Post-Soviet Jews & A Radical Future
“Remember, post-Soviet Jews are here and we are writing our own stories.” Kolektiv Goluboy Vagon’s zine explores post-Soviet queer Judaism, envisioning a transformative diasporic world.
Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Article Archive
Alt-J to Tufts Administration: “Inaction and Selective Outrage” Hurts Jewish Community
By unequivocally condemning SJP’s statement while claiming to “advocate for Jewish students,” Hillel director Brawer makes very clear which Jewish students are welcome and which are not.
A New Era in Holocaust Education: Commemorating Without Survivors
Survivors are dwindling at a rapid rate. As of 2018, there were an estimated 416,375 living Holocaust survivors in the world, according to a report published by Claims Conference.
At Columbia, Jewish Students Like Me are Caught in a Culture War
With the release of the Trump peace plan, it’s been made even clearer that the two-state solution is no more than a platitude — and international activism for Palestinian human and civil rights is more important than ever. However, as a prelude to this politically expedient deal, President Trump announced an executive order which risks…
“Truth, Self, and Belonging”: A Judaism Unbound Fellowship Reflection
We are very much in the wilderness, traveling together through the desert. This fellowship has revealed to me how much all Jews need Torah – and how much the Torah needs all Jews, especially those who feel most at the edges of the camp.
My Jewish Awakening
“Awakening” suggested a kind of milestone, a coming-of-age, almost a second bat mitzvah. Here was my unofficial rite of passage into the real Jewish world: not an aliyah, but anti-Semitism.
What Bari Weiss Gets Wrong About Anti-Semitism
We cannot defeat anti-Semitism in isolation. In fact, it is the same ideology that puts all of us – Jews, Muslims, Palestinians, and people of color – at risk of violence.
Lessons From an Unexpected Apology
My decision to not write about leaving the paper had an unexpected consequence, one I hadn’t considered in my months of thought and regret: it left space for reconciliation.
Anxiety, Trauma, and Judaism in the Trump Era
A few months after the Pittsburgh shooting, I had my first panic attack. It was triggered by something inconsequential, but my anxiety had been one the rise since that Shabbat. I could feel it in little moments—a rush through my chest, a clench in my stomach, a film behind my eyes.
Beyond the Headline: A Student Reporter Reflects on a Story that Hit Home
Controversy erupted at Middlebury last week after a question from a chemistry midterm came to light that invoked the Holocaust. The question identified Hydrogen Cyanide as “a poisonous gas that Nazi Germany used to horrific ends in the gas chambers during the Holocaust,” and then asked students to calculate a lethal dose of the substance…
Converting to Judaism in Small-Town Kentucky
Before 23-year-old Aleah Gabbard began her conversion to Judaism four years ago, she grew up around deeply-rooted anti-Semitism in Owensboro, Kentucky. Owensboro made national news this past Halloween when a resident wore a Nazi soldier costume and dressed his young son as Hitler. This incident reflects the environment that Gabbard experienced in public schools in…
I’m a Jewish College Student. Where Am I Safe From Gun Violence?
Several weeks ago, 11 people were gunned down while attending Shabbat morning services at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. Throughout the United States, people mourned with the Jewish community after the worst act of violent anti-Semitism in our country’s history while candidates campaigning for the upcoming midterm election promised to make sure nothing like this ever…
The Mad That We Feel: A Video Response from Pittsburgh
The day that my street became a crime scene, I didn’t go to my job as a waitress. Everything was too heart-achingly fresh and the lockdown wasn’t lifted until it was too late, anyway. I went to work the next day, though. And the day after that. On Tuesdays, my second job entails teaching high…
“This Is What I Was Scared Of”: First Thoughts After a Massacre
When I saw the news I tried to think if I know anyone who lives in Pittsburgh. If any of my Jewish friends have family there. If any of the first years we’ve welcomed to Hillel over the last few months grew up there. I couldn’t think. I called my friend and cried on the…
Reconciling My Swiss and Jewish Heritage
When I was a little girl, my family took a trip to Switzerland every year. My dad is from Switzerland, so we (my dad, my Jewish American mother, my twin brother, and I) would go every single summer until my grandparents passed away. I always enjoyed these trips – my Disney Princess-loving self was always…