Live Blogging the Open Hillel Conference Day 2

By Derek M. Kwait October 15, 2014

On Monday, the final day of what Previous New Voices Rebbe David A.M. Wilensky calls “Liberal Jewish Comicon,” my first interaction was with Ali Kreigsman, who was attending in support of her and Jana Kozlowski’s upcoming documentary, Between the Lines, about Jewish day school students who come to university and discover that in spite of…

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Why is a Nice Jewish Girl Like You Moving to Wyoming?

By Amber Ikeman July 29, 2014

I turned 25 this year. Something about that looming birthday made me evaluate who I was, who I am, and who I want to be. I asked myself if I was happy, if I was fulfilled and doing what I pictured for myself in my mid-twenties. It didn’t take long to realize that the answer was no. I…

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SermonSlam Rocks Brooklyn with Torah

By Derek M. Kwait January 30, 2014

“Sanctuary.” That was the theme the roughly 135 energetic young Jews of all backgrounds and beliefs huddled together  in a wallpapered synagogue ballroom on a below-freezing late January night in Brooklyn to hear sermons about. Better, to hear sermons slammed about. SermonSlam is as it sounds: Slam poetry, but for sermons. Each participant gets exactly…

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Step in the arena

By mekeisler April 29, 2011

When I’m in a cypher, I don’t have time to plan my rhyme, I don’t even want to use that part of the brain. I start thinking about your rhyme scheme, or even consciously formulate a rhyme and I lose the beat– and the beat is everything. A rapper who establishes a rhythm with their…

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Jewish mysticism as played by Frank London and Divine Sparks

By mekeisler March 24, 2011

One of the musicians told me Divine Sparks didn’t have as much rehearsal time as they thought they needed. From the second balcony of the Berklee performance center, the sound mixing seemed uneven, the guitar close to inaudible. Despite these kinks, this was one of the more interesting concerts I’ve gone to, to say the…

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Yemen Blues go in

By mekeisler March 18, 2011

On stage, Yemen Blues have a manic energy. On the left side of the stage, Hilla Epstein and Galia Hai play cello and viola, adding stability to a cacophonous sound. On the right side, the horn section of Avi Lebovich, Itamar Borochov and Hadar Noiberg add funk-styled horn blasts and occasional backup vocals. In the…

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Preview: #Boston #Jewish music festival

By mekeisler March 3, 2011

I was going to drop some Pulitzer-worthy coverage of Boston University Students for Israel’s peaceful protest for Israel/against anti-semitism, but this inhuman cold-flu hybrid left me stuck in bed. It’s not a good look in my apartment; I’m too dizzy to clean up my room, but enough kvetchink. Sunday marks the beginning of the Boston…

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Glenn Beck goes extra hateful

By mekeisler February 24, 2011

If you’re reading this blog, I’m guessing you’re not down with Glenn Beck, but did you know that Pinkface Half-wit is a notorious anti-semite? Beck has a long history of appropiating the holocaust for political games, has called George Soros a “puppet master”, and has dressed up as a fetishized Nazi officer for his book…

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