ckessler

Goodbye, America! Hello, India.

By ckessler December 13, 2010

In less than one month, I should be gliding into Chennai (formerly known as Madras), India. From there, I’ll travel 100 miles south to the city of Pondicherry with about 15 other American students. Why would I leave the steely gray beauty of Pittsburgh for the warmth and bustle of a southeast coastal town in the…

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Will Technology Save the Next Generation of Jews?

By ckessler December 6, 2010

At a post-GA-meet-up yesterday, Jeff Finklestein, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, threw out this question: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing your generation? He meant this in a Jewish context, and attendees’ answers touched upon leadership (or lack thereof) in our age group, and delegitimization of Israel (that…

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Soul by Soul: Pittsburgh’s Growing Pre-Aliyah Community

By ckessler December 1, 2010

Despite the unrelenting rain, seven people made it to Pittsburgh’s first Pre-Aliyah Community Meeting on Tuesday. The purpose of the group is two-fold — to bring people together and create a network of those interested in aliyah; and to provide resources to the group from the Jewish Agency and Nefesh B’Nefesh. After the meeting started on Jewish…

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The GA, Remixed

By ckessler November 29, 2010

Because I am an older child and because I am a writer, I like to have the last word. And not that this post has to be the last one either, but I wanted to address some of the thoughtful comments that resurfaced about the GA (General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America)…

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What Do You Do on Friday nights?

By ckessler November 23, 2010

Sure, it’s practically Tuesday, nearly two in the morning at this point, but I want to return to this weekend, to Friday night in particular. I’ve written about this issue before, but too long ago to hyperlink it (sorry). Anyway, my thoughts have started shifting. I’m thinking about how college students approach Shabbat for a…

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“It Wasn’t a Conference For Us, But We Were There.”

By ckessler November 19, 2010

At the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America in New Orleans, one in four delegates was a student. Over 600 students came in total—a high for the conference—and 44 of those were from the Hillel Jewish University Center (JUC) of Pittsburgh. Though attendance was clearly high on the student front, students were…

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What Hits the NYTimes Homepage

By ckessler November 15, 2010

In my endless effort to procrastinate on Sunday afternoon–with the rain not helping, with my to-do list getting longer–I end up in a familar place: The New York Times homepage. Now, I could sing an ode or shout a rant to the Gray Lady, depending on the day, but I won’t go into that here. What…

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What We Talk About When We Talk About the GA

By ckessler November 11, 2010

Clearly, I like to riff on the wisdom of Raymond Carver in my blog posts–but so what? I like repetition. And repetition is just one of the million things I want to talk about after having just gotten back from the General Assembly (of the Jewish Federations of North America) less than 24 hours ago….

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Reforming the Reformed

By ckessler November 1, 2010

This post comes a bit late tonight, because I’ve been consumed with an article for the fall issue of New Voices on the state of Reform Judaism on college campuses. The article could be a novella, and I had to condense it into an approximately 1,000-word article. Talk about challenging. But what was neat about…

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I Heart…

By ckessler October 25, 2010

New York? Pittsburgh? Hamas? Didn’t see that third one coming, did you? Me neither. I’ll admit, there are certain taglines or catchphrases that seem timeless. “Got milk?” is one that lends itself nicely to variations. And the “I heart (or I love…)” may be even more timeless. It’s certainly provocative. I don’t know many people…

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The Big Easy, Here We Come!

By ckessler October 19, 2010

If you’re not familiar with city nicknames, the title of this post may come as a bit of a surprise. But really, it’s just a fancy way of saying that we are going to the General Assembly (GA) in New Orleans, Louisiana. By “we”, I mean a contingent of 40 people from Pittsburgh’s Hillel, as…

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What does your DNA look like?

By ckessler October 11, 2010

Now, normally this would not be my ideal dinner-table conversation, as my DNA knowledge is limited to 9th grade biology (and that is light years in the past). But, with the Victor Center’s testing for Jewish Genetic Diseases coming up this Wednesday, this topic is certainly on my mind. I hate to plagiarize, and since…

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What we talk about when we talk about Germany.

By ckessler October 4, 2010

This morning, Justin Jacobs, a fellow Pittsburgher and an associate editor at The Jewish Chronicle, interviewed me about a neat summer experience I had. Which made me realize that I hadn’t written anything so “official” about it yet. So, what better forum than New Voices? I’ll break it down like this: Who: Me (a creative…

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The Perfect Sukkot Activity

By ckessler September 28, 2010

is apple picking! Or at least that’s what I think. On Sunday, I went apple picking at Triple B Farms in Monongahela, Pa. which is about 45 minutes from Pittsburgh on winding roads that caution you: “Winding Road Next 1 3/4 miles”. I appreciated the heads up, as I was driving the tiny but formidable…

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Tossing Your Sins Into the Water

By ckessler September 20, 2010

Jews in Rosh Hashanah on Aleksander Gierymski’s picture “Święto trąbek I” Confession: I’m writing this on Sunday. It won’t be posted until Monday, but sometimes I feel particularly motivated, and I write these things. Why am I writing now? Because Yom Kippur is still on my mind, as big days in the Jewish calendar often…

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