Jewish People’s Assembly demands accountability from Federations

By Chloe Sobel November 6, 2015

This Sunday, thousands of people will arrive in Washington, D.C. for the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America. Just outside the GA, they’ll be joined by the Jewish People’s Assembly, a protest that its organizers from Open Hillel expect to draw around 100 attendees. The protest, according to its website, has three…

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On (Re-)Building the Proud Diaspora Jew

By Amram Altzman January 26, 2015

Growing up in my sheltered, American, religious Zionist, Orthodox bubble, I was told that there were two options for me, especially in light of the Holocaust: I could live in Israel, or I could live in America. The term “Diaspora Jew,” or the idea that there could exist a group of Jews outside of Israel…

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When Will the Federations Let Millennials Speak for Themselves?

By Madeline Winard December 11, 2014

I came to the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly (JFNAGA) for two reasons: I love the Jewish community, and I am a Zionist who firmly believes in a Jewish and democratic state of Israel with internationally recognized borders living alongside a Palestinian state. I was excited to attend this conference featuring some of…

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Too Much Jewish Love for “Young People”?

By Lex Rofes November 16, 2012

Sitting in the opening plenary of the 2012 Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly, I was struck by one thing. American Jews are really into college students. Speaker after speaker emphasized the vision they have for the future of American Judaism, and time and time again they spoke of the importance of our “leaders…

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The Reading List: Columbia J-Street U group did withdraw sponsorship of Ging event

By Ben Sales November 18, 2010

According to a Forward article, J Street U affiliate Just Peace did withdraw its sponsorship of UNRWA Gaza Director John Ging’s speech at Columbia. [Forward] Call me cheesy, but I think this is what we need in order to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [Indexed] Volunteering, conviction and partying: 600 students at the GA. [JTA Telegraph]…

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The Reading List: The GA Destroyed My Understanding of Zionism

By Ben Sales November 16, 2010

So says a journalism student who went to the GA’s Do The Write Thing conference. [Jewlicious] What’s it like going to college after attending Jewish high school? [Schmooze] The Hebrew U. Hillel house puts on a TEDx conference—a regional version of the renowned TED conference. [Jewlicious] Does college today cost too much? Maybe not, these guys…

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What We Talk About When We Talk About the GA

By ckessler November 11, 2010

Clearly, I like to riff on the wisdom of Raymond Carver in my blog posts–but so what? I like repetition. And repetition is just one of the million things I want to talk about after having just gotten back from the General Assembly (of the Jewish Federations of North America) less than 24 hours ago….

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JVP: Student Activism Gone Wrong

By Ben Sales November 9, 2010

Protest movements, to gain legitimacy, often relate their cause to another, more established one from the past. Thus we see that gay rights advocates cite the Civil Rights movement of the fifties and sixties, and advocates against the Iraq War find common cause with antiwar protesters from the Vietnam era. Not all protests are the…

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JVP Protests Netanyahu’s GA Speech

By admin November 8, 2010

This article was reported from the Jewish Federation General Assembly in New Orleans by Caroline Kessler and written by Ben Sales. Five activists from Jewish Voice for Peace disrupted Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the Jewish Federation General Assembly in New Orleans today. The activists stood in five separate locations near the front of the room and shouted slogans saying…

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The Big Easy, Here We Come!

By ckessler October 19, 2010

If you’re not familiar with city nicknames, the title of this post may come as a bit of a surprise. But really, it’s just a fancy way of saying that we are going to the General Assembly (GA) in New Orleans, Louisiana. By “we”, I mean a contingent of 40 people from Pittsburgh’s Hillel, as…

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