Podcast · Devotional & Spiritual

Tablet Studios

by Tablet Magazine · English · Devotional & Spiritual

From weekly series examining unique angles on Jews’ place in the world, to inquiries into the details of Jewish text and tradition, Tablet Studios podcasts bring you insight and inspiration for the modern-day Jew. Our shows include How to Be a Jew, Unorthodox, Rootless, Re-Form, and more to come.

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 39 min
Latest: 17 Jul 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

17 Jul 2026 · 58 min

Full Interview: Yaniv Rosnai

As part of our coverage of the Battle for Israel's Soul, we're going to be sharing the full interviews we did while prepping the series. Most of these will be for subscribers only, but this first one with Yaniv Rosnai is available here for all. If you'd like to join us and subscribe today to access all of the full interviews, please visit tabletmag.com/subscribe and use coupon code judicial for a $100 discount off any subscription. In this installment, Leela is speaking with Yaniv Rosnai. Rosnai is a full professor and vice dean at the Harry Rozner Law School and co-director at the…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

E3 · 9 Jun 2026 · 32 min
Episode Three: The War at Home
By the summer of 2023, it was clear that judicial reform was never really the story: The real battle was over Israel’s identity. And that battle touched on the deepest fears and disagreements Israelis were too busy surviving to address ever since the nation’s inception. Can an Israel occupied by a religious majority remain recognizable to the nation’s secular elites? Can its institutions be reformed to better reflect the will of the country’s democratically elected majority? And can Israelis resolve all of these deep and difficult quarrels and still remain one people? Learn more about your…
E2 · 9 Jun 2026 · 30 min
Episode Two: De-Mo-Krat-Ya!
Early in 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu’s newly elected government announced its intention to embark on sweeping reforms to the country’s judicial system. The announcement was soon met with the biggest wave of popular protests in the nation’s history, dividing Israel like few issues before. But what did the reform actually propose? What were its architects trying to achieve? And what, precisely, did its detractors find objectionable? In this episode, we hear directly from the thinkers, lawmakers, and activists behind the overhaul, including the people who spent years developing the ideas that…
E1 · 9 Jun 2026 · 31 min
Episode One: Vienna Waits for You
The real fight tearing Israel apart these days isn’t against Hamas, Hezbollah, or even Iran. It’s a struggle to answer some very urgent—and very old—questions, the same questions that haunted Zionism’s founding fathers more than a century ago. Should Israel be a state for the Jews, the thoroughly modernized Vienna on the Mediterranean imagined by Theodor Herzl? Or a Jewish State, a vision championed by many of Zionism’s more traditional and religious followers? In this episode, we trace the roots of a conflict that long predates Benjamin Netanyahu, the Supreme Court, or the protests of 2023,…
5 Jun 2026 · 1 min
The Battle for Israel's Soul - Coming June 9th
Early 2023 was a good time in Israel. The attack of October 7 was months in the future, and Israelis were enjoying a period of peace and prosperity. The economy was booming. The country came out fourth in the ranking of the world's happiest nations. You'd expect Israelis to sit back and celebrate their good fortune. Instead, they took to the streets en masse, sending the country into a tailspin that now, three years later, only grows stronger. The catalyst for these protests was an attempt by Bibi Netanyahu's government to reform the country's judicial system, but, very soon, it became clear…
E22 · 29 May 2025 · 24 min
How to Be a Jew …. Who is Starting a Print Magazine, with Alana Newhouse
Tablet has launched a new print magazine, beginning this June. Why start something so "old fashioned" in the year 2025? Alana Newhouse, our editor in chief, joins us to explain why the current media landscape is actually begging for news you can hold in your hands. If you’re interested in subscribing, click here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
E21 · 14 May 2025 · 34 min
How to Be a Jew ... Who Says Yes to the Dress
Pnina Tornai became a recognizable name to Americans across the country as a personality and designer on TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress. She shares the surprisingly spiritual story of her success and talks about what it means to represent Israel on the global stage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
E20 · 7 May 2025 · 28 min
How to Be a Jew … Like Israel's Most Famous Female Architect
