Jewish-ish

Maria has some coffee and is jittery. Maria attends a shabbat dinner at her boss's house and doesn't know how to behave. Maria introduces a new segment on her podcast about picking apart Bad Jewish Newspaper Articles, which she worries about because Maria can't really handle drama or criticism online. But this article was a doozy! Listen to learn more! Also, fish are blameless. 

We're back, baby!    After our two-week hiatus, I return with my longtime friend and high school art educator Lauren! Together, we talk about a (true!) ghost-adjacent experience we had as preteens! Because ghosts are (maybe?) part of HaShem's creation too, and so that makes sense to talk about when also diving into the book of Genesis! 

I sit down with video games journalist, critic, and writer Ang! Ang is a writer at GamerTerra.com, which you should all immediately check out. We talk about video games, new year's resolutions, the shmita year being Too Rad To Institute, and more!

I sit down with my sister, my honest-to-goodness actual sister, and chat about parashah nitzavim. Along the way, we talk about being a living organ donor, using horror writing as a way to deal with trauma, and the nutrients found in cabbage. Want to donate an organ to a loved one who needs it but worried about lost wages and the cost of getting to them? My sister works at a great org that can help you save a life!

In this episode of Jewish-ish, I sit down with librarian and fan of video games Casey! We talk about the curses and punishments that HaShem says will befall the Israelites if they do not obey HaShem's commandments. Including your fiancee sleeping with another man, which, if you're into that, is not a curse. We also talk about the odd phenomenon of eating steak on Valentine's Day, which we don't think is a real thing.

In this episode, I sit down with my friend Greg who is our first ever Protestant guest on Jewish-ish! We dive into this, well, problematic parashah and talk about the problems inherent to the ideology of the prosperity gospel, fashion choices of the religious, and Greg teaches Maria what "Quizzing" at church means.  You can, and should, follow an actual-play podcast Greg is on called Technical Difficulties.

Today I sit down with Olivia Devorah Tucker, an incredible Jewish educator and Talmudist. We dive into parashah Shoftim and think about what kinds of magical practice our sages (the rabbis in the mishnah/talmud) think parashah shoftim was prohibiting. Plus, there is some discussion of magic cucumbers, demons, and more! Hire Olivia to teach a class for your community! They can be reached at oliviabyemail@gmail.com.

This time I am really sitting down to dive into parashah re'eh (promise) and discuss the passage with my previous Teaching Mentor and Associate Professor of Religion at Syracuse University, Dr. Gareth Fisher! Gareth talks to us about his experiences doing ethnographic work in China, karma in Buddhism, and about the rural and urban divide in Chinese life.    Dr. Fisher had some issues with his audio throughout the episode, so it doesn't sound the best. But it's still a fascinating episode, so take a listen!

In this episode, I sit down with former student, musician, and songwriter Molly C. Young to discuss how I want to see a whale, Molly has seen and loved a mantis shrimp, and the proliferation of cancel culture in the Minecraft real-play youtube community. Check out Molly's album, Death of the Author, on spotify!

In this episode, I sit down with one of my oldest friends, Caitlin Lang, to talk about the ten commandments, not getting sick while piloting or flying in a plane, and how creepily addicting instagram ads are. Enjoy! 

This week, Maria sits down with my friend and food-access activist Xantar. Xantar talks abut being raised Buddhist-ish, traveling across the United States with his brother, and teaches Maria what mens rea means. He also embarrassingly has to tell Maria what a Presidential Library is, because Maria thought it was literally just a regular library in a low-income area funded by a President where you could go and, like, check out fiction.  Then, because Maria did the schedule for this podcast incorrectly you get a BONUS! FLASH! DISCUSSION! with Maria and her husband, Dan Heifetz. They talk about demonstrating anger, and how it probably felt to be an Israelite hearing Moses tell you all the bad things you did. Again. 

This week I sit down with Jewish Educator and Congregational Manager of Dor Hadash Sai Koros to talk about the problematic parashah of Matot! Together, we talk about favorite and least favorite Jewish foods (with some surprises) sexist laws about vows, and the importance of napping.

I sit down with lay-leader and fellow podcaster Leah Jones where we talk about our pet peeves, whether or not we are zealots, and thoughts on intermarriage and COVID committee dealings all while also discussing parashah Pinchas. Check out Leah's podcast: Finding Favorites with Leah Jones!

Hello! This week we are talking about parashah balak which includes the famous scene of BALAAM'S TALKING ASS (DONKEY)! I invite my childhood friend, Dr. Gabrielle Bychowski, to have a seat with me and talk intrigue and politics in the Catholic church, the reasons why Gabby thinks Halloween isn't taken seriously enough in our society, and dating advice from Balaam's donkey.

On our FIRST! EVER! episode of the podcast, I invite Jewish educator and lay leader Anna Coufal to come talk to me about Parashah Chukat. Here we answer some really important questions about the parashah such as: why did they have staffs back then? What is dowsing? Why does Maria hate Sukkot?