Zach C. Cohen

Figure Skating to ‘Schindler’s List’ Should be Welcomed

By Zach C. Cohen February 20, 2014

Bloggers made much ado as Julia Lipnitskaia took to the ice in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. It wasn’t because she was one of the best figure skaters in the world at only 15 years old. It wasn’t that in Lipnitskaia Russia had a representative on the rink for the first time in 10…

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Costa Rica Defends its Jewish Record Against…?

By Zach C. Cohen January 29, 2014

I am blessed to have had the opportunity to travel extensively in the last six months. Following a four-and-a-half month stint in Costa Rica studying at la Universidad Nacional in Heredia, I traveled in Israel on Birthright provider Kesher. After leaving those travels, I had a lot of thoughts on what it means to be…

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From Costa Rica to Israel

By Zach C. Cohen January 23, 2014

San José is an ugly city. The streets are lined with storefronts due for a paint job. Trash and dog droppings line the sidewalks. Every afternoon, like clockwork, the tropical weather brings in a rainstorm that puts most Sunday showers stateside to shame. At night, drug dealers and (legal) prostitutes roam the streets. In this…

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Spiritual High: Rabbi Opens Medical Marijuana Dispensary in D.C.

By Zach C. Cohen September 18, 2013

WASHINGTON – When Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn told his former congregants that he was opening a medicinal marijuana dispensary, they were nothing but supportive. “The cannabis plant was created by God on the second day of creation when God created all the other plants, and touching this one isn’t forbidden,” Jeff said in a June interview….

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Commencement Round-up [Graduation]

By Zach C. Cohen May 18, 2012

Some college graduates got treated to the cream of the crop of today’s politicians and leaders. Here’s a taste of what the Obamas, Romney and Biden’s wife told the Class of 2012. President Barack Obama at Barnard College Obama spoke to graduates of the all-women’s college in New York on May 14. Obama, a graduate…

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Obama To Honor Famous Jews and Righteous Gentile [Mazel Tov!]

By Zach C. Cohen May 4, 2012

Bob Dylan, Madeleine Albright, Shimon Peres and Jan Karski will all receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom this summer. “These extraordinary honorees come from different backgrounds and different walks of life, but each of them has made a lasting contribution to the life of our nation,” President Barack Obama said in a press release. The…

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Beinart goes to college

By Zach C. Cohen May 3, 2012

Peter Beinart is not the most popular pro-Israel, Zionist critic of Israel these days.

His new book, “The Crisis of Zionism,” has spurred controversy and debate, particularly when it comes to his two new catch phrases: a boycott of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, or “Zionist BDS,” a reference to the largely anti-Israel movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel; and calling the West Bank “nondemocratic Israel.”

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Obama visits Holocaust museum [News]

By Zach C. Cohen April 27, 2012

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama announced new sanctions on Iran and Syria and a renewed commitment to preventing genocide and mass atrocities. “We need to be doing everything we can to prevent and respond to these kinds of atrocities, because national sovereignty is never a license to slaughter your people,” Obama said at the United…

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Santorum Wiped Clean and Brushed Aside [GOP 2012]

By Zach C. Cohen April 11, 2012

I was in stats class when Twitter and Facebook exploded with rumors that Rick Santorum was bowing out of the presidential race. So of course I stopped paying attention to standard deviations and confidence intervals. Indeed, despite mass confusion when Washington Post denied rumors that they reported Santorum’s forfeit, other media outlets, including CBS, FOX…

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Passover Rhapsody [Video]

By Zach C. Cohen April 2, 2012

Brought to you from the good people at Aish.

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College Students Flood J Street Conference [J Street 2012]

By Zach C. Cohen March 24, 2012

Of the 2,500 attendees of J Street’s “Making History” Conference, a lot of them are skipping class. About 650 students, 24 percent of the conference’s attendees, turned out in droves for the movement’s third national conference in Washington, D.C. (500 were at last year’s conference). Just to break that up for you, that’s: 125 universities, 24…

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Meet Anna Epstein, a Jew for Romney

By Zach C. Cohen March 21, 2012

Correction appended “He still seems to be the most viable candidate,” Epstein said, even as media elites predict a Santorum-Gingrich ticket in a brokered convention. Epstein is no casual voter. She is currently taking a class taught by Democratic strategist James Carville, where she and her peers are studying the presidential election with the help of…

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“Obamulkes”

By Zach C. Cohen March 14, 2012

Exactly what they sound like. “Obama yarmulkes.” This year, “Jewish Students Wear Their Politics on Their Heads” (clever, PR-guy-who-sent-me-this-press-release. Very clever) with the reemergence of kippot branded with the Obama’s campaign logo. Don’t be confused, the Obama campaign actually has nothing to do with this. Though the story goes Obama got a real kick out…

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Have a Super (Jewish) Tuesday [AIPAC 2012]

By Zach C. Cohen March 7, 2012

Rick Santorum: President Barack Obama’s policies on Iran are  “another appeasement, another delay, another opportunity for them to go forward while we talk.” Mitt Romney: “As president, I’ll be ready to engage in diplomacy. But I will be just as ready to engage our military might.” Newt Gingrich: “The red line is now.” Somebody was catering to…

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New Voices on Al-Jazeera (for real this time) [Self-Promotion]

By Zach C. Cohen March 7, 2012

As promised, I was on Al Jazeera on Monday, where I joined: Pro-Palestine activist Max Blumenthal, Breitbart.com editor Ben Shapiro, Al Jazeera anchor Derrick Ashong, Al Jazeera online producer Malika Bilal, Stanford University Student Body President Michael Cruz and Occupy AIPAC organizer Sasha Gelzin for a discussion on AIPAC and college Jews with a focus…

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