Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Two calls, a text, and three Facebook messages, all in less than a week. That was how I learned about B’rith Shalom, South Dakota’s first Jewish student culture club at South Dakota State University. You see, for years, I had been known as “The Jew.” Growing up in the middle the Sioux Empire, we were…
South Dakota State University’s B’rth Sholom is more than just the only Jewish cultural club in the state. Its nine members constitute one of America’s most diverse Jewish organizations, as about half them identify as Messianic Jews, or those with Jewish practice who accept Jesus as the Messiah. “We really don’t try to segregate by…
Let me be direct: the men in Birthright ads are hot. As in, “let’s do something not tzanua together” hot. This queer man, despite his dovish tendencies, distaste for right-wing “anti-assimilation” efforts, and critiques of Israel, is not completely displeased when a Birthright ad featuring smiling, shirtless, muscular Jewish men surfaces on Facebook. The Jewish…
Scores (if not hundreds) of Jewish and Pro-Israel students spent Tuesday night in a crowded ballroom at UCLA to advocate against the student government’s proposed passage of a divestment resolution. I, on the other hand, sat at my computer 125 miles away, wearing sweatpants and drinking Coke Zero with lemon watching the USAC divestment meeting…
“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…
I begin this piece with a massive thank you and apology to the University of Chicago housing staff. A few weeks ago, shortly after returning to school and before the work for the grading quarter had become intense, while absentmindedly perusing the UChicago Housing policy book , I came across the section concerning bedbugs. I…
I post a lot of things about the Holy Land on Facebook. I mean, I post about a lot of things – South Africa, migration politics, tasty coconut-based desserts – but also a lot about Israel and Palestine. And many of the things I post are not terribly adulatory of Israel. In fact, they’re starkly…
For the past few weeks I’ve seen from various sources on Facebook, and most recently on Tablet, a growing concern about a potentially frightening new trend: Featured on several Amazon.com best-seller lists are e-book editions of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. The first responses I’ve seen have been understandably negative, coming from some reasonably…
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,”…
So apparently, Israel’s government is going to spend billions of dollars in a project to “bolster” Jewish identity in the Diaspora – focusing not just on North America – in an effort to counter “assimilation” and “intermarriage” among young Jews abroad. This initiative is being pushed by Naftali Bennett, the Economy Minister, best known for…
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…
If you are a Jewish student on Facebook, then your exposure to infographics probably stands at around 500% of normal due to the storm of social media hasbarah meant to buoy Israel’s Gaza operation, called Pillar of Defense. Most people don’t think twice about re-posting these images, confident in their “contribution” to Israel’s safety or happy…
Gabe Weinstein, our man in India, writes today at the Ohio University study abroad blog about spending Rosh Hashanah with some of the Jews of Mumbai. A member of the Jewish community there discovered him via Facebook (because of this recent piece Gabe did for New Voices), which led to him spending the holiday with the…
I’m used to skimming my Facebook newsfeed with my eyes rolling or just plain glazed over. But I’m not used to them welling up. Ever since I added Humans of New York to my Facebook list, though, it’s been happening more and more. This recent post alone was enough to restore my faith in humanity:…
Facebook Co-Founder renounces U.S. Citizenship [Washington Post] Eduardo Saverin, the savvy entrepreuner who was one of the co-founders of Facebook, has renounced his United States citizenship to become a resident of Singapore. The move is drawing criticism from those who claim that Saverin’s move was motivated by tax purposes. Facebook is poised to go public, an…