Tradition and Myth: Ep. 207

Tablet Studios

Tablet Magazine

Judaism, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2019

⏱️ 83 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on Unorthodox, we’re very literally all over the place. First, we bring you News of the Jews from our live show earlier this week at the Valley of the Sun JCC in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona. Then we call Wall Street Journal reporter Louise Radnofsky to figure out why so many figure skaters perform to the Schindler’s List theme song. Stephanie sits down with Sarah Hurwitz, a former speechwriter for Michelle Obama and the author of the new book Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life—in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There). She tells us about rediscovering and embracing Judaism while working in the White House, how she’s using the skills she honed as a speechwriter to make Judaism more accessible, and the advice she has for people who want to make Jewish practice a bigger part of their life but aren’t sure how to do so. Our Gentile of the Week is Jackson Crawford, a professor of Old Norse mythology, who chatted with Mark while we were in Denver last month. He tells us about translating Norse poetry, bringing an ancient world to life through his YouTube channel, and the strange conspiracy theories circulating about him on the internet. Let us know what you think of the show! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Come see us on tour! December 15 – New Haven, Connecticut: Brunch and book talk with all three hosts December 19 – St. Louis: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel January 8, 2020 – Westport, Connecticut: Book talk with Mark and Liel February 6, 2020 – Scotch Plains, NJ: Book talk with Stephanie & Liel February 9, 2020 – Wyomissing, PA: Book talk with Mark and Liel February 26, 2020 – Naples, FL: Book talk with Stephanie and Mark March 12, 2020 – Boca Raton, FL: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel Copies of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia will be sold and signed at each event. Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram and join our Facebook group. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here. Sponsors: Soom Foods makes delicious tahini products that are dairy-free, nut-free, gluten-free, and certified kosher. Try the pantry sampler, which includes their tahini, chocolate sweet tahini halva spread, and silan date syrup. Head to soomfoods.com and use code UNORTHODOX to get 15 percent off your order.Adeena Sussman’s cookbook Sababa shares the vibrant flavors of Israeli home cooking, and makes a great Hanukkah gift for the foodie in your life. Get a copy of Sababa online or at your favorite bookstoreHarry’s limited-edition holiday sets are the perfect gift this season. Get $5 off any shave set when you go to Harrys.com/UNORTHODOX. (Free shipping through Dec. 16.)

Transcript

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0:00.0	What better way to be proudly Jewish right now than with our book, the newest Jewish
0:06.2	Encyclopedia?
0:07.2	It's the perfect coffee table book for your proud Jewish home, and it covers everything
0:11.3	from Jewish history, pop culture, holidays, and of course food,
0:14.9	all with our trademark, irreverence, and love.
0:17.5	Our publisher is offering a special 20% discount on newest Jewish and their entire Hanukkah shop.
0:22.4	So head to Artisan Books.com
0:24.0	and use the code unorthodox at check out.
0:26.5	That's Artisan Books.
0:28.2	Discount code, unorthodox, all caps. bringing you two interviews we've recorded recently.
0:42.6	We talked to Sarah Hurwitz, a former Obama speechwriter with a new book out on Judaism,
0:47.1	and Jackson Crawford, a professor of Norse mythology who we met in Denver.
0:51.8	But first, some news of the Jews, live from the Valley of the Sun
0:54.9	JCC in Phoenix, Arizona. Before we begin the show proper, which will happen in a moment too, this is all...
1:07.0	I want to tell you that for any gentleman here,
1:09.0	happen to have used the men's room and noticed that the little flyers about upcoming events that are normally above the urinals
1:15.2	are gone. You're wondering why. It's because I took them. And I did that because I wanted to tell you all what's coming up.
1:22.2	So gross.
1:24.2	One of the urinals is the adult happenings urinal.
1:26.6	And the other one is the youth and family happenings urinal.
1:29.6	You'd think the youth happenings urinal would actually be lower it's not it's the same height
1:34.0	so just chew on that for a moment adults on Wednesday you can keep calm and play
	...

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