Ask a Jew

Uri Berliner was a senior business editor at NPR for 25 years, when he decided to set his tote bag on fire and spill the tea. We talk to him about his bombshell essay, How NPR Lost America, NPR’s coverage of Israel, viewpoint diversity, journalism, podcasts and much more.

It seems like every time we publish an episode, we add a line that says “we recorded this before that terrible thing that happened”. So we recorded this one after the horrific murders of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim in DC, but before the Boulder terrorism attack. The sentim...

Chaya Leah Sufrin and Yael Bar tur are two of the most influential Jewish women in America. Known for their compassionate and thoughtful discussions, they discuss topics ranging from antisemitism to The Social Security Act of 1935. Their guests include luminaries such as Barbara Bush, Oprah Winfery, Bill Cosby, and whatever that guy’s name is who was married to Kim Kardashian for like two weeks. Seriously, AI is dead. It was a bubble and always will be. It’s headed to the garbage bin of history with My Space, Ivy League Universities, and democracy. Unfiltered word vomit is the new...

Today is a heartbreaking and terrifying day for Jews in America—and for anyone who cherishes the values of decency, freedom, and civilization itself.The cold-blooded murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim last night in Washington, D.C., has shattered any illusion that the hate-filled rhetoric we’ve been hearing was just talk. It wasn’t. For those of us who have been warning that this kind of incitement would spill into violence, this is our worst nightmare come true. And yet we still hear people whispering, some quite loudly, that the Zionists had it coming.

This w...

We got the top Jew everyone! Eric D. Fingerhut is the President and CEO of The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), previously the President and CEO of Hillel International, and also a former congressman for the great state of Ohio. Take that resume to your Jewish mother!

In case you don’t know, the Jewish Federations of North America is the umbrella organization for the different Jewish organizations, and they respond to the needs of Jews in the US, Israel and around the world. The Federation raises about 2 billion annually, which is enough for a couple of...

Happy Mother’s Day! This week, we invited the women who have been listening to us blabber for over 40 years — our biggest fans and fiercest critics: our own moms!

Please enjoy our conversation with Chanie Perelmuter and Liora Bar tur. We talk childhood, community, Holocaust (of course) and bra shopping. And please, call your mother!

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Today is the specialest day in Israel. We just exited Memorial Day for soldiers and victis of terror, the saddest day of the year by far, and went straight — and I mean straight, within minutes — into Independence Day, the happiest. 24 hours of pain and heartbreak, followed by a short ceremony that throws us into a celebration of what we have gained thanks to those we lost. It’s a rollercoaster, like most things here. Here’s a video I took today at the market during the national moment of silence for the fallen. It’s chilling and frankly pretty cool to wa...

Happy Good Friday! Shh, we have a serious guest, everyone behave please in the comment section. Today we welcome Jacob Mchangama. Jacob is the author of the breezy beach read “Free Speech – A History from Socrates to Social Media”, research professor at Vanderbilt University where he is also the founder and Executive Director of The Future of Free Speech institute, and a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression theFIREorg.

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Here’s what we cover:

* Anne Frank is from Denmark, right?<...

This week in honor of Passover, we welcome the coolest Rabbi I know (after Chaya Leah’s father of edJEWcation), Rabbi Gavriel Bellino of NYC’s 6th street shul.

There are tons of photos, videos and musing that go with this episode from my visit to Israel. please check them out on substack at askajew.substack.com and/or on Instagram @askajewpod.

If you live in NYC you should absolutely visit 6th Street Shul (yes, this is Yael!) Its super welcoming and lowkey, and they throw some great parties. They also have the best Instagram acco...

This week we welcome returning guest and the youngest person we know, Blake Flayton, to talk about his new book: 10 Things Every Jew Should Know Before They Go to College. We talk to Blake about how to win over Gen Z (with social justice!), whether or not we should we be gatekeeping the the antisemitism discourse, and why we don’t want to see anymore Holocaust movies….for now.

You can follow Blake on Substack, X and Instagram, check him out calling out campus antisemitism in The NY Times before it was cool, and of course buy the...

G’day from the Land Down Under! Promise this is our first and last Australia joke in these show notes. Today we welcome the Jewish Hugh Jackman (ok, I lied), Josh Szeps to Ask A Jew! Josh is the host of Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps, and host of Szeps Live on Substack every Tuesday at 9pm (that’s normal time, not whatever they use in Australia). We loved having Josh on, even though he’s a lefty and that makes us feel unsafe. But it’s hard not to love him, and you will too. Also it doesn’t hurt tha...

