Philadelphia Shel Zahav

This week on Unorthodox, we’re coming to you from, well, all over the place. First, we check in on our hosts to see what was up when they were in Cincinnati this past weekend, and we even get some news fresh from Cincinnati’s Jewish newspaper, The American Israelite.

Our first Jewish guests are Mike Solomonov and Steve Cook, co-owners of the James Beard award-winning restaurant Zahav and several other Philadelphia mainstays. We visited them at Zahav and talked about what makes the place so special, what “Israeli” food really is, and how food will be the key to future diplomacy. They also share recipes from their cookbooks, Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking and Israeli Soul: Easy, Essential, Delicious.

Our second interview is with writer and Parsha in Progress podcast host Abigail Pogrebin. We talk about her journey from unaffiliated Jew to active synagogue member and author of several books about Judaism, including Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish and My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew. She also tells us how her journey led to creating the Tablet podcast Parsha in Progress, a 10-minute look into each week’s Torah portion, which she hosts alongside Rabbi Dov Linzer.

Come see us on tour!

November 21 – New York: Book talk
November 22 – New York: Shabbat book talk
December 5 – Port Washington, New York: Book talk
December 6-7 – Encinitas, California: An Unorthodox Shabbat and Unorthodox live show
December 9 – Phoenix: Unorthodox live show
December 15 – New Haven, Connecticut: Brunch and book talk
December 19 – St. Louis: Book event

Copies of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia will be sold and signed at each event. Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Email us at [email protected] or leave a message at 914-570-4869.

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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.