The One With the Mitzvah Tank: Ep. 143

Tablet Studios

Tablet Magazine

Judaism, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2018

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"Hi, are you Jewish?" It's a question you may have been asked in any number of towns or cities by a smiling bearded man wearing a yarmulke. It's one of the trademarks of Chabad, the Hasidic movement that dispatches its young men around town to help Jewish strangers perform a mitzvah—Jewish women are offered Shabbat candles, and Jewish men are encouraged to put on tefillin. We've always been fascinated with this practice, with some of us finding it charming and others, frankly, terrifying. So we did the only thing we could do: We went to Manhattan's crowded Union Square during lunchtime, accompanied by our very own Chabad sherpas, to see what it was like to talk to absolute strangers about religion. While we're asking questions: Is it OK to say "JAP"? That's what we'll be discussing at our live show Wednesday, June 18, at the JCC Manhattan. Jill Kargman of Odd Mom Out will join us to screen a short film we made about the persistence of the Jewish American Princess stereotype. Broadway legend Tovah Feldshuh and Jill Kargman of Odd Mom Out will join us to screen a short film we made about the persistence of the Jewish American Princess stereotype. There will be a lively discussion, audience questions, and much more. Get your tickets here. Our donation drive is live! We have fun prizes for all levels of giving, including a special Camp Unorthodox T-shirt, an Unorthodox enamel pin, an 'Unorthodox Approved' laptop sticker, and more. And this year are hosts are upping the stakes with a contest: When you give, include a note with the name of your favorite host. The host who gets the least love will have to face a very creative and amusing penalty on air. Visit tabletmag.com/donate to be part of the fun. We love hearing from our listeners! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at our listener line: 914-570-4869. We may share your note on the air. If you like us, please consider leaving a review in iTunes. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group to chat with the hosts and see what happens behind-the-scenes! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Show your love for Unorthodox with our new T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies. Get yours at bit.ly/unorthoshirt. This episode is sponsored by Harry’s. New customers get 5 dollars off a shave set from Harry’s when you sign up at harrys.com/unorthodox.

Transcript

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0:00.0	What better way to be proudly Jewish right now than with our book, the Newish Jewish Encyclopedia?
0:07.0	It's the perfect coffee table book for your proud Jewish home,
0:10.0	and it covers everything from Jewish history pop culture holidays and of course food
0:14.2	all with our trademark irreverence and love our publisher is offering a special
0:18.8	20% discount on newest Jewish and their entire Hanukk shop. So head to Artisan Books.com
0:24.0	and use the code unorthodox at check out.
0:26.5	That's Artisan Books.
0:28.1	Discount code, unorthodox, all caps.
0:38.0	So I feel like I have the like five stages of being asked about Jewish by about how about and the first one is annoyance.
0:40.0	The first one is annoyance like you're in my way I'm trying to go somewhere. The second is like I think it's anger because it's like
0:46.5	How dare you ask me that? You don't know me you don't know
0:49.5	You don't know what you know? Would you even consider me Jewish based on what you think is like anger then like guilt
0:57.6	because either I've said no or just walked away been shame because like why can't I be more comfortable in my own Judaism and then
1:04.5	acceptance. This is unorthodox the world's leading Jewish podcast I'm Mark
1:10.0	Oppenheimer here with my co-host Stephanie Butnik.
1:12.8	Hello.
1:13.9	And Lea Leibowitz?
1:14.9	Seemontov, the Maselto.
1:16.6	A very special episode this week.
1:18.9	Some of you are immediately going to relate to this.
1:20.9	I, beginning in college, would sometimes be hanging out on a Friday
1:26.2	afternoon, maybe walking down a street New Haven, still happens to me, happened to me when I lived in New York,
	...

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