Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Every Jewish high school that I’ve heard of has a basketball team, but only a few have football teams. Friday night lights? Think again. [JTA] Here’s a novel approach to fighting illegal prostitution: what would happen if the women were sold in a storefront? A mall in Tel Aviv tries it out. [JPost] As Israel…
Like the bell on Wall Street blaring off to the start of a chaotic day, my e-mail inbox hits the ground running at the sound of my alarm. Aside from the numerous Facebook notifications about who-said-what-to-who, I make sure to open UF Hillel’s weekly newsletter. Communication in the 21 Century. Filled with the inside scoop…
That was the headline on my column, “On The Path,” a couple of weeks ago. OTP appears every Friday in our weekly Acorn, the student newspaper of Drew University, of which I’m a former editor in chief. That week, I wrote about the horrid question people never stop asking college seniors. It’s not really about anything…
Shemah Yisrael Adonai Elohanu, Adonai Echad. Even when I was little, these words were more than a string of syllables; they were sacred and special. I would close my eyes whenever they were uttered and listen carefully for the deep, booming voice of God. (Being a Lion King fanatic, I imagined that God had a…
If you’re not familiar with city nicknames, the title of this post may come as a bit of a surprise. But really, it’s just a fancy way of saying that we are going to the General Assembly (GA) in New Orleans, Louisiana. By “we”, I mean a contingent of 40 people from Pittsburgh’s Hillel, as…
The headline says it all: “Council of Jews welcomes Hitler exhibition” [Deutsche Welle] Speaking of anti-Semites, the Riverdale bombers are going to prison. [CNN] Speaking of New York Jews, here’s what GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino taught us about the ultra-Orthodox and elections. [Yeshiva World News] What’s driving the Palestinian economy? The kippah industry. [BBC] Should the…
Always behind the rest of the world, Israeli universities are finally in session. Everyone is back to school, back to “normal” college life. Everyone, it feels like, except me. When I would picture myself finishing college, I would imagine the great sense of accomplishment I would feel as my professor handed me my diploma at…
It was a festive weekend for Vancouver Hillel as the University of British Columbia hosted its Inaugural Grand Opening of the newly built Diamond Foundation Centre for Jewish Campus Life. It was a loaded all-day affair, officially starting at 10 in the morning and ending at 5 in the evening. Unfortunately, due to a high…
Crossposted to Jewschool and The Reform Shuckle. I have a friend, X. X college graduate. X wants to do a variety of Jewish learning and then go to a rabbinical school. X also has what basically amounts to no money. X also works for a Jewish non-profit that has a wealthy executive director. We were…
After the exposing of the Orthodox rabbi who asked the New Jersey Jewish Standard not to print any more same-sex wedding announcements, the paper is trying again to take the pulse of community religious leaders on the issue. [North Jersey] Meanwhile, biased fearmongering reigns at Boston University. [Jewish Exponent] Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef says that goyim…
Bailey Spagat is participating in Career Israel, one of Masa Israel‘s 180 programs.
Should I ever decide to make Vatican City my home (I covet their archives for my research), I understand that I may have to take an oath to a Catholic country. If I were allowed to live and work in Saudi Arabia, I might have to take an oath to an Islamic state. Neither of…
I feel lost in Ashkenazic culture. Outside of it, maybe? I’m not the only person who feels that way, I know I’m not—anyone who didn’t grow up with it, come from it, it’s a foreign land. Ashkenazic culture in the United States is like a Jewish default setting. You grow up outside the prescribed norm,…
I never knew before blogging for New Voices just how diverse the opinions expressed in the magazine were. Just take yesterday’s update email, entitled “Fight the Loyalty Oath,” in which no less than three different views by three different authors were expressed on a controversial bit of Israeli legislation. The opinions were: 1) The proposed…