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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.

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.

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.

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 little-known election, coming up in a few days and that we’re all eligible to vote in, which is far more influential than most realize.

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.

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, he’s an abomination, subverting the nation’s democratic values. Visiting New York this week, Ben-Gvir attended a live event moderated by Liel to talk about his past, his actions in office, and his vision for the future of the war against Hamas.

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.

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 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 time-traveling adventure? Have a listen.

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 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

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 pads for Hamas attacks, including on October 7, 2023, and Masri himself knowingly collaborated with individuals closely tied to the terror group. Gary Osen, one of the attorneys representing October 7 victims in the lawsuit, joins Liel to talk about how Hamas’s terror infrastructure dominates everything in Gaza, and about how the UN and other international aid groups gave millions to support projects that did little more than give terrorists better cover.

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.

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 may be in your closet, the biggest mistake you’re making while dating, and why we need less victim culture and more dignity culture.

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.

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 Food Writing and Cookbooks.

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 restore true academic freedom.

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.

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

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. Register at Jewishspirituality.org Join the American Technion Society for an exclusive briefing with Technion Professor Brigadier General Jacob Nagel, as he shares key finding from his report to the government on Israel’s defense technology and security needs, and the Technion’s vital role in this evolving strategy. Register at link.ats.org/security

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.