Are You Sexy Enough for the JTA?

By Lex Rofes May 2, 2013

“How would you rank the attractiveness of female Jews on your campus?” Does this question bother you? It certainly would bother me, regardless of the circumstances. What if it were being utilized as a question to determine the “Best Jewish Campus” in the country? Would it bother you more? For me the answer is a…

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McIsrael Speaks: The Big America Burger

By H. B. Rubin April 29, 2013

What could be funnier than watching an Israeli McDonald’s commercial that features a troop of Secret Service agents rounding up Israeli teenagers in order to whip up a burger and fries for President Obama? Watching the same exact commercial, but from 2008, with a certain ex-President Bush receiving the burger and fries. That’s right. McDonald’s ripped themselves…

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8 Things You Can Only Do After You Graduate

By Simi Lichtman April 25, 2013

In yet another of Buzzfeed’s relevant and so-funny-cuz-it’s-true series of list-styled articles, staff writer Arielle Calderon wrote an article entitled “21 Things You’ll Never Do Again After Graduating College.” And while I wouldn’t say it’s one of Buzzfeed’s best articles (now, that would make an excellent list), it clearly hit home with a lot of…

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Israel Essay Contest Update: New Judge, New Deadline

By New Voices April 25, 2013

After searching far and wide, we finally found the perfect person to make up our trinity of judges for our inaugural essay contest-Forward editor at large J.J. Goldberg. He brings years of writing experience and a unique perspective on Israel to the panel. A founding member and past secretary general of Kibbutz Gezer outside Tel…

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Forbes Israel: Jews R Still Rich

By H. B. Rubin April 19, 2013

One question: Why? To clarify: Why Forbes Israel, why? The lovely group over at Forbes Israel (as if “ANTI-SEMITE FODDER” isn’t written all over that one…) has recently released a report that would make Moses roll over in his grave: The World’s Richest Jews. Unfortunately, the list is in Hebrew. Fortunately, that doesn’t seem to…

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Boston Marathon Attack Restores My Faith in Humanity

By Simi Lichtman April 18, 2013

Usually, at New Voices, we try to keep our articles topical to Jews and to college students. When tragedy strikes, it affects everyone. There’s not much that can be said about the Boston Marathon attacks that hasn’t already been said. And there’s not much that qualifies me to say anything about it. But I’m a…

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On Scruffy Beards and Their Spiritual Significance

By Lex Rofes April 15, 2013

My face itches a whole bunch right now, and it will continue to itch for almost two more weeks. While that may not generally be news worthy of discussion in a blog post for The Conspiracy, in this case it is. My face itches because I haven’t shaved in twenty days, and I haven’t shaved…

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Here Comes Mayor Weiner

By Simi Lichtman April 11, 2013

Anthony Weiner is considering running for mayor of New York City. With his major political scandal now behind him, the rumor is he actually might have a shot at this difficult position, hard as it may seem to believe. His political career might not, as it once seemed, have come to a premature finish. But…

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Make Friends and Learn About Sports: Counting The Omer 2013

By H. B. Rubin April 8, 2013

Ways To Make Counting The Omer The Best Experience Of Your Life: Think about the unlimited cheese cake and ice cream that await you. Take time to appreciate the ephemerality of life Make music out of the silence (but don’t enjoy it too much) Hang out with the Simpsons and learn a lot of “fun”…

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One Name, 30 Million Documents

By Simi Lichtman April 4, 2013

When I was in my Holocaust phase—and by that I mean the years I spent consuming every book about the Holocaust I could find, wildly curious about my own family’s personal Holocaust stories—I was transfixed by one person in particular: my grandfather’s brother, Todris. Both of my mother’s parents are survivors, and both had many…

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ANNOUNCING: New Voices’ First Ever Essay Contest

By Gabe Weinstein April 3, 2013

We’re proud to announce our first ever Middle School/High School Israel Essay Contest. Every summer, thousands of high schoolers pile onto tour buses to traipse around the Holy Land. Some travelers return home spiritually awakened, others with a new view of Israel’s political climate. They come back full of ideas, angst and passion. And New…

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Dip the Matzoh in the (Parve) Chocolate

By Simi Lichtman April 3, 2013

Now that Passover is over and we have 376 days to recuperate, it’s high time we make fun of that which is too real and dire to be funny during the holiday: the Passover snacks we swallow all too readily for 8 days a year. Our parents tell us all they had were those frightening…

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Take Back the Seder

By Simi Lichtman March 31, 2013

It’s a challenge to have anything feel new and exciting after a few times of doing it. In a conversation that usually arises within the context of prayer, those of us who perform religious ceremonies often bemoan the impossibility of connecting emotionally to that which so easily becomes rote and stale with repetition. The same…

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“The Rebbetzin” Unveiled (A Bit)

By Rebecca Borison March 31, 2013

Should a Modern Orthodox woman wear a skirt or pants? Should she eat vegetarian at a non-Kosher restaurant? Should she go to frat parties on Shabbat? To answer questions like these, one woman, who calls herself “The Rebbetzin,” started a blog a couple weeks ago called Frum in Skinny Jeans. While “The Rebbetzin” would like…

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“The Party Won’t Stop Till Sunday Morn”

By H. B. Rubin March 22, 2013

“Welcome to Atlanta, where the players play. Hope you can make my bar mitzvah day. Thirteen years since I was born, and the party won’t stop till Sunday morn.” Yes, that is actually the hook for Daniel (sans last name)’s Bar Mitzvah invitation. The difference? He raps the words in a music video, rather than…

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