Jewish podcast taps into Cleveland pride

AMANDA KOEHN | COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF akoehn@cjn.org | @AmandaKoehnCJN

Enthusiasm for Cleveland saw no shortage as a New York City-based Jewish podcast recorded an episode Nov. 5 at the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood.

“Unorthodox,” Tablet Magazine’s flagship podcast, made its first stop in Northeast Ohio as part of the Mandel JCC’s Cleveland Jewish Book Festival. The podcast was considered by the Guardian as one of the 50 best podcasts of the year in 2016, the year after the podcast began.

Its hosts, Tablet editor-at-large Mark Oppenheimer, deputy editor Stephanie Butnick and senior writer Liel Leibovitz, discuss Jewish news, politics and culture with guests weekly – and in this episode, featuring Cleveland-based guests. The hosts expressed their long-held desire to visit Cleveland for the podcast, citing what they’d heard about its Jewish community – and its bagels.

After recording their weekly “obscenity warning,” letting listeners know they may swear, and going over recent “news of the Jews,” the crew welcomed “Jew of the week” David Gilbert, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission and Destination Cleveland. He was introduced by Butnick as “an alumnus of Camp Wise,” which drew heavy applause.

After joking about how often Gilbert is mistakenly referred to as “Dan Gilbert” – the Cleveland Cavalier’s owner – Gilbert discussed his love for Cleveland, LeBron James, how securing the 2016 Republican National Convention happened and how his agency attracts tourism.

“Even in college, my friends always joked (I was), ‘Mr. Cleveland,’” Gilbert said. “I just always passionately loved my hometown. I really believe there’s something incredibly special about Cleveland and

Clevelanders. I think it really is that resiliency –there’s a real sense of community (and) a little bit of a sense of common despair and we are kind of all in it together.”

On James, Gilbert said, “He is still a Clevelander.”

When asked about Jewish sports fans in Cleveland, Gilbert said, “I think some of it’s a little of that shared suffering, whether it’s as Jews or Cleveland sports fans.”

The podcast hosts had recorded their most recent show in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh last week after 11 Jews died in a shooting at Tree of Life Congregation. After reporting a solemn episode about the Pittsburgh Jewish community in the wake of the tragedy, this week the podcast returned back to its funny, off-the-cuff nature.

“One of the ways Jews deal, I like to think, is by coming together in solidarity, being with each other, showing that we survived, having some joy and having some fun,” Oppenheimer said. “So we honor the victims, we honor recent current events, and one way that we honor them is by having the best live show in the history of Cleveland.”

“Gentile of the week” was Terry Stewart, former CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland from 1999 to 2012. The podcast hosts discussed with Stewart how the rock hall determines who is inducted, and Stewart told them a single artist he was most starstruck by: Paul McCartney.

Leibovitz asked about controversies surrounding nominees who don’t get inducted, specifically if fans “quite literally mob the building.”

“There is no easy way to do it. The fact is, most of (the artists) you bring up that should get in, do get in,” Stewart said.

“Unorthodox” is free for download on Apple Music, Stitcher and at tabletmag.com/ unorthodox.