Eat the Food Without Drinking the Kool-Aid: How to Get the Most out of Orthodox Outreach Programs

By David G. January 21, 2014

When I first started to attend a local Orthodox shul, I approached with what could be considered a strong level of trepidation. I grew up mainly Conservative, and considered myself as falling somewhere between the lines of Conservative and Reform. When I thought of Orthodoxy, I thought of my Pop’s narrow-minded uncle who never struck…

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Herring. Yum.

By Jonathan Katz January 7, 2014

I will never forget the day I brought herring sandwiches to school. There I was, an awkward little seven-year-old, eating a vinegary and odorous pickled herring sandwich on brown bread in the middle of the lunch room. A delicious and very filling lunch for a first-grader. And there were the faces of my (mostly Jewish)…

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Prayer and Sensory Overload

By Dani Plung December 11, 2013

The first time I went into sensory overload while at college was during a Kabbalat Shabbat service. The just concluded school week had been stressful, and I probably hadn’t eaten enough that day, so perhaps it is not surprising that I went into a sensory attack that evening, while surrounded by about twenty people singing…

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My Thanksgivukkah Dilemmukkah: A Retrospective

By Dani Plung December 5, 2013

  Over the past several weeks, reminders of the occurrence of Thanksgivukah were impossible to avoid. Hanukkah was to coincide with Thanksgiving, for the first time in over 100 years and for what will allegedly be the last time in 70,000 years. Surely, this was an event this dramatic could not be overlooked! On the…

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On Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and the Deal with Iran

By Amram Altzman December 2, 2013

“You and I can change the world”  The refrain from Arik Einstein’s iconic song, “Ani ve-Atah” (literally, “You and I” — no, Lady Gaga, you didn’t have the song first) seems to ring especially true as we enter Hanukkah and Thanksgiving and as news breaks of the United States and Iran agreeing to enter formal…

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Waffle Cone + Pizza = A Glimpse of the Kosher Future

By Derek M. Kwait November 1, 2013

For a kosher-keeper like me, Kosherfest 2013 was almost too good to be real. A huge room full of free food I can actually eat coming at me from every direction, the longer I stayed, the further my train of thought devolved to the level of a dog in a sausage factory: I see they’re…

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Meet Steve, Sarah, Eliana, and Jonathan.

An Inter-Everything Conversation About the Pew Survey

By Derek M. Kwait October 28, 2013

Part 1 in a 3 part series.   We might just be the last Jewish organization to respond to the big bad Pew Survey and we’re fine with that. It seems like every response so far is other people telling us what how we need to feel about it, whether we should be scared,  take…

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Politically Ambiguous at San Francisco’s 19th Annual Arab Cultural Festival

By Catie Damon October 10, 2013

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…

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Jewish Life in the New York Subway World

By Derek M. Kwait September 17, 2013

The first thing you should know about the new editor is that I am new to New York, having moved here from my native Pittsburgh just after Rosh Hashana to captain this rickety little ship they call New Voices. The second thing you should know about me is that I have a long subway ride…

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8 Reasons Why the Kitchen is Your Friend

By H. B. Rubin March 7, 2013

I was playing tennis with a friend two summers ago when the subject of food came up. “I don’t cook at all, “ she laughed, as she served the ball, “because I’m an independent woman. Unless you count eggs? I think I can scramble eggs.” This comment has stayed in the back of my mind…

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Composting: The Quick and Dirty

By Erin Newport October 5, 2012

Dear Readers, Give me a minute before you click on to the next article about Netanyahu’s latest comments or Anne Hathaway’s nuptials. I’m here to tell you a little about a quick and easy way to reduce your eco footprint even further. And it’s fun! If you already have a recycling bin in your kitchen…

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Gefilteria Makes a Big Splash

By Carly Silver March 15, 2012

Jewish food is making a comeback with the help of Gefilteria, which brings Old World food into New York of the twenty-first century. The minds behind this start-up – Jacqueline Lilinshtein, New Voices alum Elizabeth Alpern, and Jeffrey Yoskowitz – aim to help revive a tradition that, when done right, doesn’t remain in the 1800s,…

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Attend Jews in the Woods 2012! [DIY Judaism]

By Harpo Jaeger March 1, 2012

Back in 2007, New Voices reported on the “demise” of a curious creature called Jews in the Woods.  I am enormously excited to tell you that this weekend it will happen again!  Over fifty young Jews will come together in beautiful North Scituate, Rhode Island, for two days of praying, singing, hiking, meditating, discussing and…

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What’s In Our Food?

By Carly Silver April 8, 2011

Note to those loving a good, salty nosh: it is okay to eat pickles. According to the Jewish Chronicle online, the “macrobiotic diet,” which combines a list of recommended foods and a “zen” lifestyle, can include pickles and other Jewish foods. Apparently, Jews have a long history of eating healthily. Poor Jews in Europe would…

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Kind of observing kashrut

By mekeisler April 1, 2011

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….

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