Q’ing Up

This week on Unorthodox, we’re celebrating our new favorite holiday, the 5th of Shevat.

Our Jewish guest is Mike Rothschild, a conspiracy theory researcher and debunker who is writing a book about the QAnon conspiracy theory. He tells us what QAnon is and explains the anti-Semitism inherent in the conspiracy theory, confirming for us that all conspiracy theories have Jew-hatred at their core. He also confirms that everyone he interacts with in these worlds asks if he’s one of those Rothschilds.

Our gentile of the week is NPR and Slate sports commentator Stefan Fatsis, author of Word Freak, a book about the world of competitive Scrabble players. He tells us about his annual Name of the Year bracket, which he has been running with his college friends since the ’80s, and gives us tips on how to start our own Jewish Name of the Year bracket.

Do you have a great Jewish name or know someone with a great Jewish name? Enter our Jewish Name of the Year contest! Email your suggestions to [email protected].

We’ve got virtual events! Join us tonight at the Temple Emanuel Streicker Center, where we will be talking about our book The Newish Jewish Encylopedia. See our full schedule of events here.

Let us know what you think of the show! Send us comments and questions at [email protected], or leave us a voicemail at (914) 570-4869. You can also record a voice memo on your smartphone and email it to us.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more.

Get a behind-the-scenes look at our recording sessions on our YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram.

Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, mugs, and baby onesies at bit.ly/unorthoshirt.

Sponsors:

American Jewish World Service grantees are leading the effort to promote human rights, empower women and girls to fight for equal rights, and advance environmental justice in the face of climate change. AJWS is currently twice-matching all donations; find out more and make your donation at AJWS.org/unorthodox.

“Hadassah on Call” is the new podcast from former Unorthodox guest Benyamin Cohen. He goes behind the scenes of Hadassah’s world-renowned hospital in Israel, checking in with the health care superstars saving lives every day. Subscribe to “Hadassah on Call” wherever you get your podcasts or at hadassah.org.