Mensch of Letters
15 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 5 ratingsThe first, best, and ONLY Jewish Supernatural podcast. Tune in each week as Jules (any pronouns) and Iscah (they/them) make a bad tv show slightly better by making it Jewish.
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Episodes
Ep 14 - Suck It Up, CW
December 21, 2021 15:00 - 1 hour - 68.7 MBThis week: Exposure therapy for secondhand embarrassment, making dick jokes about angels, Dean doesn’t know how to destroy a hard drive, the return of Buffynatural, and the JJ Bittenbinder school of vampire hunting. References: Rat Park - Wikipedia “Prayer is no panacea, no substitute for action.” -- Abraham Joshua Heschel B’shem Hashem Ishim (angel) - Wikipedia Angels as Human Byproducts - Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism Last rites - Wikipedia "What happened to a...
Ep 13 - The Spider-Man Routine Accomplished Nothing
December 01, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 56.3 MBThis week: Scenes that aged like milk on a radiator, the era when they cared about demon possession victims, mid-00s homophobia that turned into real bisexuality, rescuing a kid from ghost-induced drowning...2!, and Jules’s boyfriend Special Agent Victor Henriksen. (Supernatural Season 2, Episodes 10, 11, and 12) References: Real Actors on SPN [Archived Version/Picture] Dean and Sam’s Paramilitary Upbringing [Archived Version] Down to Agincourt Borscht Belt You can also find us on Tw...
Ep 12 - Every Simple Human Vice and Virtue
November 24, 2021 23:00 - 1 hour - 61.8 MBThis week: Little sibling crimes of being taller, a sprinkling of daloy politsey, Sam gets snubbed by the FBI, Elijah the Prophet is playing with your dogs, and the covenant is just Eldest Daughter Disorder writ large. (Supernatural Season 2, Episodes 7, 8, and 9) References: SPN Wiki Transcript Search The Usual Suspects [Archived] The Story Iscah Vaguely Remembers The complexity of reasons people could get into hunting / [Archived Version] Black Dogs The Black Dog of Meriden, CT ...
Ep 11 - Infinite Salt Protection Tube
October 20, 2021 17:00 - 1 hour - 72 MBThis week: The boys could both benefit from some weed, emotions are little brother nonsense, apologies to Jules' mom for ragging on philosophy, the haunted post office episode we should have gotten, and debating the merits of different hairstyles. References: The uncle who put up the headstone / [Archived Version] Death and Mourning in Judaism Dean's Amulet - Super-wiki Why do all monsters have superstrength? / [Archived Version + Picture] HH Holmes You can also find us on Twitt...
Ep 10 - Demon Hunter's Quarterly
October 12, 2021 06:00 - 1 hour - 79.8 MBThis week: A Lulav-ly guest star, worms and Worms and vurms, kings breaking necromancy prohibitions, no such thing as scars or head trauma, and the math of plane crashes vs. serial killer clowns. References: 82 — Naso: Angel's on First — Kosher Queers! "ben edlund...looks like a goat that got turned into a human" / [Archived + Picture] Smile Time The Others (2001 film) The Book of Abramelin Exodus 30:36 Kol Nidrei Samael Jewish Naming Practices/Can a Child Be Named After a Livi...
Ep 9 - The Honeymoon Phase
October 01, 2021 15:00 - 1 hour - 41.5 MBThis week: A living fossil of mid-00’s television, all questions and no answers, ghosts as a diaspora metaphor, what if it was more like X-Men, and everything is fresh and not yet beat into the ground. (Supernatural Season 1) References: "If they grapple with the nature of monstrosity twice a season..." The Shema Making hunters more than protectors of white suburbia Fridging You can also find us on Twitter @menschofletters and on Tumblr at menschofletters.tumblr.com. If you like what...
Ep 8 - Demons Creating Literary Symmetry
September 25, 2021 01:00 - 1 hour - 54.8 MBThis week: Clown foreshadowing, a list of impossible things, making holy water wrong, people who are unimpressed with the Winchesters, and Trivial Pursuit: Sammy’s Psychic Powers edition. (Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 21 and 22) References: Mandaic language - Wikipedia Holy water - Wikipedia Key of Solomon - Wikipedia Jewish Exorcism You can also find us on Twitter @menschofletters and on Tumblr at menschofletters.tumblr.com. If you like what we're doing, you can support us on Pa...
