The Frieda Vizel Podcast

Video version of this interview: https://youtu.be/OhEuezMqyaEIn this video, I sit down with Mattel, a young YouTuber from the Hasidic community whose passion for languages is truly inspiring. Mattel creates content in many lesser-known tongues, especially Jewish languages, with a unique focus on Hasidic Yiddish. She travels the world on her own, learns constantly, and generously shares that journey with her audience. On her channel, she has opened up with deep honesty—including a moving video in Yiddish about her brother’s suicide that touched me profoundly. Her work and her journey are only just begi...

Link to video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/Uj5wHch-kx4MOVIES WE DISCUSS IN THIS VIDEO:Yentl – https://amzn.to/3HmMZPQFiddler on the Roof – https://amzn.to/4lhQbKoWalk of Shame – https://amzn.to/3UPS0n4Hester Street – https://amzn.to/3JdvMJ7Crossing Delancey – https://amzn.to/4mzRvcASophie’s Choice – https://amzn.to/3JdvRfTAvalon – https://amzn.to/3HmNpFUA Serious Man – https://amzn.to/4fto21LHoly Rollers – https://amzn.to/45nuSRFJoin me for a lively, insightful conversation with David Akerman from the channel  ...

Video link to this conversation: https://youtu.be/1zQ1rSDUUVEA Balcony in Kazimierz: A Candid Conversation on Jews, Poland, and Post-Holocaust MemoryIn this deeply personal and thought-provoking episode, I sit with Naomi Seidman on the balcony of our apartment rental in Kazimierz—the historic Jewish district of Kraków, Poland—for an unscripted conversation about Jewish memory, return, and identity.Together, we reflect on what it means for Jews to come back to Poland after the Holocaust. Are we tourists or pilgrims? Survivors by inheritance or outsiders looking in? How do we process the t...

Video link: https://youtu.be/5JUhkH71qUcHow Hasidic Women Dress: A Conversation with Pearl from WilliamsburgWhat does modest clothing mean in the Hasidic world—and how is it taught from such a young age?In this video, I sit down with Pearl, a Hasidic woman from Williamsburg who has been dressing in this tradition for over 70 years. We talk about how Hasidic girls begin learning the rules of modesty at age 3, what kinds of clothing are considered appropriate, and how fashion trends are received within the community.We also discuss:– The diff...

Video link to this interview: https://youtu.be/aAHE9YNnxf8What was it like to grow up in 1960s Boro Park as the daughter of survivors—and as a girl who wanted to run? In this candid and unfiltered conversation, scholar Naomi Seidman opens up about her Orthodox Jewish upbringing, her discomfort with the gender roles she was expected to fulfill, and her deep desire to escape. We talk about her path to becoming a PhD, how her parents responded, and the haunting legacy of her father’s own doctorate from the University of Warsaw—earned just as war wa...

Video version of this interview: https://youtu.be/UZTQRkr-rIsLong before social media became what it is today, the internet met Rebbetzin Rivka Leah Zelwig—a charmingly extreme ultra-Orthodox rebbetzin who covered her mouth when she laughed and dispensed earnest advice with impeccable comedic timing. But who was behind this early viral sensation?In this deeply personal interview, I sit down with Danielle Jacobs, the brilliant performer behind the character, for a conversation that moved me to tears more than once. Danielle opens up about her traumatic and unstable childhood in a home steeped in religious ex...

Link to video version of this interview: https://youtu.be/IRTvj1_4_14In this interview, Naftuli Moster reflects on his years as the face of a controversial campaign to reform secular education in Hasidic boys’ yeshivas. As the founder of YAFFED (Young Advocates for Fair Education), Moster positioned himself as a critic of the yeshiva system in which he was raised, arguing that Hasidic schools fail to meet basic educational standards required by state law.Over the years, he became a polarizing figure — praised by some for challenging religious insularity, and criticized by others as antagonistic to the...

Video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/XYPuTNOry3UWhen I was Hasidic, dieting and brisk walking were part of life—but the gym? Muscle-building? Weight training? That was unheard of. Today, a new movement is emerging from within the Hasidic world: a growing culture of strength training, gym routines, and fitness—all adapted to fit the unique rhythms and values of Hasidic life.In this interview, I talk with Shmilly Feldman (@chasidish_lifter), a young and energetic Hasidic man at the forefront of this trend. We explore how Hasidic workout culture is evolving—with its ow...

Video version of this posting: https://youtu.be/uHu_17N9GdEI grew up in a very special place: the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel. It was beautiful and painful all at once. I don't always talk about my own experience in this channel, because I was always careful not to make this channel about me per se but about a larger anthropological project. But today I'm taking a bit of a detour to a personal narrative by reading to you an essay I wrote about what it's like to grow up in Kiryas Joel. I hope you...

