Studies Unscrolled: Bruce Springsteen, with Rabbis Elliot Cosgrove and Neil Zuckerman
Today on Jewish Studies Unscrolled, we talk about Bruce Springsteen and his iconic song “Thunder Road.” While Springsteen himself isn’t Jewish, this song, and his songwriting in general, invites reflections on themes central to Jewish life: tradition, leaving home, and coming back again. We’re...
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Jewish Studies Unscrolled: Hostages and Nathan Hanover’s The Abyss of Despair, with Adam Teller
Today on Jewish Studies Unscrolled, we explore Nathan Hanover’s 17th-century work, The Abyss of Despair, or, in the original Hebrew, Yeven Metsulah. The text documents the Chmelnitski Revolt of 1648, a catastrophic uprising that devastated Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. We’re joined by…
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About this show
From weekly series examining unique angles on Jews’ place in the world, to inquiries into the details of Jewish text and tradition, Tablet Studios podcasts bring you insight and inspiration for the modern-day Jew. Our shows include How to Be a Jew, Unorthodox, Rootless, Re-Form, and more to come.
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