Ep 7 - The Haunted Portrait of Theseus
September 10, 2021 22:00 - 57 minutes - 39.8 MBThis week: Dean and Sam aren’t WASPs, a one-scene heist movie, Jules goes full Pepe Silvia over G-d as an author, Elijah is NOT a vampire, and it’s wildly easy to trick John Winchester. (Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 19 and 20) References: Working Class as a Signifier of Masculinity (Web Archive) (Tag Screenshot) Working Class as a Signifier of Masculinity (Original) A Swarm of Evil Bees Exodus 20:4 with Connections Nosferatu (word) Lilith and lilin as blood drinkers You can als...
Ep 6 - Hit Those Parallel Buttons
August 27, 2021 14:00 - 1 hour - 69.1 MBThis week: Jules is probably not getting murdered by a daeva, Dean is Miette-coded, our new plastic surgeon OC, sometimes the solution is arson, and 19th century Wisconsin newspapers were totally on the cutting edge of photojournalism. (Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 16, 17, and 18) References: Our Town: Study Guide Daeva Cross of Saint Peter Vintras, Eugène (1807-1875) Nirmāṇakāya - Wikipedia Jewish Bedtime Prayers 20 Jewish Superstitions That Will Absolutely Ward Off the Evil Ey...
Ep 5 - Throwing Away the Whole Suitcase
August 20, 2021 14:00 - 1 hour - 47.4 MBThis week: Keeping ghosts secret except when we yell about them in public, hearteyes for THEE Cassie Robinson, Dean is totes nailing his priest impression, where are they getting entire State Trooper uniforms, and For Sale: Chekhov's Guns, Never Fired. (Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 13, 14, and 15) References: "The girl can't be on top." "Bi women are women who like men in a gay way" The Political and Social Partnership Between Africans and Jews in the United States [PDF] Parsha Shof...
Ep 4 - Ghost Corpses
August 13, 2021 14:00 - 1 hour - 61.9 MBThis week: Is it gay to sit on furniture?, teen girls with rock salt shotguns, we have a grand old time ragging on John Winchester, Mensch of Letters does not (wink wink) condone piracy, and a sorcerer is just a wizard who’s a dick. (Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 10, 11, and 12) References: Sorcery, idolatry, and leading people astray as linked concepts History of the Hasidic Movement and Shabbatai Tzvi (who was proclaimed by some as a messiah a century earlier and whose movement hea...
Ep 3 - Something Something Repression, Something Something Overbearing Fathers
August 06, 2021 17:00 - 1 hour - 55.1 MBThis week: Dean (thinks he) looks young enough to be a college student, a ghost leaves out of embarrassment, Sam Winchester: Tarantula Whisperer, bad anthropological practices, and garbage disposal-based nightmare fuel. (Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 7, 8, and 9) References: Kosher Locusts You can also find us on Twitter @menschofletters and on Tumblr at menschofletters.tumblr.com. If you like what we're doing, you can support us on Patreon! For as little as one dollar a month, you ...
Ep 2 - A Swarm of Evil Bees
July 23, 2021 14:00 - 1 hour - 54.3 MBThis week: The Ackles ass equation, bad puns from demons, roasting the writers’ awful takes on gematria, real and metaphorical mirror demons, and Jules has become lawboy. (Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 4, 5, and 6) References: Judaism and Numbers Tefilat Haderech, The Traveler's Prayer Mirrors in the Bible and in Jewish Tradition Demon at the Doorstep: Lilith as a Reflection of Anxieties and Desires in Ancient, Rabbinic, and Medieval Jewish Sexuality [PDF] Lilith and Incantation B...
Ep 1 - The Unending Misery of Being a Supernatural Fan
July 09, 2021 14:00 - 1 hour - 51.4 MBThis week: Dean has two nickels, the timelines are already a little mysterious, a Hannibal/geography tangent, tricking vampires into going to a mikveh, and the narrative is not in the CW. (Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 1, 2, and 3) References: Life-energy gone awry Lemony Snicket interview Cool Guy post Obligation to teach one's children to swim “The Talmud also specifies that parents should teach their children how to swim. In the ancient world, where much travel occurred over wa...
Episode 0 - Introduction
July 02, 2021 15:00 - 21 minutes - 15 MBWelcome to Mensch of Letters, the first, best, and ONLY Jewish Supernatural recap/review podcast. This week: our premiere, which consists of an introduction to your two hosts, Jules and Iscah. You can also find us on Twitter @menschofletters and on Tumblr at menschofletters.tumblr.com. Our intro music is Fun Tashlikh and our outro music is Szarvaszo Stomp, both by Yid Vicious, who you can find at their website yidvicious.com, where their music is available for purchase.