The 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.
This 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 HeschelB’shem HashemIshim (angel) - Wikipedia Angels as Human Byproducts - Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and MysticismLast rites - Wikipedia"What happened to all th...
1 Dec 2021
Ep 13 - The Spider-Man Routine Accomplished Nothing
This 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 AgincourtBorscht BeltYou can also find us on Twitter @...
24 Nov 2021
Ep 12 - Every Simple Human Vice and Virtue
This 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 SearchThe Usual Suspects [Archived] The Story Iscah Vaguely Remembers The complexity of reasons people could get into hunting / [Archived Version]Black DogsThe Black Dog of Meriden, CTPercep...
20 Oct 2021
Ep 11 - Infinite Salt Protection Tube
This 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...
12 Oct 2021
Ep 10 - Demon Hunter's Quarterly
This 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 TimeThe Others (2001 film)The Book of Abramelin Exodus 30:36 Kol Nidrei SamaelJewish Naming Practices/Can a Child Be Named After a Liv...
1 Oct 2021
Ep 9 - The Honeymoon Phase
This 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 ShemaMaking hunters more than protectors of white suburbiaFridging You can also find us on Twitter @menschofletters and on Tumblr at menschofletters.tumblr.com. If you like what ...
25 Sept 2021
Ep 8 - Demons Creating Literary Symmetry
This 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 - WikipediaKey of Solomon - WikipediaJewish 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 Pat...
10 Sept 2021
Ep 7 - The Haunted Portrait of Theseus
This 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 BeesExodus 20:4 with ConnectionsNosferatu (word)Lilith and lilin as blood drinkers You can also find us on...
27 Aug 2021
Ep 6 - Hit Those Parallel Buttons
This 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 GuideDaevaCross of Saint PeterVintras, Eugène (1807-1875) Nirmāṇakāya - WikipediaJewish Bedtime Prayers20 Jewish Superstitions That Will Absolutely Ward Off the Evil Eye – Kvelle...
20 Aug 2021
Ep 5 - Throwing Away the Whole Suitcase
This 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 Shoftim, Dvar...
13 Aug 2021
Ep 4 - Ghost Corpses
This 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 moveme...
6 Aug 2021
Ep 3 - Something Something Repression, Something Something Overbearing Fathers
This 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 m...
23 Jul 2021
Ep 2 - A Swarm of Evil Bees
This 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 NumbersTefilat Haderech, The Traveler's Prayer Mirrors in the Bible and in Jewish TraditionDemon at the Doorstep: Lilith as a Reflection of Anxieties and Desires in Ancient, Rabbinic, and Medieval Jewish Sexuality [PDF]Lilith and Incantation B...
9 Jul 2021
Ep 1 - The Unending Misery of Being a Supernatural Fan
This 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 awryLemony Snicket interview Cool Guy postObligation 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 water, ...
2 Jul 2021
Episode 0 - Introduction
Welcome 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.
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