The Frieda Vizel Podcast copertina

The Frieda Vizel Podcast

The Frieda Vizel Podcast

Di: Frieda Vizel
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A proposito di questo titolo

 Welcome to in-depth conversations on Hasidism, Judaism, NYC, culture, education, religion and more!

This podcast is hosted by popular Youtuber Frieda Vizel, who has been studying the Hasidic community for more than ten years.

This is the podcast version of the video conversations which are also published on Youtube. Please reach out with feedback.

Here's the youtube channel if you prefer to see the host and guests! :)

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.Frieda Vizel Giudaismo Scienza Scienze sociali Spiritualità
Episodi
  • Mayor Mamdani and the Jews | Jacob Kornbluh

    Mayor Mamdani and the Jews | Jacob Kornbluh
    Feb 22 2026
    Video link to this episode: https://youtu.be/4MPf67ftXME

    Jacob Kornbluh is a Hasidic reporter covering the Mamdani beat at a moment when Zohran Mamdani has become a lightning rod in Jewish communities. For many, Mamdani represents fear, anger, political anxiety, and deep uncertainty about where New York is headed. And in the middle of that storm is Kornbluh.

    Recently featured in The New York Times, Kornbluh occupies a complicated position. He reports on power while belonging to a community that often feels scrutinized by power. During COVID, some Hasidic critics accused him of “reporting on” the community to city officials. That tension hasn’t disappeared. If anything, it’s intensified.

    I went into this interview not knowing what to expect. As a Hasidic man speaking with me, and about issues that feel raw and personal. This conversation surprised me and left me with an invite to travel across the world to a wedding. You never know!

    You can follow Jacob Kornbluh here:
    📰 Reporter at The Forward
    https://forward.com/author/jacob-kornbluh/
    🐦 Twitter / X
    https://twitter.com/jacobkornbluh
    🗞 His recent feature in The New York Times
    https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/nyregion/jacob-kornbluh-mamdani-hasidic-jewish-reporter.html?unlocked_article_code=1.I1A.Lkpv.51t0435BwIlj&smid=url-share

    As always, I’m curious what you think. Please leave a comment!
    Frieda.

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.
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    53 min
  • The beloved bubby answers your questions | Pearl from Williamsburg

    The beloved bubby answers your questions | Pearl from Williamsburg
    Feb 18 2026
    Video link to this full Pearl repost: https://youtu.be/Uo5mf0_1izY

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.
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    1 ora e 15 min
  • Living and leaving Jehova's Witness | Miriam Vidal

    Living and leaving Jehova's Witness | Miriam Vidal
    Feb 15 2026
    Link to video version of this conversation: https://youtu.be/2iPiYwftPyg

    In this interview, I speak with Miriam Vidal about her childhood growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness, and her eventual decision to leave the faith.

    As a Hasidic child growing up in Kiryas Joel, there was a strange building behind my house that we simply called “the church.” Every Saturday, rows of cars would pull up, and we kids would stand by the gate, watching and waving. Only years later, after I had left my own religious community, did I learn that this building was actually a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall.

    Miriam was one of the people attending services there.

    In this conversation, Miriam shares what it was like to grow up inside the Jehovah’s Witness community: the rules, the rhythms of daily life, the sense of belonging, and the limitations placed on childhood, education, and social life. We talk about her memories of the Kingdom Hall in Kiryas Joel, the wider culture of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and what it meant; emotionally and psychologicall... to leave such a structured religious world.

    This interview is also about what comes after leaving: identity, belief, grief, freedom, and the slow work of figuring out who you are when the framework you grew up in falls away.
    As someone deeply interested in religious subcultures, exit narratives, and the sociology of faith, this conversation felt especially meaningful.... almost like closing a loop that began when I was a child in my Shabbos dress, waving at strangers I didn’t yet understand.

    Topics we cover include:

    -Growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness
    -Family life, schooling, holidays, and missionizing
    -The Kingdom Hall in Kiryas Joel and Miriam’s memories of it
    -Community, ritual, and belonging
    -Leaving a high-control religious environment
    -The emotional and psychological impact of exiting
    -Spiritual life and identity after leaving
    -Reflections on religion, culture, and comparison with other faith communities

    Want more?

    Watch my video about the Jehovah's Witness Church in Kiryas Joel
    https://youtu.be/naUJMITJ5sY

    Watch my interview with Martha Ross, who left the Amish:
    https://youtu.be/teadpfXWCO4

    My own recounting of what it's like to grow up in Kiryas Joel
    https://youtu.be/uHu_17N9GdE
    The story of Anna Shternshis:
    https://youtu.be/hKN0_75EuqE
    Stay tuned for more stories of subcultures and religious groups.


    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.
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    1 ora e 5 min
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