Our Cats, Our Horas

This week on Unorthodox: cat-astrophy in Israel.

Our Jewish guest is journalist Alyssa Katz, a member of the New York Daily News editorial board. Her new book, The Influence Machine, is about the vast political influence—and lobbying money—wielded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She tells the panel what the Chamber of Commerce actually is and how it got so powerful and explains why, in today’s social media-filled political climate, newspaper editorials still matter.

Our non-Jewish guest is poet and high-school English teacher Emily Moore, who discusses high-schoolers, country camp music, and motherhood. She asks the panel whether there are various levels of horas danced at different types of Jewish weddings, and how American Jews get their other, Hebrew names.

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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.