The Goylem, Angels, and Ghosts of “Shmutz”: Zine Review
From EveLilith and shtetl stories to Claude Cahun, Jess Goldman’s “Shmutz” zine dreams up modern Ashkenazi midrashic fiction for today’s Jewish Left.
Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Article Archive
Revisiting the Jewish American Princess Zine
“While the Jewish American Princess has been weaponized by non-Jews for antisemitic purposes, intracommunally it’s often been used as a caricature to make fun of classist and racist Jewish people.” Welcome to the Jewish Underground Press.
Revisiting the Jewish Question
Rilke’s translated response to an age-old discourse: “What is to be done with the Jews?”
Atoning for Jessica Krug
“Whether we ‘claim’ her or not, whether we knew her or not, as a Jew, Jessica Krug is part of our community. All of us must atone for her transgression, just as all of us must atone for the transgressions of synagogues who hired police and security that scrutinized Black Jews and Jews of Color entering our sanctuaries. There cannot be any evasion here.”
It’s Time for Jewish Philanthropy to Invest Outside of the Jewish World
If we are serious about racial and economic justice, we must center the voices of small local nonprofits, people of color, and the broader communities in which we are situated, and we must do so inside of our endowment meetings.
Mizrahi Students Talk: Are Campus Communities Ashkenormative?
Rebecca Wahba’s family had been in Egypt since at least the Spanish Inquisition. But in 1939, when Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” became a bestseller in Cairo, her great-grandfather left, landing in India by 1945 just as the war was ending. “All the news was coming out about what was happening to the Jews. He was…
Are We White Right Now?
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…
Ally or aggravator? Recognizing Jewish whiteness in context
In 1954, the American Jewish Committee supported the NAACP during the historic Brown v. Board of Education case. In 1965, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched to Selma with Dr. Martin Luther King. And a month ago, I heard a college-aged white Jew equate his family’s historical experience in Europe to the struggle that people of…
Zionish challenges readers to find nuance in Zionism
There seem to be two choices in mainstream Jewish life: Either you’re pro-Zionism, or you’re anti-Zionism. A new online publication, Zionish, rejects that binary. “Our stance is to reject the traditional stances,” Zionish editor Aaron Simons told New Voices via email. “People conceive of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one where you have to be either…
Happy Hanukkah! No more Drake Christmas memes.
I know when those sleigh bells ring, that can only mean one thing: the sound of forced assimilation. If you’re on the internet and move in Canadian or Drake-loving circles, you’ve probably seen the usual “Hotline Bling” memes, now featuring Christmas. You’ve seen the ugly Christmas sweaters with Drake’s likeness on them. They’re harmless, I suppose,…
On Urban Outfitters and Jewish masculinities
I like Jewish boys. A lot. Which is why I was elated when Urban Outfitters released its 2016 Nice Jewish Guys calendar — and then I realized how conflicted I was. While I support the proliferation of the Nice Jewish Boy — and God only knows the world needs more of them — I also…
Let’s All Be Traitors
Treason has been on my mind a lot the past few weeks. In the Jewish world, the website Canary Mission – which seeks to create a “blacklist” of pro-Palestinian activists – has caused a controversy. Many of those profiled on the site are Jewish – including New Voices contributor Tom Pessah; those of our brethren…
The East Coast’s Top 5 Old World/New School Bagels and Schmears
From pop-up Shabbats around Miami, to black caviar bagel spreads, to halvah ice cream, Jewish food is having a gourmet makeover. The definition of soul food is food of life, which is exactly what bagels are to American Ashkenazi Jews. The bagel has Jewish roots dating back to seventeenth-century Europe, where it was eaten…
Frida Kahlo’s Cannoli Cream for Shavuot
If you’ve been counting the Omer, you are aware that Shavuot, a.k.a. the holiday of blintzes and cheesecake, is approaching this Saturday night. As a vegan, I have often wondered why Jews eat dairy on Shavuot. There are many answers to this question. One is that eating dairy foods symbolizes our continued acceptance of the…
Imagining an Alternate History in Lithuania: A Jew in the Motherland
I, your faithful correspondent from the Colonial Motherland, just spent six days in the other motherland – Lithuania, the place from which most of my ancestors came. Other than a return in the 1990’s by my Holocaust-survivor maternal grandmother, and a similarly timed visit by my paternal grandparents, none of my “nearby” extended family…