The world needs to stop talking about Jews and the only way that will happen is if Barak Obama and Jennifer Aniston have a baby.

PHOTOS, CONVO, AND MORE ON SUBSTACK! askajew.substack.com

Also:

* Chaya Leah makes a stunning confession

* Purim Hangover

* Covid anniversary

* Hasidic fashion and the horrors of Brandy Melville

* The strange life of supermodels

* Save us, Barak Obama and Jennifer Aniston!

* Shitty Columbia students

* You don’t hate the universities enough

* Not all sl...

You demanded, we supplied! This week we are honored to have Prof. Russ Roberts join us on Ask A Jew. Russ is the host of the wildly successful podcast EconTalk (where he talks about everything from tariffs to the Opera), president of Shalem College in Jerusalem, and a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford. He’s also the author of many books, including How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness , and the economics-based novel, The Price of Everything. It is only natural that this internationally renowned economist and influential podcaster si...

Who’s this, disprespecting us on our podcast?? It’s our very own rare earth mineral, The Free Press columnist and host of the wonderful Breaking History podcast, Eli Lake! Did he even say thank you once? I don’t know. Probably at the end. Does it even matter? We hope you enjoy the episode. If you didn’t, it’s because Chaya Leah didn’t bring her translator.

Want more AAJ fun? Join the conversation on Substack! askajew.substack.com

Here’s what we cover:

· Yael learns something astonishing about how Chaya Leah views Volo...

Look. The words are done. They have just run out. So we filled the void with various mouth noises, about everything from the orthodox child labor, Meir Kahane, the Grand Canyon and Apple Cider Vinegar. Listen, some weeks are so icky, it’s ok to order a 7-11 Big Gulp on Uber Eats in the middle of a recording. Or is it? Anyway, please excuse our mess, but you get it, right?

* The story of Ariel Bibas’s best friend from kindergarten

* The new Hollyowod Jews who are punching back. Don’t you just love to see...

This week we welcome our pals and confidants, Kat Rosenfield and Phoebe Maltz Bovy, co-hosts of Feminine Chaos!

Kat is a novelist, culture writer, and frequent contributor to the Free Press, where you should read whatever she writes, no matter the topic.

Phoebe is the opinion editor of the Canadian Jewish News, contributor to The Globe and Mail, author of the book The Perils of “Privilege” and a Canadian-American patriot.

We talk Kosher Superbowl halftime shows, beauty and aging, The Golden Girls, and more! Don’t forget to check out Feminine Chaos on Substa...

Happy Valentines Day! That’s a Jewish holiday right? Well, we’re celebrating Rebbe Saint Valentine anyway.

In this festive episode we get all googly-eyed over our guest Aleeza Ben Shalom, a matchmaker and relationship coach who you all know from Netflix’s “Jewish Matchmaking”, and author of the new book Matchmaker Matchmaker: Find Me a Love That Lasts, which you should buy at least 2 copies of.

We dive into Aleeza's advice to "date ‘em til you hate ‘em", untangle love and values, and hear why Chaya Leah’s grandfather (who was himself a matchmkaer) would force men...

We totally thought Richard Hanania was a Jew, and by the time we found out he’s Palestinian (gasp!) it was too late to cancel. Just kidding, we loved talking to Richard about everything from the online right-wing “trollosphere”, antisemitism (which he gets his fair share of), Twitter politics, elite human capital, disappearing pronoun bios, and in general why everything is just more stupid now.

Follow Richard on X/Twitter , check out the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology, and subscrie to his Substack here.

We sit down to recap the events of the week, which feels like a decade.

Check out videos and shownotes on askajew.substack.com

Also:

* Chaya Leah wants to deport Yael

* The hostage releases are so emotional. And that emotion is rage.

* Where do they keep the laminating machines in Gaza?

* Let the sunshine in

* Is Elon Musk a Nazi? And do we prefer quality or quantity in our antisemites

* Advice to secret Nazis: play it smooth.

* Jeremy Corbyn’s cat go...

That feeling you have in the pit of your stomach? We’re all there. A mix of hope, fear, anger and grief. An American friend asked me if I’m happy about the hostage deal, and it was hard to use that word in this context. Though I support the deal (like most Israelis) and believe it is the moral choice, it makes me sick to my stomach that we even had to negotiate with these b******s, not to mention give them anything that doesn’t drop from the wing of an F-15. More about that, and our listen...

Dr. Jonathan Schanzer is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, host of the FDD Morning Brief, and formerly a terror finance analyst for the US Treasury. There’s a lot to talk about this week, especially the hostages, an upcoming ceasefire deal that brings up all kinds of feelings, and of course - Houthi dance moves. Follow Jonathan on X and don’t forget to check out the Morning Brief wherever you get your podcasts.