Ada Karmi-Melamede is an architect who has designed famous buildings across Israel, including the Supreme Court building and the gateway to Ben Gurion airport. Her daughter, filmmaker Yael Melamede, talks to us about her new film, ADA: My Mother the Architect, which is a heartfelt investigation of Ada’s work, philosophical approach, and her relationships with her family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
S1 · E28 · 1 May 2025 · 45 min
How To Do Activism Right, with Jay Ruderman, Tuly Weisz, and Pesach Wolicki
These days, it seems like everyone is a so-called activist. Activism itself seems to have morphed into something different; it’s not about organizing communities or advocating for legislation, it’s about blocking roads and intimidating anyone with a different opinion. This week on Rootless, Liel talks with three different activists, with two very different causes, who are doing activism right. First, he talks with Jay Ruderman, author of the new book Find Your Fight, who advocates for disability rights. Then he talks with Tuly Weisz and Pesach Wolicki of Israel365, who will tell us about a…
E19 · 30 Apr 2025 · 22 min
How to Be a Jew ... or an ally like Zarna Garg
Zarna Garg is a comedian whose standup centers around her life as an Indian mom in America. She joins us to discuss her new book, This American Woman: A One-in-a-Billion Memoir, as well as how she's supporting the Jews in a post 10/7 world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
S1 · E27 · 24 Apr 2025 · 45 min
Israel’s Most Controversial Politician, with Itamar Ben-Gvir
There’s no more divisive Israeli public figure than Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir. Starting out his career as a Kahanist firebrand known for his controversial stances—like decorating his living room with a photograph of Baruch Goldstein, or working to free Yigal Amir, Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin—Ben-Gvir evolved from a political sideshow to kingmaker, winning several Knesset seats and joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. For some Israelis, he’s the strong-willed, strong-armed course correction after too many years of being too soft on terror. To many others,…
E18 · 23 Apr 2025 · 29 min
How to Be a Jew … like Matisyahu
After bursting onto the music scene with his 2005 single “King without a Crown,” Matisyahu has built a career mixing a unique combination of reggae, hip hop, and deeply Jewish soul. We talk to him about his wandering journey with Judaism, his experiences touring after October 7th, and even the Jews’ love for jam bands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
17 Apr 2025 · 49 min
Passover Crossover - How to Be a Jew ... Like Dara Horn
Rootless is off this week for Passover, but we wanted to bring you an episode of How to Be a Jew we think you'll like. Like most Jews, the news of the murder of the Bibas children not only saddened us, but it also made us ANGRY. How do we deal with our own thoughts about the event, and the greater world’s response as well? Dara Horn, a prolific author known for her book People Love Dead Jews (and the podcast Adventures with Dead Jews) as well as her work fighting antisemitism, joins us to deal with our anger and provide context for why we should be optimistic about the future of Jews. We…
16 Apr 2025 · 46 min
Passover Crossover - Rootless - Why Dual Loyalty is Good for the Jews, with Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz
We're off this week for Passover, but we wanted to bring you an episode of Rootless we think you'll like. Rootless: Here's Why Dual Loyalty is Good for the Jews, with Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz The charge of dual loyalty has long been a key weapon in the arsenal of anti-Semites everywhere. But in his new book, The Case for Dual Loyalty: Healing the Divided Soul of American Jews, Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz of Los Angeles’ Valley Beth Shalom argues that it’s time to embrace the idea. He joins Liel to talk about why American Jews should be loyal to Israel and the United States alike, why that is a…
S1 · E26 · 10 Apr 2025 · 43 min
Why Oct. 7 Victims Are Suing a Palestinian Mogul, with Gary Osen
When people concerned with the future of the Palestinian people talk about the future, they often say, hopefully, that change will come only once we can replace Hamas and other terror groups with entrepreneurial technocrats more interested in building projects than in starting wars. They’re talking, in short, about men like Bashar Masri, a Palestinian-American mogul who developed some of the best known and most lucrative real estate projects in Gaza, including luxury hotels and thriving industrial zones. But as a new bombshell lawsuit argues, Masri’s properties were all used as launching…
E17 · 9 Apr 2025 · 32 min
