Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
So my last article– discussing the historical parallels between Israel today and White South Africa pre-1994 – went mildly viral. It was something I was not prepared for: I had expected the typical (warm, exciting, and fairly big, but nevertheless decidedly niche) response a New Voices article garners: a few dozen Facebook “likes,” no more…
Passovers during my high school years were games of “What-will-Dani-bring-to-school-for-lunch-today”? Hosting Seders at my house almost every year meant that we always had an insurmountable amount of leftover Peschadike food in our fridge. This, combined with the fact that the only Kosher for Pesach thing my school cafeteria served was plain matzah with butter, meant…
Last week, God’s Presence entered the Tabernacle, marking its completion as well as the end of the Book of Exodus. In this week’s portion, Vayikra, we open what could be considered the most difficult book of the Torah–Leviticus– with the teaching that the main purpose of the Tabernacle is as a place for sacrifices. Right…
In last week’s Torah portion we were introduced to the future Tabernacle builders: Bezalel, Ohaliab and the wise men . Unfortunately, the construction of the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant was postponed when the Jewish people decided to move drastically off the path, constructing a Golden Calf for worship instead. Moses and the…
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” We all have good intentions, yet in the end, whether through procrastination or distraction, we usually fail to accomplish all we had hoped. I’m often saying, “Today, I’m going to start my diet and workout,” but instead find myself forgetting to even do the most basic…
“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…
]Often when I read the weekly Torah portion, I find myself struggling over something that I’m usually pretty sure has a simple answer. Sometimes the question might be a little out there too, like when I found myself obsessing over the word “good” in Bereishit, the first chapters of Genesis. This week, in Parshat Yitro,…
“For as you see the Egyptians today, you will no longer see them”. Thus the story of the Jewish people and their struggle with the Egyptians comes to an absolute finale this week. Moses and the people have been sent out of Egypt by Pharaoh only to be followed to the Reed Sea. Even with…
If you’ve been following the story so far, God, through Moses, has been sending plague after plague upon the Egyptians, steadily bringing the greatest empire on Earth to its knees all for the sake of a small nation of slaves. This week, in Parashat Bo, the story is coming toward its great climax, with…
Daily Reform prayer? There’s an app for that [Forward] Following the recent release of the Reform movement’s Kabbalat Shabbat siddur in iPad form, the movement has now released an update featuring daily morning prayers. The Jewish Daily Forward reports: “The new application, which costs less than $5, was launched at the annual gathering of the…