A Bintel Brief The Forward

Bintel is on break this week, but we'll be back soon!

This episode features a letter from “Grumpy Gifter,” a listener fed up with the “wedding-and-baby-etiquette industrial complex.” She asks whether she can opt out of the compulsory gift-giving that social norms mandate without offending her community. The episode features advice from Bintel, perspective from the past via the Forward’s archivist, Chana Pollack, and a special visit from Aviva Calmer, founder of the Adventure School.

In this episode, Bintel helps “On the Fence,” a man writing with a moral quandary set in his town’s competitive real estate market. Lynn and Ginna advise, joined as usual by the Forward’s archivist, Chana Pollack. Plus, hear ethics tips from a friendly real estate agent and Talmudic wisdom from Rabbi Paul Arberman.

Last season, Bintel dispensed wisdom to Heartbroken Bubbe, who wrote to express concern that her grandchild, growing up in a mixed-faith household, might not receive sufficient Jewish influence. The letter garnered strong reactions in our listeners. This episode, Ginna and Lynn share and expound on some of those responses. Our regular featured guest, Chana Pollack, returns, as does a special guest: Heartbroken Bubbe herself, who reflects on what she’s learned.

In the first episode of Bintel’s much-anticipated second season, Ginna and Lynn help a listener distressed by a friend’s dismissive comments about the Holocaust. Chana Pollack, the Forward’s archivist, and Boaz Dvir, Founder and Director of the Holocaust Education Initiative, weigh in.

In our debut season of “A Bintel Brief,” hosts Ginna Green and Lynn Harris revived the Forward’s century-old Jewish advice column in the form of a popular podcast. After a short break, Lynn and Ginna are back with more advice, quips, and humor. Listen to Season 2 of A Bintel Brief on any streaming platform starting this April.