Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Months after Wayne Firestone released his controversial guidelines about which groups are and are not welcome in Hillel, the battle rages on. Today, news came out that the pro-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions group Jewish Voice for Peace was declined membership in Brandeis University’s Hillel, prompting this post from Magnes Zionist blogger Jerry Haber: Of course, Hillel…
Better late than never: Not as good as those Hanukkah dreamboats, I think, but still fun. [Ein Prat Fountainheads] And you thought Natalie Portman couldn’t get any more amazing. [NYT] Turns out Italy isn’t as Catholic as it seems. [Pink Pangea] Where do you go if you’re a student in Egypt and things get ugly?…
J Street may still be fighting for acceptance in the Jewish community almost three years after its founding, but there’s one place where that battle is over and the self-proclaimed “pro-Israel, pro-peace” group has emerged victorious: the college campus. J Street U displayed its secure position in the established Jewish campus world today by organizing…
Some people say J Street is too far to the left; others complain that it’s too far right. But there’s another, more basic reason for Jews to doubt J Street’s kashrut: Its food is literally not kosher. Of course, plenty of Jewish organizations serve non-kosher food at their events, and that’s fine. Given that the…
There’s a plenary going on right now at the J Street Conference that’s exploring the present democracy movements in the Middle East. Good stuff. Something everyone–and especially the peaceniks here–can get behind. The first two panelists gave unsurprising speeches supporting democracy and the peace process, which elicited some token cheers from a mostly silent crowd….
A feel-good story from our friends at Penn. [The Jewish Exponent] And if you want a (rare) feel-good story from Israel, check this out: The Chilean miners just landed there. [YNet] How can American colleges affect the Middle East situation? [Chronicle of Higher Ed.] Alliteration is alive! Mini Me visits the Western Wall! Extremely Excellent! [Heeb] Rahm…
As the Oscars approach, one student reflects on what might have been. [Tablet] A victory for the Israeli left: there will be no NGO monitoring panel. [JPost] A rabbinical student finds a tallit at H&M. [JW] Want to know about young Jews? Read these studies. [Judaism Without Borders] Here are some acronyms you should know if…
Kudos to Jewlicious on this amazing post: an unofficial guide to whom you can and cannot have sex with on Birthright. “Bus Driver: No. Are you insane???” [Jewlicious] Israel has appointed an openly gay judge. [YNet] Students at Columbia are calling on their president, Lee Bollinger, to resign from the board of Kaplan University because…
An amazing blog post by Dr. Sarina Chen at the Jerusalem Post encapsulates the central problem with how many people–and many college students–talk about Israel. Some, particularly those who have been on Birthright, see Israel as a spiritual wonderland where everything is perfect and the state is infallible. Others, conversely, view Israel solely through the lens of the…
If it’s costing this much, maybe not. [USA Today College] The Israeli press is all over Hillel. [Hillel Blog] The head of a right-wing Israeli activist group worked for a company that does business with Iran. [Ha’aretz] Day schools need a different approach to teaching Israel, writes Gary Rosenblatt. [JW] Archaeologists have found what may…
Move over, Maccabeats. Coming from AEPi and ZBT with their Blackberries, Gucci bags, designer clothes and leggings, the Jews of Michigan rock their cultural materialism in “Pursuit of Jappiness,” a paean to all of those Jewish American Princes(ses) on campus. Will most of the organized Jewish world look at this as another sign that young Jews…
Shmarya Rosenberg, the writer of FailedMessiah–a blog covering the Orthodox world–reposted a column by Gary Rosenblatt, editor of the Jewish Week, calling for support of New Voices. Rosenberg, who was involved in the North American Jewish Students’ Network decades ago, then wrote his own account of how the Jewish Establishment has not paid enough attention…
Maybe we’re not so different after all. Apparently it’s just as hard to be a friendly, amiable and polite person at church as it is at synagogue. [Cartoon Church] Here’s a moving series of short biographies about the Jewish servicemen and servicewomen who have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. One of…