Family Matters

This week on Unorthodox: Klezmer aerobics, Jackie Mason, and the dad who forgot to do the one thing he was supposed to do after his son’s bris. Liel joins us by phone from Israel, where his accent has become impressively thick.

Our Jewish guest is Daniel Oppenheimer, author of the new book, Exit Right: The People Who Left the Left and Reshaped the American Century. He’s also—you guessed it—the brother of our own Mark Oppenheimer. Daniel tells us about the rightward ideological journey of the cultural figures profiled in the book, including Norman Podhoretz and David Horowitz, and his own 10-year journey of writing it. (Editor’s note: This segment was recorded before Liel left for the Holy Land.)

Our Gentile of the Week is novelist and essayist Roxane Gay, whose latest book, Bad Feminist, cleverly tackles issues in contemporary feminism alongside considerations of culture, identity, and race. She tells us why we should stop asking young female celebrities if they’re feminists, why it’s OK to be a bad feminist, and what her favorite two-letter Scrabble word is.

We love to hear from you! Send comments, kvetches, and questions to [email protected]. We’ll share our favorites on air.

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.