Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
People who disagree with me are not worthy of my attention or my respect. At least that’s the message my fellow progressives are sending conservative students on campus. Here’s how the argument goes: Because of my superior morals and politics, I made the correct choice at the ballot box this year. I have earned admission…
When trying to make sense of the suffering and violence taking place in Aleppo and Syria at large, I have recently turned to Jewish prayers to provide me with the necessary structure to process the tragedy and aid those who are suffering. I grew up unable to conceptualize how prayer could be a source of…
Gift-giving on Chanukah is so popular a custom that we rarely stop to think about it. Why do we do it? Are we just copying Christmas, or is there some Jewish tradition present in the act of gift-giving? (No pun intended.) To find out how gift-giving became such a prominent aspect of Chanukah, we have…
What are you getting for Chanukah this year? I don’t mean the gifts you’re anxiously awaiting in your mailbox, though gift giving on Chanukah is actually an ancient tradition. I mean, what really is the gift of Chanukah? Is it freedom? Is it independence? Is it survival? Is it the ability to wrap a drone…
The advertisement is deceptively simple – a darkened image of Donald Trump smiling next to David Friedman, overlaid with four block-lettered words, the last in red: “He Called You Kapos.” This is J Street’s latest ad campaign, a stark reminder of the abuse that Trump’s pick for U.S. ambassador to Israel has showered on liberal…
Last week, President-elect Donald Trump nominated campaign adviser and bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman as U.S. ambassador to Israel. The appointment was understandably controversial in the Jewish community; Friedman’s stances on pertinent Israel issues are abhorrent to the Jewish left and increasingly left-leaning Jewish youth. Regardless, he must be given a chance to succeed. First, Friedman…
I consider myself a balaboosta in training, as my Bubbe would say, using the Yiddish word for a Jewish homemaker who has it together. For this reason, my Torah of trying to cook food for family is The New York Times’ best-selling cookbook “Balaboosta” by feminist Israeli chef Einat Admony. Admony came to my hometown,…
When I was little, I looked forward to the day in December when my dad asked us to dig the “Chanukah box” out of the attic. Out came the electric menorah to put in our window, the glitzy blue and silver garland of dreidels and Jewish stars to hang on our bannister, several rolls of…
Original version published on whoknowsoneblog.wordpress.com. Is there something that faith brings to our society that we would lack if we lived in a world without religion? To the person who has perfect belief in God or a specific religion, this question seems silly. In their minds, of course the presence of their specific religion is of…
After the election, my friend’s younger brother called from Israel. “Are we white?” he asked. Her immediate response was, “Not anymore.” As I listened to my friend talk about this exchange, I wasn’t sure which part was more telling, the question or the answer. The question – how we fit into America’s racial landscape as…
Let’s play a game of “Who Said It? Secretary of State John Kerry or Secretary of State Candidate John Bolton?” (The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations met with Vice President-elect Mike Pence last Thursday and met with President-elect Donald Trump last Friday.) On the One vs. Two-State Solution: Quote #1: “The one-state solution…
Originally published in The Commentator, the official student newspaper of Yeshiva University. As a history major, I’m often asked, “What are you going to do with that?” This question reflects a dismissive attitude toward the study of history. Although such a view is understandable – as scholar Peter Stearns points out, “Historians do not perform…
At first glance, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” seems like a movie made on a wild dare. It’s based on the fictional tome by magical zoologist Newt Scamander in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter universe. Some may remember the 128-page encyclopedia written by Rowling in 2001 along with Quidditch Through The Ages. So, how…
My feet are aching, but I keep walking. I’m stopping 4 a.m. traffic, clogging Pittsburgh’s throughways as I march through the streets, screaming, “Trump is not my president.” My toes start to blister as I hear the sound of 2,000 feet stomping with me. It’s been days since that “me” became a “we” – since…
With Thanksgiving here and Halloween behind us, ‘tis the season to discuss the role of secular holidays in our Jewish lives on campus. Hillels across the country work to keep college students engaged in Jewish programming and within a Jewish community while they are away from home. They are continuously battling increasing secularism, and in the…