“A Series of Unfortunate Events” Author Analyzes Jewish Themes of New Netflix Series

By Josh Weiss January 30, 2017

Almost 20 years since the publication of “The Bad Beginning” and thirteen years (a fittingly unlucky figure) since its film adaptation, Netflix has given Lemony Snicket’s book series, “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” new life. Filled with incredible actors, breathtaking sets designs, and an engaging plot infused with humor and melancholy, the new show is everything fans…

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In Trump’s America, Open Campus Communities Matter More Than Ever

By Anna Fox January 26, 2017

A few weeks before the election, the Wesleyan Jewish Community, a proud Open Hillel, gathered in our sukkah to discuss the meaning of Jewish values. Students from Cardinals for Israel, J Street U, and Jewish Voice for Peace talked about the complexities that led us to develop our particular beliefs about politics and justice. Inside…

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Media Misrepresents Jewish Students

By Sara Weissman January 25, 2017

Everyone has their morning rituals. I roll over, sleepily grab my phone, and look at my Google Alerts for “Jewish students,” which supplies me with all the day’s news featuring campus Jews. As the editor of New Voices and a nerdy recent grad, this is what one does before coffee. Here’s what this week’s list…

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7 Best Tweets by Jewish Women Hitting the Streets

By Sara Weissman January 23, 2017

In the wise words of Beyonce, girls run the world – and, this past weekend, they proved it, marching in the hundreds of thousands toward the White House on Saturday as a response to Trump’s inauguration the day prior. Crowds of fierce, pink-hat-wearing ladies gathered in cities across the U.S. and even in countries around the world with…

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7 Semester Survival Tips for Jewish Freshmen

By Jillian Gordner January 18, 2017

With the first semester of college behind us, many freshmen are wondering how it went by so quickly. The late-night pizzas, the cram sessions, and the crying sessions all melded together to create the whirlwind that is the first chapter of the “college experience.” Integrating yourself into the campus world can be difficult, but for…

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World Union of Jewish Students Welcomes NETWORK, Its Largest U.S. Delegation in Decades

By Nicole Zelniker January 17, 2017

From Dec. 27 to Dec. 31, the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) met at Kibbutz Tzuba outside Jerusalem for its 43rd international congress of Jewish student leaders. This year, the WUJS Congress hosted 27 American students, the largest delegation of American Jews in over 20 years, through NETWORK: The American Union of Jewish Students, a national, independent…

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This Professor Gets the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act All Wrong

By Jackson Richman January 16, 2017

In The Wall Street Journal a couple weeks ago, former Harvard Professor Ruth Wisse wrote about how we need to fight anti-Semitism through the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which requires the Department of Education to take the broad State Department definition of anti-Semitism into account when determining if an act can be deemed anti-Semitic in accordance with Title…

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Chabad Reaches All 50 States

By Jackson Richman January 11, 2017

We all know the joke: The first life on Mars will be… a Chabad House. While Chabad, a juggernaut Jewish presence on nearly 200 campuses nation-wide, isn’t quite intergalactic yet, it recently took one step closer. Chabad is finally in all 50 states with its recent addition of a Chabad House in South Dakota. South…

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How Do We Create Campus Pluralism?

By Daniel Levine January 9, 2017

Originally published in Ha’am.  In our era, different societies and communities worldwide advocate pluralism heavily. Pluralism is a uniquely modern idea, in which a society allows – or even encourages – the coexistence of more than one system of thought and values. Unsurprisingly, pluralistic ideals have been heavily championed in our own UCLA Jewish community…

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Can I Study God in Graduate School?

By Josh Daniels January 5, 2017

As the New Year passes, I am increasingly aware of the fact that I’ve graduated, and I don’t have a job just yet. Like many recent graduates, my biggest question is what path to take, as I consider a couple major choices on the horizon – in my case, graduate school vs. rabbinical ordination. I want…

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This Is a Safe Space – Unless You’re Conservative

By Zev Hurwitz January 5, 2017

People who disagree with me are not worthy of my attention or my respect. At least that’s the message my fellow progressives are sending conservative students on campus. Here’s how the argument goes: Because of my superior morals and politics, I made the correct choice at the ballot box this year. I have earned admission…

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“Shema Yisrael” – Listen to Syrian Voices

By Hannah Weintraub January 4, 2017

When trying to make sense of the suffering and violence taking place in Aleppo and Syria at large, I have recently turned to Jewish prayers to provide me with the necessary structure to process the tragedy and aid those who are suffering. I grew up unable to conceptualize how prayer could be a source of…

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Ari Shavit’s Sexual Harassment Spurs Ongoing Discussion Among Campus Jews

By Nicole Zelniker January 3, 2017

For the last two years, Israeli author and journalist Ari Shavit spoke at dozens of college campuses around the country and for Hillel International. This was before American journalist Danielle Berrin accused Shavit of sexual misconduct, igniting ongoing discussions about sexual harassment in Jewish campus communities. To recap, soon after the accusation, J Street disinvited Shavit from…

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