Toward a Queerer, Jewier Tomorrow

By Amram Altzman March 31, 2014

When I was in high school, I had this fantasy where I told myself that I would come out of the closet as soon as I got that one text from a friend asking if they could tell me something, and then they would tell me that they are gay. That fantasy was never realized….

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White Guilt and Evil Tongues

By David G. March 28, 2014

As with much of Leviticus, the material found in this week’s Torah reading, Parashat Tazria, can make us, with our modern sensibilities, squirm a bit. With the description of tzarat, a specific skin disease, the text seems to be stating that any who have strange marks on their skin are sinners who must be isolated…

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Learning From Ari Shavit’s ‘My Promised Land’

By Alex E. Lipton March 27, 2014

  I My stepfather always told me that all the best books have maps.  So when I opened Ari Shavit’s My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel a map was the first thing I looked for.  I found it on the first page of the book, just after the title page and the…

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Coming of Age as South Dakota’s Token Jew

By Andy Engelmann March 26, 2014

Two calls, a text, and three Facebook messages, all in less than a week.  That was how I learned about B’rith Shalom, South Dakota’s first Jewish student culture club at South Dakota State University.  You see, for years, I had been known as “The Jew.”  Growing up in the middle the Sioux Empire, we were…

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Questioning the Role of Zionism in Jewish Identity

By Dani Plung March 26, 2014

I don’t remember much about my brief stint on the high school crew team, probably because it only lasted one spring season when I was fourteen. Most of what I do remember is meaningless—and not exceedingly positive—like not being able to carry my share of the boat and thereby forcing a coach to take over…

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Why the Jewish College Student Survey Matters to You

By Derek M. Kwait March 25, 2014

For all its hype, the Pew report missed a lot of college-aged Jews, and therefore might have missed a lot about us. Two professors from Trinity College in Connecticut, Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keysar, hope to get the true picture of who we are and what we want by creating an online survey accessible here…

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Dear Jay Michaelson: We Can’t Afford To Leave Hillel

By Amram Altzman March 24, 2014

In his recent article in the Forward, Jay Michaelson argues that students who feel marginalized by the increasing tendency of right-leaning major Jewish organizations to air only those views which toe their institutional lines should vote with their feet and leave. This works well in theory for institutions like the Jewish Museum, which recanted its…

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Why Not to Drink Around Fire – or – Dying for Balance

By David G. March 21, 2014

Throughout the last few weekly readings, things have been going quite well for the Hebrew tribes—nothing bad has really happened and everyone is excited to have the Tabernacle up and running. This week in Parashat Shmini, still on the high of the last few weeks, we move to the last day of sacrifices, with the…

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Anorexia and Shabbat Pt. 2

By Jourdan Stein March 20, 2014

…Continued from Anorexia and Shabbat  My first Friday out of my first intensive treatment session for anorexia.  I’m supposed to be excited to see my friends, relax, and enjoy the free food that Hillel is serving for Shabbat dinner.  I know what’s on the menu for the night, and how now much of each food…

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The Most Open Hillel: South Dakota State’s B’rith Sholom

By Derek M. Kwait March 19, 2014

South Dakota State University’s B’rth Sholom is more than just the only Jewish cultural club in the state. Its nine members constitute one of America’s most diverse Jewish organizations, as about half them identify as Messianic Jews, or those with Jewish practice who accept Jesus as the Messiah. “We really don’t try to segregate by…

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Naughty Jewish Boys – Yes, Bubbe, They do Exist

By Adam Kroopnick March 18, 2014

In a studio in New York’s theater district, Duncan Pflaster, a playwright and part-time photographer, was unpacking props for his photoshoot: yarmulkes, a menorah, and a book called The Jewish Pleasure Principle. Mr. Pflaster isn’t doing a swimsuit calendar — he’s creating the Naughty Jewish Boys calendar, which will feature a Jewish man in various…

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Challenging “The J Street Challenge” (or, Why I Didn’t Go To AIPAC This Year)

By Amram Altzman March 17, 2014

I am an American. I am neither an Israeli, nor am I a Palestinian. However, I am a Jew, and a pro-Israel American, who lives in a country which has strong, positive relations with Israel. As a Zionist, I see it as my job to defend Israel as a Jewish State, and that means protecting…

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Anorexia and Shabbat

By Jourdan Stein March 14, 2014

Third grade lunch at Solomon Schechter Jewish Day School. All my friends are sitting around eating Cheetos and sharing sandwiches. Me, I’m staring at the clock waiting for the little and the big hand to both land on the twelve so that I can throw the untouched lunch my mother packed me into the trash…

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Hart Levine Brings Grassroots Judaism to Campus with the Heart to Heart Project

By H. B. Rubin March 13, 2014

It all started with Chanukkah caroling. Late one night, in the midst of finals week stress, a few male Modern Orthodox University of Pennsylvania students decided to carol some Channukah songs at the doors of their Jewish friends. As they walked down the hallway, snapping their fingers and singing in a loud messy harmony, they…

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Should I Care About Israel Just Because Non-Jews Think I Must?

By Dani Plung March 12, 2014

I am proud of being Jewish, and the people I live with know this.  Though it’s not Halachally required, my dorm room’s door frame sports a mezuzah (which is kosher, according to Chabad.com—I checked!). Friends from my residence hall know that I don’t make plans on Friday nights, because I go to Hillel for services. …

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