Good for the Jews is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider beco...

This week we welcome on of our favorite podcast hosts and top 5 favorite lesbians, non-Jew Katie Herzog! Katie is the co-host of the wonderful Blocked and Reported podcast about internet drama with Jesse Singal, which makes her a victim of antisemitism by association.

Join the conversation on Substack today! Askajew.substack.com

We discuss:

* Wigs

* Head nipples

* What’s the difference between Seattle and Portland

* Hurricane Helene

* America needs a good enemy

* New Year’s Resolutions

* Meditation changed my life or what...

What do you people call it? 2025? Anyway, we hope it’s awesome! Is your new year’s resolution to listen more of the Jewish weave, covering everything from Hanukkah to TJ MAxx? If so, you’re in for a treat.

Also:

* Our sufganiyot (seasonal donuts) game-plan

* Being Jewish out loud

* Are celebrities allowed to be jewish?

* A 2nd Hanukkah without the hostages

* The bombshell Assad divorce

* We are the lovechilds Marie Kondo and a Tazmanian Devil

* We’ll also introduce a new segment: The Jewi...

Brendan O’Neill is the chief political writer for Spiked and host of The Brendan O’Neill Show podcast. He writes for numerous publications, including the Daily Mail, the Spectator, the New York Post and The Australian. His latest book is After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation (Spiked, 2024) which you should all buy immediately.

Brendan attempts to explain to us what the HELL is wrong with Ireland, why he as a non-Jew had such a strong reaction to October 7 (he’s against it, just to be clear) and why the right wing variety of ant...

This week we welcome Judy Gold, comedian, writer, actor and author of "Yes, I can say that! When they come for the comedians we're all I trouble".

We go everywhere in this one - feminism, lesbians Israel, comedy, cat calling - you name it, we laugh about it. Don't listen if you have kids in the car (unless your kids are cool)

Follow Judy on Instagram, check out her website, and catch her performing comedy live weekly She also hosts the podcast “It’s Judy’s Show”, but she hasn’t invited us on so don’t list...

Jonathan Elkhoury is just your typical Lebanese, Israeli, Christian, Gay Zionist.

Born in Lebanon, Jonathan fled the country at the age of 8 with his family when Hezbollah took over their village. Since his father was in the South Lebanese Army and worked closely with the IDF, the family (along with about 6,000 other SLA members and their families) were offered refuge in Israel, where they have been living since.

Follow Jonathan on Instagram, X and Facebook,

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It's not too late to sign up for our Hanukkah party Dec 12th! (unless you are...

The girls share everything they know about Syria (not much), argue passionately about faith in the Messiah vs. faith in the Iron Dome, and try to determine who is the better Jew (the answer may suprise you!)

In New York Dec 12th? Join us both for our Hanukkah party! Check askajew.substack.com for details or email askajewpod@gmail.com. 

Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.com

Email us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com

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Chaya Leah heeds the activists' advice and goes back to Poland. Also: Trumps hottest cabinet picks, our *least* favorite type of antisemites, and a wholesome dip into Mormon Twitter. Don't forget to RSVP for our Hanukkah party, Dec 12 in NYC! Details on Askajew.substack.com. Happy Thanksgiving!

Links:

The Perelmuters in Poland

Hanukkah party details

Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.com

Email us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com

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Today we welcome Zibby Owens, bestselling author, CEO, bookstore owner , “book-fluencer”, and host of the widely succesful “Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books” podcast. Most recently she published “On Being Jewish Now”, a collection of essays on Jewish identities in a post-October 7th world. 

Save the Date! Dec 12th AAJ Hanukkah Party in NYC! Sign up for substack for details: Askajew.substack.com

Check out Zibby’s website, check out Zibby Media, follow her on Instagram and Facebook, and of course - buy 👏 the 👏 book!

Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.su...

DECEMBER 12 HANUKKAH PARTY IN NYC! Follow askajew.substack.com for details.

Some rational and irrational responses to the election that are sure to equally offend all the listeners, plus movies, planes, the orthodox draft in Israel, and more. This is probably the only podcast where a passionate argument about skincare will lead to a passionate argument about a hostage deal.

Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.com

Email us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com

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Looking for a non-election podcast? How about 75 minutes of soothing soviet antisemitism? We got you. Our guest today is Izabella Tabarovsky, a scholar of Soviet antizionism and contemporary antisemitism. We discuss how everything old is new again, why being a self-hating Jewish celebrity is sooooo 1970s, and what you can do today to de-program your brain from stale propaganda.

