Rootless Cosmopolitans

This week, we’re grabbing our passports.

First we talk to the legendary Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman about their off-Broadway musical Harmony, which tells the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, a trailblazing troupe of Jewish-and-gentile entertainers in 1920s Germany.

Professor Andy Markovits joins us to discuss his new memoir, The Passport as Home: Comfort in Rootlessness, about what he learned growing up as a Jew in Romania and Vienna before emigrating to the United States, and why he embraces the idea of the rootless cosmopolitan, despite (or perhaps in spite of) the term’s antisemitic origin.

Our gentile of the week is Tablet’s own Maggie Phillips, who reports about different religious communities in the United States as part of a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations to improve religious literacy. You can read Maggie’s work here.

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Upcoming events:

May 15 — Mark Oppenheimer will be discussing his book Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood at Temple Beth Israel in Skokie, Illinois. 10 a.m. Central; tickets here.

May 22 (virtual) — Stephanie Butnick will be in conversation with authors Gary Shteyngart and Claire Stanford as part of the Jewish Book Council and the Jewish Museum’s Unpacking the Book series. 7 p.m. Eastern; register here.

Get all our events info at tabletmag.com/unorthodoxlive.

Check out The Tab, Tablet magazine’s new printable weekly digest: tabletm.ag/tab.

Want to book us for a live show or event in your area, or partner with us in some other way? Email Tanya Singer at [email protected].

Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Check out all of our podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Sponsors:

HIAS: Make a gift to support HIAS’ emergency response in Ukraine at hias.org/unorthodox.