Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
JesuiticalNovember 22, 2019
Co-authors of 'The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia,' clockwise from back left: Liel Leibovitz, Mark Oppenheimer, and Stephanie Butnick. (Photo credit Matthew Lipsen); Cover of 'The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia.' (Excerpted from 'The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia' by Stephanie Butnick, Liel Leibovitz, and Mark Oppenheimer [Artisan Books]. Copyright © 2019)

This week, we welcome, for the second time, Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz, two-thirds of the Jewish podcast, “Unorthodox.” They just published an amazing new book, The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia: From Abraham to Zabar’s and Everything in Between.

We talk to them about Jewdar, Chinese food and Christmas, Drake, Thanksgivuhkuh and other fascinating entries in the book!

In Signs of the Times, Pope Francis urges us to ask: “Do I, a Christian, have at least one poor person as a friend?” And he considers updating the Catechism to include “ecological sins.” In our third and last story, we discuss a new study from the Pew Research Center that analyzes how American adults feel about the relationship between religion and politics.

Feel free to send us your questions, concerns, cocktail recipes or join us for discussion on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. You can help other listeners find the show by leaving us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

If you’re not doing so already, please consider supporting us on Patreon, where we have started a newsletter exclusively for Patrons! Stay tuned for things like .gifs from Ashley, advice requests from Zac or book recommendations from Olga.

Thank you to those already supporting us. We would not be able to do this without you.

P.S. America Media will be launching a new podcast next month called “Plague: Untold Stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church,” hosted by our national correspondent, Michael O’Loughlin. The first episode premieres on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day. Please visit the show’s page or wherever you listen to podcasts and listen to the trailer and subscribe.

Links from the show:

Pope Francis calls on Christians to remember the poor, ‘the treasure of the church’

Pope Francis: Catechism will be updated to define ecological sins

Americans Have Positive Views About Religion’s Role in Society, but Want It Out of Politics

What’s on tap?

Stephanie and Liel brought us Arak, “a delightfully alcoholic beverage made of grapes and aniseed.”

We don’t have comments turned on everywhere anymore. We have recently relaunched the commenting experience at America and are aiming for a more focused commenting experience with better moderation by opening comments on a select number of articles each day.

But we still want your feedback. You can join the conversation about this article with us in social media on Twitter or Facebook, or in one of our Facebook discussion groups for various topics.

Or send us feedback on this article with one of the options below:

We welcome and read all letters to the editor but, due to the volume received, cannot guarantee a response.

In order to be considered for publication, letters should be brief (around 200 words or less) and include the author’s name and geographic location. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

We open comments only on select articles so that we can provide a focused and well-moderated discussion on interesting topics. If you think this article provides the opportunity for such a discussion, please let us know what you'd like to talk about, or what interesting question you think readers might want to respond to.

If we decide to open comments on this article, we will email you to let you know.

If you have a message for the author, we will do our best to pass it along. Note that if the article is from a wire service such as Catholic News Service, Religion News Service, or the Associated Press, we will not have direct contact information for the author. We cannot guarantee a response from any author.

We welcome any information that will help us improve the factual accuracy of this piece. Thank you.

Please consult our Contact Us page for other options to reach us.

City and state/province, or if outside Canada or the U.S., city and country. 
When you click submit, this article page will reload. You should see a message at the top of the reloaded page confirming that your feedback has been received.
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks with other members of the House July 3, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington after final passage of U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill. (OSV News photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)
“Deep cuts” to SNAP and Medicaid will “inflict real suffering on these families…. SNAP and Medicaid are not luxuries, they are lifelines for millions of children across our country.”
Kevin ClarkeJuly 03, 2025
It was one of the first times Leo has spoken unscripted at length in public, responding to questions posed to him by the children.
The Vatican has named the judges that will preside over the trial of disgraced Father Marko Rupnik.
For so many of us, Roger Haight marked off a breathtakingly wide horizon in which we, agreeing with him or not, could fulfill our mission for God’s people.