What Kitty Genovese teaches us about Donald Trump

By Samantha Levinson February 17, 2016

When my Rabbi first told me about Kitty Genovese, it was my sophomore year of high school. After that, he would often invoke the story of how she was murdered while witnesses stood by. He would use Kitty to make a point about personal responsibility, or accent a story about not standing idly by, or…

Read More...

Learning to Undo Ashke-normativity – A Jew in the Motherland

By Jonathan Katz October 22, 2014

Like most Jews with ties to South Africa, my heritage is extremely Ashkenazi. In fact, both sides of my family largely originate from the same region of what is now northeastern Lithuania and northern Belarus. Growing up in New York, most of what I was exposed to as “Jewish culture” was really “Ashkenazi, specifically Lithuanian…

Read More...

This British Student is Disappointed in America’s Healthcare Laws

By Michael Goldin July 30, 2014

The US Supreme Court’s decision in in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby has resulted in two main talking points, both of which seem odd, in particular to those of us outside the U.S.A. Firstly, the fact that the “conscience” of a legal corporation is protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act 1993 (RFRA); and secondly, that…

Read More...

What About Non-Zionists?

By Tom Pessah January 20, 2014

In an interview with New Voices last week,  Jewish educator David Harris-Gershon expressed his support for Swarthmore’s Hillel brave declaration, and recounted his own experiences of being banned from speaking at the UC Santa Barbara Hillel chapter for his political views. In the interview, Harris-Gershon recognized students’ “right to a space free of anti-Israel activity,”…

Read More...

Open Hillel for an Open Hillel

By Gabriel T. Erbs October 23, 2013

The Midwest does not get enough credit for its foundational role in the American Jewish community. However, the first campus Hillel was established in 1923 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In an atmosphere where Jewish campus life was largely non-existent, the first Hillel marked a new age for American Jewish students who endured…

Read More...

The Reading List: Equality for lefties!

By Ben Sales December 14, 2010

Here’s a story that’s near and dear to my heart: Left handed students in Israel demand desk equality. [Ha’aretz] Seven clerical students, including a few soon-to-be rabbis, are the subject of a new documentary on PBS. [JW] College is valuable, but it does not hold the key to unemployment. [NYT] More discrimination against Arab students…

Read More...

The Reading List: Party like a Jew

By Ben Sales November 11, 2010

What should Jewish students who visit Brussels do? Apparently, they should celebrate Shabbat, tour the city and then get down.  [JPost] The kollel stipend protests continue… [JPost] While at Arizona State University, students protest IDF soldiers. [Mondoweiss] And at the University of South Carolina, the administration plans to revise the school’s discrimination policy, which could affect…

Read More...

Reading List: Even Religious Kids Light Up

By jmerkin October 27, 2010

Even the MOrthos engage in cannabis creations in Berkeley. [Tablet] New federal guidelines may protect Jewish college students against bullying. [Baltimore Jewish Times] StandWithUs launches a special password-protected website to help students fight campus BDS campaigns. [JTA] IDF soldiers find a new war: convincing U.S. college students that the Israeli-Arab conflict is not black-and-white. [JW] In…

Read More...

Evaluating exceptionalism: unfounded and counterproductive

By Harpo Jaeger May 17, 2010

Let me first thank Evan Krasner for responding to my critique of his original post.  I appreciate his choice to continue the conversation beyond a simple point-counterpoint, and I’ve learned a lot already. Evan clarifies something regarding the debate at his school that I actually didn’t understand, which I’m grateful for. The debate’s original format…

Read More...

The Global Citizen: A Targeted People

By jsiegel December 7, 2009

The Global Citizen is a joint project of New Voices and the American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Throughout the year, a group of former AJWS volunteers will offer their take on global justice, Judaism, and international development. Opinions expressed by Global Citizen bloggers do not necessarily represent AJWS. I’m not racist, because my people were…

Read More...