28 Episodes

  1. Announcement: Now an Always-On, Every Other Week Show, and a Newsletter!

    Published: 6/3/2025

  2. Rabbi Sharon Brous on Finding Her Place in the Jewish Community and Working to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World

    Published: 5/27/2025

  3. Jeremy Dauber on Jewish Literature, Pop Culture, and What The Horror Genre Reveals About America

    Published: 5/20/2025

  4. Jill Santopolo on Being a “Pizza Bagel”, and Fiction as a Way to Make History More Human

    Published: 5/13/2025

  5. Allison Epstein on Taking on One of Literature’s Most Notoriously Antisemitic Characters

    Published: 5/6/2025

  6. Nicole Graev Lipson On the Attention, Intention, and Complexity of Mothers

    Published: 4/29/2025

  7. Gayle Forman on Judy Blume, Taylor Swift, and the Innate Goodness of Young People

    Published: 4/22/2025

  8. Jennifer Weiner on Pushing Back Against De-Jewified Last Names, “Women’s Fiction,” and Activism in the Face of Despair

    Published: 4/15/2025

  9. Dara Horn on Being the Lorax at Her Seder Table

    Published: 4/8/2025

  10. BONUS: Dara Horn on Tevye the Dairyman

    Published: 4/8/2025

  11. Georgia Hunter on Discovering her Family’s Jewish History and Kindness as Resistance

    Published: 4/1/2025

  12. Rob Kutner on Writing for The Daily Show, Conan, and How Comedy and Judaism Overlap

    Published: 3/25/2025

  13. Allegra Goodman on Making the Exotic Familiar, and Finding the Modern in Ancient Words

    Published: 3/18/2025

  14. Introducing Chutzpod!

    Published: 2/25/2025

  15. We'd love to hear your feedback!

    Published: 2/20/2025

  16. Tova Mirvis on Community, Belonging, and Forgiveness

    Published: 2/11/2025

  17. Bonny Reichert on Food, Fear, and Finding Beauty

    Published: 2/4/2025

  18. Jessica Elisheva Emerson on Belief, Identity, and Women’s Desire

    Published: 1/28/2025

  19. Elyssa Friedland on Being a First Generation American and Why Representation in Books Matters

    Published: 1/21/2025

  20. Gila Pfeffer on Finding Meaning and Humor in the Darkest Times

    Published: 1/14/2025

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The Five Books celebrates the role of books in our lives. Each week we’ll talk with a Jewish author about five books in five categories.  We’ll hear about: two Jewish books that have impacted the author’s Jewish identity; one book (not necessarily Jewish) that they think everyone should read - a book that changed their worldview. We’ll get a peek into what book they're reading now, and we’ll hear the inside scoop on the new book they’ve just published. The Five Books creates a space for all listeners to explore what it means to live, write, and read as a Jewish American today.