The Frieda Vizel Podcast

Frieda Vizel
  • 4.5 (2)
  • JUDAISM

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.

  1. Reading your comments and more stories, kinderlech #3

    1D AGO · BONUS

    Reading your comments and more stories, kinderlech #3

    Video version: https://youtu.be/MyGxlBywfAc Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

    38 min
  2. Surviving the Bondi Beach terror attack | Rabbi Yosef Eichenblatt

    FEB 1

    Surviving the Bondi Beach terror attack | Rabbi Yosef Eichenblatt

    Video link to this episode: https://youtu.be/css7bPGITTE This video is le’ilui nishmas (dedicated to the souls) of the dear people lost at Bondi Beach, and dedicated to their loving families in mourning. May the families find moments of light in these unbearably hard days. My heart is with them. In this conversation, I speak with Sydney resident Rabbi Yosef Eichenblatt, who shares his oral history of the Chanukah 2025 attack in Sydney, an event his family lived through and one in which his daughter’s life was miraculously saved. Rabbi Eichenblatt speaks not only about fear and shock, but about what came after. He recalls the night following the attack, sitting at home with his family, shaken and uncertain, and consciously turning toward faith rather than retreat. Drawing deeply on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, he describes an approach rooted in responsibility, hope, and the idea of being a messenger to spread light, especially after darkness. This is a testimony shaped by loss and danger, but also by profound optimism, a belief that light is not passive and that faith asks something active of us, even in the most fragile moments. Rabbi Yosef Eichenblatt on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulrabbi/ Video from the day of the attack: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSR06KeEg2i/ Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

    56 min
  3. "Jewish children don't fight!" | 1977 Yiddish reader story #2

    JAN 28 · BONUS

    "Jewish children don't fight!" | 1977 Yiddish reader story #2

    Video version here: https://youtu.be/F9xzvdkMXMI Let me read to you some Yiddish from 1977 and unpack the values and worldview of the Hasidic young girls through the moral lessons presented in this book. See how they were introduced to social values of obedience, kindness, respect to the elders, safety, trust in each other, modesty, and more. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

    18 min
  4. The Wedding Night documentary | Rachel Elitzur

    JAN 25

    The Wedding Night documentary | Rachel Elitzur

    video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/RK7_--5f0Tc What happens when intimacy is expected before it’s understood? The Wedding Night is a striking and deeply intimate documentary by Orthodox filmmaker Rachel Elitzur. It explores a rarely discussed reality inside ultra-Orthodox Jewish life: couples who marry after only a handful of supervised dates, then face the expectation of consummating their marriage on the wedding night. The film grows out of Elitzur’s own traumatic wedding-night experience, which led her to seek out others with similar stories. Many participants felt unable to appear on camera, so their voices are heard anonymously, paired with carefully staged reenactments performed by actors. A very unusual method of storytelling. In the shorter version published in the New York Times in December 2025, the actors were totally removed. 📰 Here is a shorter version of this story appeared in The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/opinion/ultra-orthodox-jewish-wedding-night.html 🎥 Here is the full extended documentary The Wedding Night can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lOnex1o5h8&t=5s 🎬 Instagram link to filmmaker: Rachel Elitzur https://www.instagram.com/elitzurachel/ This film connects to broader conversations I’ve explored on this channel about sex, intimacy, silence, and expectation in Orthodox and Hasidic communities: • How Hasidic teens learn about sex https://youtu.be/Gk917OpgS_Q • My own painful experience leaving an arranged marriage https://youtu.be/GvLO9Vhid44 • An intimacy coach shares delicate, rarely voiced perspectives https://youtu.be/AUdw8W71Gv8 • Pearl, a Hasidic woman, speaks about her own and her children’s matchmaker marriages https://youtu.be/yQ_GgbC9RD4 Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

    44 min
  5. A Jehova's Witness church INSIDE the Jewish village Kiryas Joel

    JAN 21 · BONUS

    A Jehova's Witness church INSIDE the Jewish village Kiryas Joel

    Video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/naUJMITJ5sY The article is here: https://friedavizel.com/2014/06/06/a-church-in-kiryas-joel Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

    44 min
  6. The kinds of industries Hasidic Jews work in

    JAN 18

    The kinds of industries Hasidic Jews work in

    Video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/ClAU6WJfj8U One of my earliest video and, in my view, an important one to repost at this time. Forgive the repost. Lots of new content coming soon. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

    14 min
  7. Watching and reacting to the Tyler Oliveria viral video on Kiryas Joel

    JAN 16

    Watching and reacting to the Tyler Oliveria viral video on Kiryas Joel

    Video version here: https://youtu.be/ZlWRN4jo-CA  As someone who grew up in Kiryas Joel and left the fold, I have a lot to say on this Hasidic village. There's good and bad. There are issues, and yes there are valid criticisms on its relationship to the welfare system, although this doesn't take away from the facts: that this is a community where the vast majority of men are gainfully employed and work incredibly hard. The stereotypes of this community as "welfare queens" whose men study torah and don't work is so damaging and not true.  @TylerOliveira 's recent video will so deeply reinforce these misconceptions. I've done a video where I went through the phone book and showed the extensive numbers of businesses Hasidim are into. It's so sad that his platform will create so much misrepresentation. This is my first take reaction to his video. Please forgive my early morning rants and rambles. I am watching it raw with you. I find it quite upsetting and ignorant. I hope my deep feelings that this community is complicated, imperfect, should be criticized but is also often misrepresented comes through. This is long - well Tyler's video is long. Please watch some of my other videos, especially my video on how Hasidim earn a living. https://youtu.be/UXXOGYqbK5o What it was like for me to grow up in Kiryas Joel https://youtu.be/uHu_17N9GdE My interview with Fradel Newman, lifetime resident of Kiryas Joel https://youtu.be/HoTzWaF7dU8 Interview with civil rights lawyer Michael Sussman, who can really speak for some of the dark side https://youtu.be/jcz0xmkm10s Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

    1h 38m
  8. An eye-opening 1977 Yiddish book of female socialization #1

    JAN 13 · BONUS

    An eye-opening 1977 Yiddish book of female socialization #1

    Video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/qUDGHnwTUPw Follow along with the pdf of the story here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JCIYkr489nAvNDZQapUJ9UzTdmeCpt-8/view?usp=sharing  Let me read to you some Yiddish from 1977 and unpack the values and worldview of the Hasidic young girls through the moral lessons presented in this book. See how they were introduced to social values of obedience, kindness, respect to the elders, safety, trust in each other, modesty, and more.  Please let me know what you think I missed. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-frieda-vizel-podcast--5824414/support.

    35 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.5
out of 5
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About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Frieda Vizel
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    102
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Frieda Vizel
  • Show Website
    The Frieda Vizel Podcast

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