Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Originally published in The Commentator, the official student newspaper of Yeshiva University. As a history major, I’m often asked, “What are you going to do with that?” This question reflects a dismissive attitude toward the study of history. Although such a view is understandable – as scholar Peter Stearns points out, “Historians do not perform…
“What do you mean, you’re not allowed to have bacon?” “If you go to public school, how do you have time to daven every morning?” “So, you don’t believe in Jesus?” “You never learned to speak Hebrew?” It seems unlikely that every one of these questions — expressions of bewilderment about Judaism, and confusion about…
When Emory University first-year Zoe Robbin got to college, she was upset by the lack of left-wing Jewish organizations on campus. With four other students, she founded a campus chapter of J Street U and set out to become a chartered organization. “We wrote a constitution … according to the college’s charter rules exactly,” said…
Today, the Forward published six students — five studying at American universities, one in South Africa — who answered a call to write about an experience at college that had shaped their Jewish identity in ways good, bad, or other. It’s an interesting read. The preface states that “every student interpreted the question as being about…