Are you in or around New York City??

Mark your calendars for Monday, June 1st at 6pm!! Come have a drink with ChayaLeah and Yael!

Spring Lounge

48 Spring St, New York, NY 10012

Comment if you plan to attend! Special guests may make an appearance…

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Thank you so much to everyone who has already filled out the Ask a Jew survey! We are genuinely so grateful for the feedback and reading your comments, suggestions, and extremely passionate opinions has been the highlight of our week.

If you haven’t filled it out yet, PLEASE DO SO ASAP. The survey is super short, hugely helpful for us as we grow the podcast, and makes us feel important and data-driven.

Also: homemade baked goods from ChayaLeah are still on the line.

This week on Ask a Jew, we were thrilled to welcome bestselling author and Jewish rom-com queen Jean Meltzer to the podcast.

Jean is the author of The Matzah Ball, Mr. Perfect on Paper, and Kissing Kosher. We enjoyed a funny, heartfelt, and surprisingly deep conversation about Jewish identity, chronic illness, love stories, and the very specific chaos of writing unapologetically Jewish characters in modern publishing.

We talked about:

* How Jean accidentally became one of the biggest names in Jewish romance fiction

* Why Jewish representation in books matters (especially when the Jewish character isn’t just someone’s anxious accountant uncle)

* The rise of the Jewish rom-com industrial complex

* Chronic illness, vulnerability, and writing from real life

* What makes a “Jewish love story” feel distinctly Jewish

Jena is the Founder and CEO of Jewish Joy LLC and of the Jewish Joy Book Club.

Find more info at JeanMeltzer.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit askajew.substack.com/subscribe