Tying the knot – in college

By Carly Silver February 27, 2012

While most Americans push marriage further and further off into adulthood, marriage is alive and thriving among some Jewish college students in Manhattan.

Only 51% of American adults (individuals 18 and older) were married in 2010, compared to 72% in 1960, says a recent report from the Pew Research Center. But many Jewish college couples have found that now is the right time for them to make a life commitment. Some are shomer negiah — meaning that they follow a strict interpretation of Jewish law that only allows them to be in intimate physical contact within the confines of marriage. Other Jewish pairs simply find that tying the knot is the next stage in their relationships. Maybe it’s a mixture of both.

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Torah and modern activism; don’t pray the gay away; and more. [Required Reading]

By John Propper February 27, 2012

Israel has more non-orthodox Jews than Haredim, study finds [Jewish Journal] A recent study demonstrates that Israel’s Conservative and Reform populations appear greater in number than that of its Haredim (ultra-orthodox), though not by much. Could this knowledge spell a shift in representation for an Israeli population that doesn’t seem to make as much political…

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Disorganization, lack of information characterize run up to annual event [Israeli Apartheid Week]

By Dafna Fine February 24, 2012

Israeli Apartheid Week begins on Sunday and runs through Saturday, March 3. New Voices writers will be covering it all week on several campuses. If you know of  IAW events — or its counterpart, Israel Peace Week — on your campus, let us know by emailing Dafna Fine at dafna@newvoices.org. The trailer below is from…

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Editorial: Spying on Muslim students, NYPD crosses the line

By New Voices Editorial Board February 24, 2012

We thought the days of spying on students went out with the likes of J. Edgar Hoover. And yet, we’ve been reading stories all week about the New York Police Department practice of spying on Muslim students for no other reason than their affiliation with Muslim student organizations.

The AP reported in October that undercover agents were active on eight New York college campuses, but a new report says that they went far beyond that, spying on students on more far-flung campuses, such as Yale and Princeton.

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Mr. Shmuley goes to Washington; Heeb turns 10; and more. [Required Reading]

By John Propper February 24, 2012

Joseph Goebbels takes on Heeb Magazine [Heeb] As Heeb Magazine celebrated its 10th anniversary of… well, being Heeb Magazine… with a crazy party, it seems the Jews aren’t the only ones paying attention. This little gem cropped up online yesterday, and we’re not sure, but we think it means Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels was…

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Running on Religion to the White House [Campaign 2012]

By Zach C. Cohen February 23, 2012

For a nation focused on separation of church and state, there’s an inordinate amount of church in this race to run the state. Over the past week, presidential candidates have made religion a forefront issue for the presidency. Democratic strategists suggest the Republican contenders are looking for another way to attack President Barack Obama since the economy…

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On ending the silence [Eating Disorder Awareness Week]

By pkessler February 23, 2012

Eating Disorder awareness week affects us all, whether we know it or not, Deborah Blausten argues beautifully. The women and men who are affected are mothers and daughters, sisters and wives, fathers and sons. This is not a disorder that can be callously dismissed as a “teenage girl problem” passed off as “a phase” that they…

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Operation Jewish American scoliosis

By Shani Chabansky February 23, 2012

The federal investigation of anti-Semitism at UCSC

This was originally published in the Winter 2011 issue of the Leviathan Jewish Journal, the 40-year-old Jewish undergraduate publication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. New Voices has re-published as a supplement to a new op-ed by the author on the same subject.

This version of the article concludes with a section on new developments since article’s original publication. A fully footnoted version is available at the Leviathan.

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The gay Jews come to AU

By Zach C. Cohen February 23, 2012

A small and close-knit group, the queer Jewish community represents a double minority — a minority of Jews are LGBT, and a minority of the LGBT community is Jewish.

So it’s no surprise that attendees at last weekend’s annual conference of the National Union of Jewish LGBT Students found the conference helpful simply because it gathered together so many students with a similar identity.

“There’s a part of me that was always really curious: What would it be like to be the majority?” Steven Philp, a graduate student at the University of Chicago, said. “That’s the interesting thing about walking into this room.” (Philp used to blog for New Voices.)

NUJLS gathered at American University in Washington, D.C. for its 15th annual conference last weekend, bringing students from across the country together to discuss the intersection between the LGBT community and Jewish life.

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Investigation harms UCSC’s Jews while trying to protect them

By Shani Chabansky February 23, 2012

This op-ed was co-published by New Voices and The Jewish Daily Forward. Last year, the author wrote a longer article, originally published by the Leviathan Jewish Journal, detailing the ongoing struggle over the Title VI Civil Rights complaint filed at the University of California, Santa Cruz, which can be read at New Voices.

Last spring the United States Office of Civil Rights opened an investigation into allegations of anti-Semitism at my school, University of California, Santa Cruz. The investigation was prompted by a Title VI complaint filed by my own Hebrew teacher, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin. She complains that UCSC has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act because it has failed to address what she alleges to be university-sponsored anti-Semitism. The investigation is a waste of time — but worse than that, it’s also damaging UCSC’s Jewish community. I have seen friendships fall apart during arguments over the investigation as this situation has turned Jew against Jew. So as a Jew and a Zionist, one of the very students Rossman-Benjamin claims to protect, I have a few complaints of my own.

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YU Hoops spark controversy; College Memes; Summer Camp; and more [Required Reading]

By pkessler February 23, 2012

School spirit goes viral as more and more college students have taken to (sometimes not so) gently ribbing their college or university on the internet. As NewVoices reported last week, memes, it seems, are everywhere. Israel’s favorability rating stays high [JTA] Some 71% of Americans said they viewed the country favorably, making it the eighth…

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‘Being Muslim is the new probable cause:’ The student press reports on NYPD’s spying spree [Parsing]

By David A.M. Wilensky February 22, 2012

“Being Muslim is apparently the new probable cause,” begins today’s editorial in the Washington Square News, NYU’s student newspaper. Two Muslim students at Yale began a Feb. 17 op-ed in the Yale Daily News with this: Since the end of the Jim Crow era, politicians have dressed racism in the rhetoric of food stamps and illegal aliens. But…

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Drawing in Gemara class: fighting the impulse [Humor]

By awasserman February 22, 2012

I have a confession to make: My name is Arielle Wasserman and I am a doodler. It’s shameful, I know. It started young; you can go and look through my grade one notebooks- all meticulously filed away by my uber-organized mother- and see the proof in the pudding. The once pristine sheets are rendered unrecognizable,…

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NYPD surveillance; Anne Frank baptized (again); Shabbat buses; and more. [Required Reading]

By John Propper February 22, 2012

NYPD tracked Muslim students, organizations [Columbia] Recent news that the New York Police Department willfully performed surveillance on Muslim student organizations in the name of anti-terrorism measures has been met with harsh criticism by many. In light of the fears this news may provoke, the Spectator, newspaper for Columbia College, unpacks the threat to free…

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Jews have a historical right to the land of Israel [Decent Dissent]

By eglogauer February 21, 2012

In his response to my op-ed, Harpo Jaeger touches on the issue of Israel’s treatment of Judea and Samaria – better known today as “the disputed territories.” Jaeger alleges that “millions of Palestinians…live under occupation” and that their lives are “endangered by checkpoints, raids and searches.” I take issue with the allegation that millions of…

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