You should read pretty much everything Izabella has ever written: start here.

The Z3 institute for Jewish Priorities (there’s a conference you can go to in the Bay Area!)

18 brave Georgian Jews in 1969

Bonjour from Paris! (Bonjour means “hello” in French). Miss us? We missed you, each other, and the sound of our own voices. That maybe explains the fact that neither of us could shut up on this one, in fact we almost forgot we were recording and maybe went a little more vulnerable than expected (people like that stuff, right?). In this episode, we catch up about the holidays, Iran, the beef between Johnny Depp and Rabbi Sufrin, and of course our election ambivalence. There's lots more on Substack for you to read, and you can comment and chat there as w...

In this week’s episode of “people we thought were Jewish” - Christine Rosen! Christine is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, columnist for Commentary magazine, cohosts of The Commentary Magazine Podcast, and author of the new book The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World.

We talk about Christine's very unique acknowledgments page, the good, bad and ugly of technology, IRL friendships vs. online friendships, and how with great rights come great responsibilities.

Buy the book The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World.

Joing...

On the eve of October 7th, we gathered with 100+ of our closest friends (you guys!) to share our feelings, frustrations, sad tears and happy tears. Don't worry, we still found some space for holocaust jokes and hot dictators. Thank you to everyone who joined, from Portland to Iran -  we are very lucky to have you. Special thanks to Super Friends and former guests Eli Lake (The Reeducation, The Free Press) and Mike Pesca (The Gist) for jumping on and sharing their wisdom. Listen all the way to the end for an uplifting finish (Or dare I say...a h...

Sunday October 6 listener Zoom!! Go to askajew.substack.com for details.

Shana Tova from the bomb shelter! Just kidding, the IDF said we can go out, plus, after an hour we finished folding laundry and drinking a bottle of whiskey, and we were bored. This episode was recorded before Iran launched a ballistic missile attack at our faces, so if we sound a little too cheerful and irreverent....well, I guess that's on brand. Pics and links here on substack. 

In this one:

This episode is brought to you by the Federated States of Micronesia. No, they aren't paying us for sponsorship, but they are the only country that still loves us, so this one's on us!

This week we discuss the Hezbollah pager explosions, the list of countries that can no longer sit with us, Hassan Nasrallah's glow-up, decolonized pizza at MIT, tips on how to focus,and more. 

The UN being the UN

MIT activists disrupt Israeli professor, steal pizzas (and a happy ending!)

The Man from Vilna - how to think a...

Greg Lukianoff is a First Amendment lawyer, President and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), and co-author of the hits "The Coddling of the American Mind"  with Jonathan Haidt and "The Canceling of the American Mind" with Rikki Schlott. He joins us to talk all things free speech, like why campuses are burning, how violence is kind of bad, actually, and why he fights for our right to say dumb things, and be called out on them. 

Also:

David Christopher Kaufman is a columnist and editor at the NY Post and an adjunct fellow at the Tel Aviv institute. He joins the girls this week to talk elections, Israel, and the identity of the half black, half Jewish, totally Zionist American journalist. 
 

Also: 

* The mood in Israel

* The difference between being a Jew and being Jewish

* Why Hamas is like dating in New York

* A Zionist Jew and a non-Zionist Jew walk into a bar...

* We all feel the same and it hasn't stopped for...

We are joined by Brianna Wu, the Executive Director of Rebellion Pac, who proudly calls herself queer, progressive - and a friend of Israel. We discuss growing up in Mississippi, what progressives can learn from Hasidic Jews, the Women's March, Gamergate, being an inspiration for a Law & Order episode, her global ranking as an elite Super Mario 2 Runner - and more!

Follow Brianna on X

The famous Law & Order episode based on Brianna's story

Brianna's Super Mario run

Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.com

...

We hopped on to record with a heavy heart this morning, after hearing the devasating news of the murder of 6 Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity: Carmel Gat, Ori Danino, Almog Sarusi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alex Lobanov and Eden Yerushalmi. They managed to survive 11 months, only to be executed somewhere between Thursday and Friday by their captors. We're angry, sad, contemplative, fearful - and thought you might want to join us through this ride. 

Joing the AAJ conversation on Susbtack! askajew.substack.com

Email us your questions askajewpod@gmail.com

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Want to he...

The girls are joined by retired British Army Major Andrew Fox, who has spent time in Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza, and other exotic tourist destinations. We discuss wars of choice, try to pick a fight with Taylor Swift, compare military MREs, and wonder why Americans love tiny dogs and Hezbollah flags.

Also: