Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Are there resource guides for modern Jews, or on the subject of modern Judaism for others? My bookshelf is loaded with theology. Make that bookshelves—three of them, crammed with as much Waskow, Armstrong, Schachter-Shalomi, Kaplan and Michaelson as I can fit into one three-room apartment. When non-Jewish friends ask me for a book about Judaism, I…
If Poland to Jews around the world represents one big Jewish cemetery, it goes without saying that for them, Jewish life in Poland is dead. Then, how can there still be Jews in Poland? After the Holocaust, after the 1946 Kielce Pogrom, and after the 1968 Jewish purges? It follows, that there must not be any Jews…
Perhaps you’ve heard of the recent trend among a small sect of ultra-Orthodox women to follow the example of modesty set by Muslim women by wearing burqas that completely disguise the shapes of their bodies. Most Orthodox communities are confounded by this latest stringency, thankfully. Us Modern Orthodox women needn’t fear that this will spread…
On Saturday night, Nov. 5, 16 years and one day (on the secular calendar) since Yitzchak Rabin, prime minister of Israel, was assassinated, I visited Rabin Square. All was quiet. There were just a few other tourists straggling by. And me. That was about it. A few Israelis walking and biking by slowed down for…
When I first saw Carole King’s new Christmas album I realized (with some guilt in my heart) that I had to buy it. It was nice, sweet, and simple. This was a real Christmas album, not completely abrasive like Bob Dylan’s Christmas album. But it wasn’t horribly fake like Barbra Streisand’s (titled “Christmas Memories” –…
Who advocates for the minority within a minority? According to a press release posted to their Web site on November 21, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) – the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender lobbyist organization in the United States – is launching the Jewish Organization Equality Index (JOEI) survey. The purpose of this study…
My usual pre-Thanksgiving ritual doesn’t involve putting on stretch pants to allow for that last extra bite of stuffing. Neither does it involve watching the Macy’s Day Parade. Instead, before I head over to my grandparents’ house for Turkey Day with my family, I make sure to catch up on the latest episodes of my…
Israel may field a baseball team for the next World Baseball Classic. Can you say ק-ו-פ-ק-ס ? The latest from the Global Jewish Voice: Sabra League Baseball By Gabriel T. Erbs in Portland Citing a recent ESPN article, Heeb Magazine reported that a slew of former MLB players met with Israeli baseball officials to discuss the potential of an…
Crossposted at Crystal Decadenz I am disturbingly familiar with the arguments against Orthodoxy. I imagine someone will take issue with my characterizations of the liberal branches, but it’s good to disagree sometimes. I know that really accurate characterizations would take a book to write (I’m telling you now so I don’t have to break up…
In the first part of his watershed work, Imperialism and Jewish Society: 200 B.C.E to 640 C.E., Seth Schwartz, the Gerson D. Cohen Professor of History at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, argues “that imperial support for the central national institutions of the Jews, the Jerusalem temple and the Pentateuch, helps explain why…
I don’t mind Occupy Wall Street. I don’t mind civil disobedience. I don’t even mind police officers trying to do their jobs. Here’s what I do mind: People getting between me and taking that first look at my work email in the morning. I’m getting a little weary of OWS at this point. I’m not…
The JTA has an interesting round-up of #Occupy’s Palestinian solidarity issues: While the pro-Palestinian events have been organized by outside groups, the closest Occupy Wall Street has come to endorsing Palestinian activism was a Nov. 3 tweet from the New York branch’s unofficial communications team expressing solidarity with the Freedom Waves mini-flotilla, which tried to…
While researching my article about Jewish Greek life here at American University, one of the most Jewish private universities in the country (depending on who you ask), I ran into someone interesting. Ibraheem Samirah is a normal college student. He’s a junior studying political science and pre-dentistry, he likes hanging out with friends, he ran…
Some consider Nick Griffin a racist, some a hero. The British National Pary Chairman was (almost) invited to debate the death penalty at Nottingham University. If you haven’t heard anything about the backlash, check out Rebecca Schapira’s latest article for the Global Jewish Voice: Education Should Battle Ignorance at University By Rebecca Schapira in Nottingham…