Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
As a child who had made the decision—to my parents’ chagrin, at least in part because for the better part of my childhood I ate little other than various combinations of dough, tomato sauce, and cheese — to become a vegetarian, Shavuot was one of my highlights of the Jewish calendar. It was the one…
It was my first college Shabbat and I was beginning to doubt that I was in the right place. Where was everyone? I glanced back down at my watch. It was definitely 6:30. Surely I could not have been the only mildly observant Jew on campus. I had just returned from a three-day orientation hike….
Written in response to Eat the Food Without Drinking the Kool-Aid: How to Get the Most out of Orthodox Outreach Programs “Ben Zoma said: Who is wise? He who learns from all people, as it is said: ‘From all those who taught me I gained understanding’ (Psalms 119:99). ‘Who is honored? He who honors…
My grandmother tells this story about how a relative of hers who lived in Israel asked her, quite intensely, whether she was an American or a Jew. She didn’t know what to say; why couldn’t she be both? For many American Jews, including me, this question is ridiculous. I have no problems with the intersecting…
Third grade lunch at Solomon Schechter Jewish Day School. All my friends are sitting around eating Cheetos and sharing sandwiches. Me, I’m staring at the clock waiting for the little and the big hand to both land on the twelve so that I can throw the untouched lunch my mother packed me into the trash…
In college, or at least my college, we learn about gender and sexuality. A lot. We learn of its performative nature, its implications in the underlying structures that we live in, and its complex ties to governance, capitalism, and production. We learn how it is oppressive and offensive and limiting. We learn how the role…
Challah seems to be the first food that runs out at the Shabbat dinners at Franklin & Marshall’s Hillel. While the rest of the meal is catered, the challah is handmade by students and faculty earlier in the day. Each table gets one plain challah and one sprinkled challah, both of which are braided. It…