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Tablet Studios

Reimagining Purim: Ep. 264

Tablet Studios

Tablet Magazine

Judaism, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality

4.61.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2021

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week on Unorthodox, we’re celebrating Purim and breaking the mold. First, Stephanie welcomes her special Purim co-hosts, friends of the show Kylie Unell and Abigail Pogrebin, who help her tell the story of Purim and offer their takes on some of the holiday’s larger themes. Next, Stephanie is joined by Anna Solomon, author of The Book of V., a fictionalized redefining of the story of Vashti. She explains that the binaries we’ve been taught — “that Vashti is wanton, wicked, selfish; and Esther virtuous, brave, selfless” — don't match up with what we actually find in The Book of Esther. From Vashti to Esther: Liel sits down with English professor Shaina Trapedo, who wrote about Purim-inspired beauty pageants for Esther in America, a new collection edited by former Unorthodox guest Stuart Halpern. She tells us about the surprising history of Jewish beauty pageants in America, and explains why the Esther aesthetic is more complex than it may seem. And finally, Mark checks in with former guest Shay Khatiri to find out what it’s like to be named after Ahasuerus. There’s just one week left to enter our Jewish Name of the Year bracket! Do you have a great Jewish name or know someone with a great Jewish name? Email your suggestions to unorthodox@tabletmag.com. Join us Tuesday, March 2 at 2 p.m. EST for Zibby Owen’s next virtual book club. Stephanie will be joining Zibby to talk to Melissa Gould about her memoir Widow-ish, her story of young widowhood, grief, and finding love again. Sign up at zibbyowens.com/virtualbookclub. As always, let us know what you think of the show. Send us comments and questions at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave us a voicemail at (914) 570-4869. You can also record a voice memo on your smartphone and email it to us. We’ve got virtual events! Tuesday, March 2: Stephanie will be discussing Tablet's first book, The 100 Most Jewish Foods: A Highly Debatable List, at the Springfield JCC at 7 p.m. EST; Register here. Wednesday, March 10: Mark, Stephanie, and Liel will be returning to the Washington Hebrew Congregation virtually to discuss The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia at 8 p.m. EST. Register here. Thursday, March 11: Stephanie and Mark will be discussing The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia as part of the Mandel JCC of the Palm Beaches' Book Festival at 7:30 p.m. EST. Register here. Thursday, March 25: Stephanie Butnick will be interviewing Menachem Kaiser about his new book, Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, at 7 p.m. EST. Register here. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our recording sessions on our YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, mugs, and baby onesies at bit.ly/unorthoshirt. Want to book us for a live show? Email producer Josh Kross at jkross@tabletmag.com. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. Sponsors: Kol Foods has everything you need to create a kosher, ethical, sustainably-sourced Passover Seder spread, from delicious briskets to 100% grass-fed lamb shank bones. Use promo code UNORTHODOXPESACH for 10% of your entire Passover order at KOLFoods.com.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is Unorthodox, the world's leading Jewish podcast.

0:07.2

I'm your host, Stephanie Butnik, and today I'm joined by two completely different co-hosts.

0:12.3

That's right, it's Purim, and in the spirit of shaking things up, and in a nod to the

0:15.7

holidays of many feminist interpretations, I've invited two of my favorite Jewish thinkers.

0:20.9

Both former Unorthodox guests to help me helm today's Purim episode.

0:24.9

So I'm here with author and parsha in progress podcast host, Abigail Poverbin.

0:29.6

It's great to see you.

0:30.8

And our resident PhD student in Jewish thought, Kylie Unel.

0:34.6

Hello, I love that title.

0:36.3

Yes, you're ours now.

0:37.2

I know you go to an actually accredited university, but you're ours now.

0:40.2

So Abby, Kylie, I think you two are some of the smartest people on all things Jewish.

0:45.2

You have just great modern takes with a lot of nuance background and historical,

0:49.0

yes, as they say.

0:50.2

So, so ladies, if I may, let's start with the story of Purim.

0:54.6

I'm going to give the like Hebrew school version of the story.

0:58.0

So that for someone who's never heard of this holiday, they'll know a little bit about it.

1:01.2

And then we'll like get into the weeds, analyze it, dissect it, interpret it.

1:05.5

I feel like we should have Destiny's child independent women, part one playing with me in this.

1:10.8

I know, well, maybe we could like string that in the background.

1:13.4

There you go.

1:14.2

We are the Charlie's Angels of Purim.

...

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