Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Several weeks ago, I attended a screening of the classic 1937 Yiddish language film, The Dybbuk, open to the University of Chicago community. For me, the appeal was in the Yiddish language; the film was a natural compliment to my Yiddish 101 class, and, in fact, my professor highly encouraged my class to attend. There…
Part 3 in a 3 part series. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. 7. What are your reactions to survey respondents’ answers to “What does it mean to be Jewish”? What creates Jewish meaning for you? Dr. Steven M. Cohen, sociologist: These questions pertain to areas of great ambiguity. I wouldn’t…
Jewish education in American synagogues is often compartmentalized into a curriculum: an hour of Judaic Studies and an hour of Hebrew, twice weekly. Judaic studies includes watered-down lessons on holidays and Torah stories. Mastery of the alef-bet, the Hebrew alphabet, is often all students gain from the Hebrew class. By the Bat/Bar Mitzvah age of…
On one of the hottest days of the year in San Francisco, a whirlpool of polyester hijabs, Gucci sunglasses, and strollers surround the Dewey monument pillar in Union Square. A stage in the shade of Saks Fifth Avenue is draped with a vermilion banner reading, “19th Annual Arab Cultural Festival.” Every October since 1995, the…
My 21st birthday was on Yom Kippur. No, this isn’t the set-up of some Woody Allen-esque joke, but my real life (which often takes its cues from Annie Hall and Manhattan). When I mention this to people who ask me about my birthday plans, I always joke about it – how I could have a break-fast…
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…
Every Friday night thousands of backpackers, suburbanites and college students stream into Chabad Houses from Columbus to Cambodia. But before Chabad emissaries can clank their glasses of Johnnie Walker to a “gut Shabbos,” they have to learn where to find kosher meat at the local Kroger, or master the art of bartering for vegetables at…
And she’s at it again. After making headlines last Monday for her quick smooch outside a Los Angeles Jewish Community Center, Anne Hathaway is back in the spotlight. But this time, she got married. Former cat seductress Anne Hathaway tied the knot this past Saturday night with Jewish fiancé Adam Shulman, much to everyone’s surprise (okay, by…
My father has always loved math because it’s simple, it’s direct and it’s truth. That’s not always the case, though. Statistics are finagled all the time, and the student newspaper at American University, the Eagle, of which I am the student life editor, found that AU’s Jewishness was not as black and white as we…
I’ve heard about it at two Passovers now, both the one at home in L.A. and the night up in San Francisco with some Israeli friends, the fog playing Elijah as it floated in wisps all around us, a constant yet absent presence. Somehow or another the topic of Mel Gibson arrives. Deep breaths are…
Recent posts on Pesach got me thinking about my own kashrut practices. To my non-Jewish friends, I’m that guy that’s really Jewish. I have a mezuzah up on my front door and my bedroom door; I have thick glasses and a not insignificant nose; I work at a synagogue. And I kind of keep kosher….
I admittedly know little about Yiddish. My great-grandmother spoke it. My grandma can understand it. I used to get called a chazer (pig) on account of my messy room. But I had to pause when I saw this interview with K. David Harrison. A linguistics professor at Swarthmore College, he had this to say about…
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…
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…
It’s been a fairly slow start to 2011 for Vancouver Hillel, at least from my perspective. No George Galloway or UBC student groups to stir things up. Perhaps the weather is to blame. Winter in the PNW is infamously drab, and the overcast skies have a tendency to dampen even the brightest spirits. But as…