Law and Order

This week on Unorthodox: Ann Coulter’s ill-advised tweet during the Republican presidential debate about “f—ing Jews” (and A.J. Jacobs’ fact-minded response); the pope’s visit to the United States; and a Brooklyn animal-rights activist’s campaign to end the practice of kapporot, in which chickens are ritually slaughtered before Yom Kippur.

Our Jewish guest is defense lawyer and former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, whose latest book is Abraham: The World’s First (But Certainly Not Last) Jewish Lawyer. He talks about his former research assistant Natalie Portman, who’s thanked in the acknowledgements of his 2003 book, The Case For Israel, and whom he describes as a “star student.” He also explains why some critics of Israel are bigots, and others are not.

Our non-Jewish guest is Muslim comedian Negin Farsad, who is currently suing the MTA for pulling ads publicizing her documentary, The Muslims Are Coming, just before they were scheduled to run. One such ad reads: “The Ugly Truth About Muslims: Muslims Have Great Frittata Recipes.” She asks the panel about a frequent occurrence for her and her non-Jewish friends: Jewish men who court and date them, only to dump them a month or two in because “they’re not Jewish.”

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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.