Video link to this interview: https://youtu.be/NXpO0THnx3gA woman who believes that Jews are prohibited by the Torah to fight, to have an army and nation, shares her theology. --- Since I did my first video with Pearl nearly three years ago, my friendship with her has deepened and become richer. Still, we have always had deep ideological differences. I am no longer Hasidic and I reject some of the beliefs of my upbringing. Pearl is a deeply believing Hasidic woman who not only lives a joyous life in the...

Video format of this interview: https://youtu.be/lzVUnyxpcEEThe most beautiful media content created about the Hasidic community is, arguably, the Israeli hit TV show Shtisel. It was co-created by Yehonatan Indursky, who grew up Haredi in Jerusalem, left the community, and is now in some sort of place of return. He calls it "living on the border," the most interesting place to be. You might have read about him in a profile in The New York Times. I was so glad he agreed to talk to me for this interview—he was charming, forthcoming, fun, and de...

Link to video version of this interview: https://youtu.be/teadpfXWCO4Martha Ross grew up Old Order Amish in Middlefield Ohio, left it, and now does YouTube videos about it on the channel  @AmishTransformed  . Please check out her fundraiser for her husband's much needed dental work here: https://gofund.me/d49b3276Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

Link to video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/MnFddZtaWdQBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

This is the song to advertise the Tzohar organization, which I have referenced in the episode comparing the Netflix Unorthodox show to this song. Here is the video: https://youtu.be/78XBSSDdwjo?si=aXMAEQ4pOPnYhbwZI am sharing the music since it's essentially and ad and it will help create a fuller resource/reference to my commentaryBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

Video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/78XBSSDdwjoThe stories we tell affect the ways we process events around us. How we make sense of things like someone's departure from a community. Every society has their own stories; their own mythologies, their own tropes.In this video, I do an analysis of two different societies and their tropes, by comparing the Netflix show Unorthodox with the music video "Mein Kind, Eiku". Please leave a comment with your thoughts.Filmed by Ryan Scharfenberg / https://www.instagram.com/mmm_moire/Edited by Lee...

Video link: https://youtu.be/28lP8j8swA0Please support Rochel Yenty Bodek's wonderful work by donating: https://insightbeyondeyesight.org/donate Rochel Yenty Bodek is a Hasidic woman who lost her sight as a young woman due to a genetic condition. She has faced tremendous challenges as a wife and mother in the Hasidic community and has risen to the challenge with tremendous resilience. In this interview she talks with a lot of candor about the challenges and strengths of the Hasidic community and how she approaches her disability in this realm.If you appreciate my...

Link to video version of this interview: https://youtu.be/hKN0_75EuqEAnna Shternshis is a Professor of Yiddish studies and the director of the department of Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto and the author of "Soviet and Kosher", "When Sonia Met Boris" and the forthcoming "Jews in the soviet union: post war life, hopes and fears". In this interview we talk about the fascinating history of the Jews of the Soviet Union, the oral histories Anna collected from Yiddish (and non-Yiddish) speakers born before 1929, and the Yiddish songs she recovered from during the holocaust.<...

Video link to this episode: https://youtu.be/pVfY5wZlPecThere's a whole emerging world of Hasidic theater, acted by men, and including a cast and stories of men only. This has been a tiny element of the Hasidic world for years - it definitely wasn't a viable career for anyone until recently. In recent years, the Hasidic theater scene has exploded. So much talent is coming to the fore. It was so much my pleasure to talk to Ari (Arye) Abromowitz, who is a veteran of this scene, who has been there from the beginning of this "...

Video version of this interview here: https://youtu.be/kMxyRkjljm8?si=hcjjD0_-izvquKxBToday's interview is about psychedelics, Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, and one extraordinary woman's journey! Please join me for the interview with Bruchy Moskovics. Bruchy was raised in the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel. Her story is like no one's I've ever heard, and the way she tells it will take you to another world -- a world of faith, thoughtfulness, and living connected with something very alive within. Bruchy is now a child therapist and also does post-psychedelic integrative therapy, and her work often addresses a Yiddish-speaking...

Video link to this interview: https://youtu.be/ctuFi83643EAntonia Lassar is a Jewish comedian who grew up with very little Judaism. She later became interested in various forms of religion, going on a seeker's journey for community with soulful musical connection. She loves singing and is a professional comedian. Our journeys couldn't be more different, yet we have so much in common in our appreciation of religious Judaism that doesn't always work for us. In our long form interview we talked about Antonia's background, about the Chabad sect, about the ritual of mikvah immersion, and...