Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Up close and personal in the Gaza Strip [Vice News] After a failed attempt in 2007 to make it into Gaza, during a violent conflict there, Vice News finally makes it in, sharing their insights and experiences on one of the most hotly debated geographic regions on Earth. Licking the Lubavitcher Rebbe…? [Jerusalem Post] A…
Oprah goes Hasid [Chabad] Visiting Hasidic communities in Brooklyn for an upcoming episode in her latest program, Oprah sat down for a special interview with Chabad Rabbi Motti Seligson. Oprah discussed misconceptions about the role of women in Orthodox Judaism, the importance of family, and living a life of meaning. When asked by Seligson…
Matisyahu’s Twitter bomb is making the rounds. He shaved. He announced it with a photo and one of the most vaguely expressed personal statements he has ever issued. The argument now is over whether or not he dropped being a Hasid or being religious all together. The tweet is ambiguous – probably deliberately so. The…
So you thought those May 21 people were nuts? Turns out some Jews aren’t so far off. Josh Freed films an interesting encounter: And here’s Eli Valley on the Kafkaesque Knesset: Eli Valley — The Trial from Jewish Forward on Vimeo.
Rabbi Richard Jacobs, the spiritual leader of a large Reform congregation in Scarsdale, NY, was just tapped to lead the Union for Reform Judaism next year–effectively making him the top rabbi of America’s largest denomination. According to the JTA, Rabbi Jacobs wants to make the movement a “big tent with its flaps wide open and…
To reach out to all of those wayward YU Jews… [Frum Satire] How inflated is your grade? [NYT] Even on your e-reader, the siddur stays shomer shabbat. [JPost] Newsflash: Religious expression is okay on campus. [HuffPo] Is Zionism Satanism? This bishop says so. [NYT Lede]
In less than one month, I should be gliding into Chennai (formerly known as Madras), India. From there, I’ll travel 100 miles south to the city of Pondicherry with about 15 other American students. Why would I leave the steely gray beauty of Pittsburgh for the warmth and bustle of a southeast coastal town in the…
Today the concerned and compassionate editors of New Voices are offering you a double reading list to apologize for dropping the ball on these roundups yesterday and on Monday. Enjoy these ten worthwhile links from the Jewish internet: We all love Maccabeatlemania, but here’s how we shouldn’t use the craze that’s sweeping American Jewry. On…
Note: This article has been edited to reflect a correction. At first the article mentioned vandalism of the Northwestern University Chabad’s property, implying in context that that vandalism was driven by anti-Semitism. Although initial reports of that incident in October claimed it to be anti-Semitic, police later confirmed that the vandalism was not driven by…
As students and the rabbinate try to reconcile in Israel proper, violent followers of a Chabad rabbi in the West Bank are attacking military and security personnel. [Failed Messiah] Meanwhile, here’s a guide to how Chabad does its kiruv, or religious outreach, on campus — the final installment of a three-part guide to kiruv. [Frum Satire] A student…
This is a post by Coco Keevan, the student editor of the New Voices-Northwestern blog. Frankly, it’s been a rough weekend for the Jewish community here at Northwestern University and in Chicago. On Friday, word reached Northwestern’s Fiedler Hillel Center that several explosive packages were intercepted by government officials en route to Jewish institutional targets…
As another Friday night set in, I pondered whether to schlep out of my warm house into the snow flying sideways to make the long trek (a seven-minute bus ride) down to Hillel, and after I coordinated with some friends at the University of Pittsburgh–whom I hadn’t seen all week–I decided that the schlep was worth…
Last week, I attended a fantastic Shabbat service and dinner with dozens of students from all around Manhattan, through NYU’s Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life, which I cannot gush about enough. (They’re fabulous.) It was a wonderful experience and full of people from all different backgrounds and every possible kind of observance. But in…
Our post last week on Rabbi Manis Friedman’s statement to Moment magazine calling for the murder of Palestinian civilians seems to have generated a bunch of attention. The JTA and Failed Messiah linked to us on Monday, and tonight both the Forward and the JTA have features on Friedman’s comments, as does the Pioneer Press…
In the latest issue of Moment magazine (which features a cover story by New Voices contributor Jeremy Gillick), a group of American rabbis respond to the question, “How Should Jews Treat Their Arab Neighbors?” Most of the responses emphasize equality, morality, and restraint. Then a Chabad rabbi wheels out the crazy: I don’t believe in…