How to Be a Jew … on Passover
This week on How to Be a Jew, we have questions, and answers too. As we all get ready for Passover we’re tackling some of the thorniest… and tastiest questions we’ve gotten. Need to save your matzah balls? What’s up with Christian Seders? Should we feel guilty about the plagues? Tune in for answers to these and other important questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
S1 · E25 · 3 Apr 2025 · 51 min
Why God Was Right, with Mark Gerson
Like most highly successful entrepreneurs, Mark Gerson likes things he can measure, quantify, and know for certain. So as a student of the Torah, a question came to mind: If the Torah is supposed to be a guide to life, can we prove that its claims are true? In his epic new book, God Was Right, Gerson examined each and every single one of the Torah’s prescriptions on anything from what to wear to who to marry, and compared them to contemporary scientific research to prove that the ancient wisdom is as true and as urgently relevant as always. He joins Liel to discuss why the cure to depression…
E16 · 2 Apr 2025 · 31 min
How to Be a Jew … Like Ayelet Zurer
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
S1 · E24 · 27 Mar 2025 · 43 min
How Israel Will Save Western Civilization, with Josh Hammer
In his new and best-selling book, Israel and Civilization, Josh Hammer makes a bold claim: the future of Western civilization depends on the State of Israel and the Jewish people thriving. He joins Liel to talk about the dangers of the Neo-Nietzschean right, about why liberal Jews have lost the historical plot, and about how only a Jewish-Christian coalition can make the West overcome its moment of tumult. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
E15 · 26 Mar 2025 · 39 min
How to Be a Jew… Who Contemplates the Pig
For more than 3,000 years, prohibitions against eating pig has been central to Jewish dietary laws, but it’s also been a potent symbol of Jewish identity. Other non-kosher animals, like horses, rabbits, squirrels, and even vultures don’t carry the same weight that the pig does in the Jewish imagination. Jordan Rosenblum, Jewish Studies professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, joins us to talk about why. His new book, Forbidden—A 3,000-Year History of Jews and the Pig, traces the history of the pig as a symbol of Jewish identity, and recently won the National Jewish Book Award for…
S1 · E23 · 20 Mar 2025 · 39 min
How Universities Lost Their Way, With Cary Nelson
Universities are meant to be spaces of free inquiry, knowledge, and rigorous debate. But according to academic and writer Cary Nelson, they’ve instead become hotbeds of ideological conformity—long before October 7. In his new essay Mindless, published in the Jewish Quarterly, Nelson traces how universities abandoned shared intellectual principles, paving the way for the antisemitism and misinformation now taking hold on campuses worldwide. He joins Liel to discuss the forces that led to this institutional failure, the consequences for Jewish students and faculty, and what must happen to…
E14 · 19 Mar 2025 · 10 min
How to Be a Jew ... At the World Championships
A few weeks ago, we brought you a conversation with AJ Edelman, the first Orthodox Jew to compete in the Winter Olympics and the pilot of the current Israeli bobsled team. Shortly after that interview, Tablet signed on as a sponsor for his bobsled team, complete with merch you can find at https://tabletmagstore.com/ This week, we’re bringing you a dispatch from his time at the World Bobsled Championships and the three things you need to know about bobsledding. For more information about the Israel Bobsled team, visit israelbobsled.team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…
S1 · E22 · 13 Mar 2025 · 45 min
Why Dual Loyalty is Good for the Jews, with Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz
The charge of dual loyalty has long been a key weapon in the arsenal of anti-Semites everywhere. But in his new book, The Case for Dual Loyalty: Healing the Divided Soul of American Jews, Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz of Los Angeles’ Valley Beth Shalom argues that it’s time to embrace the idea. He joins Liel to talk about why American Jews should be loyal to Israel and the United States alike, why that is a complimentary rather than contradictory idea, and why it’s time, in the aftermath of October 7th, for Jews to reconsider the way they view their identities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…
E13 · 12 Mar 2025 · 33 min
How to Be a Jew ... And an Accidental Gunslinger
