This week on Unorthodox, we’ve got a lot going on. We talk to Rabbi Mike Moskowitz, the newly minted scholar in residence for trans and queer Jewish studies at CBST, the world’s largest LGBTQ synagogue. He’s the first Orthodox rabbi at the New York City synagogue, and he explains how Judaism, even at its most observant, has room for transgender people—and how all Jews could learn a lot about identity from the trans community.
We’re joined by gentile of the week Matthew Polly, whose latest book is Bruce Lee: A Life. He tells us about Lee’s continued influence in not just martial arts but also Hollywood, describes his own two-year study of kung fu at the Shaolin Temple in China, and shares a surprising discovery he made while researching the book: Bruce Lee is one-eighth Jewish!