Finding Permanence in a Sukkah

By Dani Plung October 31, 2013

[fblike style=”standard” showfaces=”false” width=”450″ verb=”like” font=”arial”] You’d think after forty years of wandering and two thousand subsequent years of diaspora, the Jewish People would be used to spatial transitions.  I mean, we seem to pass everything else L’dor v’dor, from generation to generation, so why not the nomadic nature? Don’t we even take a full eight…

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Pew Survey Conversation (Part 3)

By Derek M. Kwait October 30, 2013

Part 3 in a 3 part series. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. 7.      What are your reactions to survey respondents’ answers to “What does it mean to be Jewish”? What creates Jewish meaning for you? Dr. Steven M. Cohen, sociologist: These questions pertain to areas of great ambiguity. I wouldn’t…

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Meet Steve, Sarah, Eliana, and Jonathan.

Pew Survey Conversation (Part 2)

By Derek M. Kwait October 29, 2013

Part 2 of a 3 part series. Part 1 is here. 4.      Are the survey’s categories of denomination a useful marker of determining true religious affiliation/practice in today’s Jewish world? Dr. Steven M. Cohen, sociologist: Yes. Denominational identities can be meaningful for people as many are strongly attached to Orthodoxy, Conservatism, Reform, and Reconstructionism. But…

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Meet Steve, Sarah, Eliana, and Jonathan.

An Inter-Everything Conversation About the Pew Survey

By Derek M. Kwait October 28, 2013

Part 1 in a 3 part series.   We might just be the last Jewish organization to respond to the big bad Pew Survey and we’re fine with that. It seems like every response so far is other people telling us what how we need to feel about it, whether we should be scared,  take…

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Open Hillel for an Open Hillel

By Gabriel T. Erbs October 23, 2013

The Midwest does not get enough credit for its foundational role in the American Jewish community. However, the first campus Hillel was established in 1923 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In an atmosphere where Jewish campus life was largely non-existent, the first Hillel marked a new age for American Jewish students who endured…

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Fifty Shades of J Street

By Derek M. Kwait October 21, 2013

It used to be, said a speaker at J Street U’s plenary session during the national J Street Conference, that students were expected to listen to learn from others. Now, he said, with the success of the fights for civil rights, marriage equality, unionizing, and women’s rights—all of which were led by student movements—the world…

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Teach Modern Hebrew

By Noah Westreich October 17, 2013

Jewish education in American synagogues is often compartmentalized into a curriculum: an hour of Judaic Studies and an hour of Hebrew, twice weekly. Judaic studies includes watered-down lessons on holidays and Torah stories. Mastery of the alef-bet, the Hebrew alphabet, is often all students gain from the Hebrew class. By the Bat/Bar Mitzvah  age of…

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You Gave the Nobel Peace Prize to a Group that Was Supposed to Rid the World of Chemical Weapons? In 2013??

By Eliana Glogauer October 16, 2013

The Nobel Peace Prize was established in 1901 for the purpose of rewarding those who have “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” One would then assume that the awarding of the prize is based…

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“Real” Rape

By Meggie O'Dell October 14, 2013

When my roommate at USC, a film student with a pink streak in her hair, edited a documentary on rape, I remember the ambivalence I felt. This issue, I thought, was a closed book: a mandatory assembly on rape and consent, massive turnout for Take Back the Night demonstrations, “yes means yes and no means…

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Can You Trust a Woman in Tefillin?: The Truth About Women of the Wall

By Derek M. Kwait October 11, 2013

Women of the Wall (WoW) was founded 25 years ago as a women’s minyan at the Western Wall to meet on the first of every Jewish month. A few years ago, some of WoW’s leaders started getting arrested for wearing non-“feminine” (read: colorful) talitot and tefillin in violation of a 2003 Israeli Supreme Court ruling….

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Politically Ambiguous at San Francisco’s 19th Annual Arab Cultural Festival

By Catie Damon October 10, 2013

On one of the hottest days of the year in San Francisco, a whirlpool of polyester hijabs, Gucci sunglasses, and strollers surround the Dewey monument pillar in Union Square. A stage in the shade of Saks Fifth Avenue is draped with a vermilion banner reading, “19th Annual Arab Cultural Festival.” Every October since 1995, the…

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Bagel-Chasers: On the Problem of Jewish Fetish

By Jonathan Katz October 9, 2013

I don’t generally date non-Jews. I’m not snotty about genealogy, I think the treatment of those who intermarry is barbaric and exclusionary, and I would not be upset if I ended up marrying a non-Jewish man. That said, I do usually end up falling head over heels for young Jewish men who can understand things…

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My 21st Birthday was on Yom Kippur

By Max Daniel October 3, 2013

My 21st birthday was on Yom Kippur. No, this isn’t the set-up of some Woody Allen-esque joke, but my real life (which often takes its cues from Annie Hall and Manhattan). When I mention this to people who ask me about my birthday plans, I always joke about it – how I could have a break-fast…

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Dual Loyalties: Balancing College Football and Jewish Tradition

By Eric Steitz October 2, 2013

A cool breeze rolls through campus and students everywhere know what that means. It’s that time of year again. No, it’s not the High Holy Day season that comes to mind, but football season. For Jewish college students, it’s the start of another potentially conflicted semester. As Jews celebrate Shabbat each weekend, campuses around the…

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