A Tale of Two Ma(c)hzors

By David A.M. Wilensky August 23, 2010

Two new machzors, one from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the other from a professor at Rutgers University, have come out just in time for the High Holy Days. New Voices Editor at Large David AM Wilensky reviews them both,

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The Reading List: Would you wear a kippah on Good Friday?

By Ben Sales August 23, 2010

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Mosque-Erade www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party The Daily Show’s John Oliver wouldn’t. Arguing with resident MOT Jon Stewart about religious freedom and taboo, he says: “Jews can wear yarmulkes on Good Friday to celebrate the day you successfully murdered…

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The Reading List: Sunday Brunch–Israel and Palestine, talking again?

By Ben Sales August 22, 2010

And they’re off. For the first time since the 2007 Annapolis Conference, the US is restarting direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. This comes after numerous strains in the US-Israel relationship (Settlement Freeze, East Jerusalem, Flotilla, etc.), months of “proximity talks” wherein the US met separately with the Izzies and Pallies to convince them…

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Careful Surgery (Baba Ganoush)

By astrick August 22, 2010

Baba Ganoush is one of those things that has made its way from Arab culture to Israeli culture to Trader Joe’s. It’s also one of those things, though it is available world wide, that will always be better in the Middle East. I always kind of liked it and I always kind of wondered what…

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The Reading List: Rush Limbaugh is the Idiot

By Ben Sales August 20, 2010

The vitriol of conservative talk radio never ceases to amaze me. First, Glenn Beck compares social justice to Nazism, and now Rush Limbaugh says that those who work in non-profits are “lazy idiots” and “rapists in terms of finance and economy.” Well, Rush, to show you that I’m not lazy (and not a rapist), I’m…

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Images from the Past

By Carly Silver August 19, 2010

I’ve spent this summer interning at two very different locations. The first is the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, where, among other duties, I compiled a dense history of my father’s family. My other job is at Archaeology Magazine, writing articles for their website. To my surprise, as I dug deeper (pardon the archaeological…

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A Fantasy about the Holocaust

By Elle Mikulincer-Weiss August 19, 2010

Elle Weiss reviews Michelle Lang’s “Lady Lazarus,” which features a title character who leaves pre-war Budapest to fight a Nazi army of imps, demons and werewolves–all to save Eurpoe’s Jews

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IDF: the best time of your life

By hdilman August 19, 2010

Recently, Eden Abergil, an Israeli and former IDF soldier (discharged last year) posted some “controversial” photos of herself and Palestinians on her facebook page.  In an album labeled, “IDF- the most beautiful time of my life,” Abergil, in IDF uniform, is posing with Palestinian prisoners while they are blindfolded and handcuffed.  The comment under the…

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The Reading List: Self-Destructive Jewish Philanthropy and more…

By Ben Sales August 18, 2010

I am about to tell you a dramatic tale about the internecine conflicts of the Jewish philanthropic world. Here are your characters: First, there’s the Jewish Federation–in this case the Houston branch–an umbrella Jewish fundraising organization in Israel and abroad that donates to the full gamut of Jewish causes locally, nationally, internationally and–of course–in Israel….

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The Jewish Big C

By Ben Sales August 18, 2010

I grew up big-C Conservative in a small-l liberal household and got confused when I read in the New York Times on Saturday, May 30, 1998 that Barry Goldwater, leader of the conservative movement, had died. Because I was 12, and because the New York Times capitalizes most words in its headlines, I didn’t pick…

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Selecting a siddur for your Hillel

By David A.M. Wilensky August 18, 2010

Crossposted to The Reform Shuckle I received an email today asking about siddurim for Hillels. I’ve anonymous-ized the email here: “I’ve followed your blog for a while–love it, by the way!–and read your post about Mishkan T’filah for Travelers.  Right now, I’m working for the Hillel at the [University of XYZ], and this is one…

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RJ Magazine’s “Insider’s Guide to College Life”

By David A.M. Wilensky August 18, 2010

The new Reform Judaism Magazine just arrived and it’s got a big section called the Insider’s Guide to College Life. Let’s parse some of it! The first section, a Q&A with Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro, is about the economics of financing college. Their first question is, “Why is college tuition so expensive–up to $50,000…

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The Reading List – Man, it just gets worse…

By David A.M. Wilensky August 18, 2010

As a follow-up to our link yesterday to the story of the Israeli solider posing on Facebook with prisoners, Breaking the Silence points out that photos like that are not only commonplace, but far from the worst they’ve seen. [Haaretz] Here’s a novel idea: Israel wants the US to sell weapons Arabs, because everyone in…

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Responses to our reviews of “Jewish U”

By David A.M. Wilensky August 18, 2010

It’s a funny world we live in when reviews get reviewed by the creators of that which they review. Which is not a criticism of anyone. It’s just an observation. Yesterday, New Voices published three reviews of the revised edition of “Jewish U,” a book for Jews about to enter college about what to expect from…

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“Jewish U”: Too Many Students, Too Little Time

By Judah Gross August 17, 2010

In this review of “Jewish U,” a student from the University of Maryland criticizes the book for giving too specific advice to too broad a range of students and feels that the author is out of touch with today’s campus.

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