Salvador Litvak, also known as the Accidental Talmudist, is the filmmaker behind the 2005 cult classic When Do We Eat and the author of Let My People Laugh: The Greatest Jewish Jokes of All Time!. He joins us to discuss his new film, Guns and Moses, in which a small-town rabbi becomes an unlikely gunslinger after his community is attacked. Guns and Moses premiered at the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival in 2024 and is expected to release nationwide this summer. Sponsors: The Institute for Jewish Spirituality invites you to Mindfulness for the Climate Crisis: Resilience in a Changing World.…
S1 · E21 · 12 Mar 2025 · 16 min
Why Trump’s Deportation of Mahmoud Khalil is Perfectly Legal, with Ilya Shapiro
Last Saturday, ICE agents detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian who was one of the leaders behind the year-long Tentifadah in Columbia University. Khalil and his group have repeatedly expressed their support for Hamas and other terrorist organizations, a violation of U.S. immigration law. Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute, joins Liel to explain why the act is completely legal, and why we shouldn’t fall for the bad faith argument that Khalil’s arrest is a free speech issue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…
S1 · E20 · 6 Mar 2025 · 53 min
What to Do in Ukraine, and in Gaza? With Eli Lake
It’s been a week of fast-paced breaking news, from a bit of Hamas propaganda winning the Academy Award for best documentary to President Trump and Vice President Vance presiding over a heated meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky in the White House. Journalist and podcaster Eli Lake joins Liel to discuss what Trump gets wrong about Ukraine, what he gets right about Israel, and what Israel’s options may be as its ceasefire with Hamas draws to an end. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
S1 · E12 · 5 Mar 2025 · 32 min
How to Be a Jew … like a Shtisel
Shtisel was a world wide phenomenon, and after the success of the original, co-creator Yehonatan Indursky is back with a new story, Kugel, focusing on Libbi and her dad Nuchem Shtisel during their days in Antwerp. Hadas Yaron, who stars as Libbi, joins us to talk about the difference between Shtisel and Kugel, and what makes them such compelling Jewish television. We also, of course, discuss the foodstuff that inspires the show’s title (are you team savory or sweet?). You can stream both Shtisel and Kugel on Izzy, a new streaming service from Israel. Hosted by Courtney Hazlett, Rabbi Diana…
E11 · 26 Feb 2025 · 48 min
How to be a Jew … Like Dara Horn
Like most Jews, the news of the murder of the Bibas children not only saddened us, but it also made us ANGRY. How do we deal with our own thoughts about the event, and the greater world’s response as well? Dara Horn, a prolific author known for her book People Love Dead Jews (and the podcast Adventures with Dead Jews) as well as her work fighting antisemitism, joins us to deal with our anger and provide context for why we should be optimistic about the future of Jews. We also talk about her new Passover-themed graphic novel for kids, One Little Goat. How does a seder that won’t end lead to a…
S1 · E19 · 20 Feb 2025 · 1 hr 5 min
Can Orthodox Judaism Be Reformed? with Rabbi Irving Greenberg
One of American Jewry’s leading theologians and thinkers, Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg has spent decades engaging—and enraging—orthodoxy by suggesting it was time for religious Jews to examine some of their closest-held beliefs, including on such controversial issues like gay marriage or female members of the clergy. He joins Liel to discuss his new book, The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism, the role of God during the Holocaust, and why he believes the ancient religion is finally old enough to grow out of some of its ancient hang-ups. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…
E10 · 19 Feb 2025 · 51 min
How to Be a Jew ... Like Olympian AJ Edelman
AJ Edelman is the first Orthodox Jew to compete in the Winter Olympics and serves as the pilot of the Israeli bobsled team. He joins us to make the case for Jews in sports, recounts his unconventional path to “sliding sport” acclaim (and the setbacks he’s faced), and talks about what it’s meant for him to represent Israel on an international stage. If you want to sponsor AJ and his team, get in touch with us at [email protected] Hosted by Courtney Hazlett, Rabbi Diana Fersko, and Josh Kross, each episode of How to Be a Jew takes a look at a current, cultural topic and what it means for…

About Tablet Studios

Tablet Studios is a English devotional & spiritual podcast from Tablet Magazine. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Tablet Magazine
Language: English
Category: Devotional & Spiritual
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 39 min
Latest episode: 17 Jul 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1020815439
Rights: 2024 Unorthodox / Tablet Magazine

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