Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Here’s why I usually hate Twitter: We will never get to the bottom of the big issues facing humanity—poverty, disease, warfare, Israel on campus—without a long dialogue held in good faith between dissenting viewpoints. In other words, getting to the bottom of the world’s ills will take more than volleying 140-character spitballs with a…
A year-and-a-half hiding in an underground bunker with her mother. Trudging into the village to beg local residents for food scraps. Occasionally discovering berries in the nearby forest. This was Mrs. Lefman’s life during the Holocaust. As she spoke, she remained outwardly stoic, preventing her internal reactions from manifesting in tears. And meanwhile, she comforted…
Many Jewish students experience “Jewish Burnout” when they first enter college. After years of Jewish education, Sunday School, Jewish youth groups, Jewish camps, and Jewish summer programs, many Jewish young adults enter college thinking that they are sick of everything Jewish and don’t want to do Jewish programs at college. They may have felt pressured…
“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…
In last week’s Torah portion, at Sinai, we accepted the need for a community, and the special place of awe-inspired individuals within such a community. God gave us some basic rules for this community, the 10 Commandments, and everything is finally looking pretty bright for the Jewish people on their journey from Egypt. Even if…
Part 2 of a 3 part series. Part 1 is here. 4. Are the survey’s categories of denomination a useful marker of determining true religious affiliation/practice in today’s Jewish world? Dr. Steven M. Cohen, sociologist: Yes. Denominational identities can be meaningful for people as many are strongly attached to Orthodoxy, Conservatism, Reform, and Reconstructionism. But…
I went to my graduation. It was about as anti-climactic as I expected it to be: my gown was the same obscene shade of red as everyone else’s, I didn’t have enough time to shower before the ceremony, and the rain forced me to wear shoes. I know, these are all material concerns. But in…
Today was my college graduation and instead of attending, I’m at work writing about it—much to the chagrin of my poor mother, who has now had two children finish college with not one graduation ceremony to cry at. According to a very informal survey I just took, about a quarter to half of college grads…
Across from Red Sea tobacconist and flanked by a dive bar, parking lot, and storage unit is Urban Adamah, a one and a quarter acre Jewish urban farm in the heart of Berkeley, California. Rows of collard greens, chard, onions, beets, and peas radiate from a newly-built yurt and cob oven. Inside the farm, the…
In yet another of Buzzfeed’s relevant and so-funny-cuz-it’s-true series of list-styled articles, staff writer Arielle Calderon wrote an article entitled “21 Things You’ll Never Do Again After Graduating College.” And while I wouldn’t say it’s one of Buzzfeed’s best articles (now, that would make an excellent list), it clearly hit home with a lot of…
“Oh, weaker resistance, slower reflexes, Amycus,” said Dumbledore. “Old age, in short… one day, perhaps it will happen to you… if you are lucky.” – J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” As college students, we often spend the majority of our time around people our own age. Living in dorms, spending Shabbat on…
Here at New Voices, we’re very excited about Purim, as we’re sure you must be as well (take that as an order). After all, what’s not to like? Baked goods + costumes + alcohol + heartwarming story of good vs. evil = one hell of a good time. So pretty much everyone on our masthead…
We hear it all the time: The American Jewish community is in decline. Interest is lacking, affiliation is down — and Jewish babies are popping out less frequently than we would like. If members of the Jewish establishment are correct, the future of American Judaism is in great peril, and if we don’t do a…
For most of my three years in college, my main goal was to graduate. I started out pre-med, under the delusion that I enjoyed sciences, and then college had a purpose: to educate me in the basic sciences so that I could attend medical school. But once I took and subsequently came to loath Chemistry,…
I have a confession to make: I’ve been cynical. While I love Israel deeply, studied abroad in Haifa, and study the Middle East academically, for the bulk of my college career I would not get involved with campus Israel-related activity. It was too polarized, too entrenched, and too disconnected from the nuanced and intellectual conversations…