Photocollage: Tablet Magazine
Unorthodox

My Super Sweet Bar Mitzvah

Episode 89: ‘Latter Day Jew’ H. Alan Scott on growing up Mormon, coming out, battling cancer, converting to Judaism at 31, and planning for his big day

May 11, 2017
Photocollage: Tablet Magazine


This week on Unorthodox, Bieber fever literally sends an Israeli woman into labor.

Our guest this week is comedian and writer H. Alan Scott, who was raised Mormon in St. Louis and converted to Judaism when he was 31. He’s preparing for his bar mitzvah by immersing himself in Jewish life and culture, and it’s all being chronicled in Latter Day Jew, a documentary by Aliza Rosen. H. Alan tells us about coming out to his Mormon family, how cancer jumpstarted his conversion to Judaism, and his deep love of The Golden Girls.

We love hearing from you! Email us at [email protected]—we’ll share our favorite notes on air.

This episode is brought to you by PJ Library, a free book program for families raising Jewish children. Sign up at pjlibrary.org/unorthodox, and they’ll send you a free picture book each month until your child turns nine.

Unorthodox is a smart, fresh, fun weekly take on Jewish news and culture hosted by Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick, and Liel Leibovitz. You can listen to individual episodes here or subscribe on iTunes.

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