Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
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.
Rabbi Scott Aaron of the Union for Reform Judaism recently released the latest version of his book, “Jewish U: A Contemporary Guide for the Jewish College Student.” We had three Jewish students from three campuses review it. Their recommendations: the book is too unimaginative, its scope is too broad and its advice is irrelevant for today’s Jewish college students.
For those of you who don’t know, a shanda for the goyim–a traditional Yiddish term–occurs when a Jew does something that shames us in the eyes of the world. On that note, here are some shandas. Enjoy: Not surprisingly, our first shanda comes from Facebook via Tumblr. In an album titled “Army- The Most Beautiful…
According to an official statement from the Harvard Management Company, the school has not divested from Israel. The changes in investment filing were procedural and do not reflect any ideological move whatsoever. Furthermore, Harvard still has holdings in Israel. Here is the statement from HMC’s spokesman: The Management Company’s most recent SEC filing details changes…
Nice try, Berkeley and Evergreen! Harvard may have beaten you to the task of divesting from Israel. Israeli business news site Globe reported in the above-linked article that Harvard University may have quietly scored the latest major victory for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement aimed at getting large institutions–including universities–to withdraw all economic activity…
On more of a college note than a Jewish note, the votes are in! Forbes has their annual report on college rankings available. My beloved Drew University came in at #91. [Forbes] The ossified Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations has issued a call for everyone to stick out their tongues and say nanny…
Ramadan Mubarak! Ramadan, the Muslim month of sunrise-sundown fasting, began earlier this week. I am always intrigued by the ways that non-Muslims interact with such a profound and seemingly extreme period of self-denial. So for this week’s Sunday Brunch edition of The Reading List, we’re looking at how Jews–and other non-Muslim Americans (I’m suddenly wishing…
The Kiddush Club, a euphemism for a group of (traditionally) elderly men who sneak out of Orthodox Shabbos services during the haftorah to eat herring and drink schnapps, has been a tradition of American observant communities for decades. But even in Orthodoxy, writes Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, some traditions need to end. [The Jewish Week] In…
Crossposted to Jewschool Riddle: What is neither a mosque nor located at Ground Zero, but is on Twitter? Answer: Park 51! (This can be confusing though. It’s called the Ground Zero Mosque by people using it as en election wedge issue and by those who buy into their rhetoric. The institution itself, once its built will…
Good afternoon! What happens when a pre-pubescent non-Jewish kid reads a revolutionarily risque Philip Roth book about a frustrated MOT? Sentences like, “There are a lot of words in Portnoy’s Complaint that I didn’t really get, like shtupp and schlong and shmutzig and punim. I don’t know what they mean, but they’re really fun to…
This article was edited on Aug. 12 to reflect a correction: the Israel Land Authority and the Israeli Police–not the Israeli Army–were responsible for the demolition of the Bedouin village. I’m not an expert on domestic security. Unlike my Israeli friends, I’ve never served one day in combat nor toted an M-16, so I can’t…
Crossposted to Jewschool Despite Women of the Wall leader Anat Hoffman being banned from the Kotel plaza for 30 days, Rosh Chodesh services proceeded today in the plaza and concluded, as usual, with a Torah service at Robinson’s Arch. And they live-tweeted the whole thing! Among other things, they tweeted: Proof that police + rules…
Good morning! As this photo proves, LeBron “Most Hated Man Not in Cleveland” James met with a rabbi to solicit some advice on a major business deal. The rabbi’s price: somewhere around $100,000. [TMZ] Women in the Washington DC area call some more (needed) attention to the age-old problem of agunot, or Jewish women whose…
There is a wonderful story about a village whose residents wanted to present their feudal lord with a gift: a full barrel of whiskey.  There would be a grand celebration on the lord’s birthday, when the mayor of the town would present the gift accompanied by choir and song. To spread the cost of the whiskey,…