Meditations on Blood

By Maya Faerstein-Weiss May 10, 2021

Apolitical Memories from somewhere in the Middle East

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Diaspora English: First Realizations in Nazareth

By Daniel Crasnow April 7, 2021

I wondered what part of his tour-guide history taught him to step to the back of the group he’s guiding, as he bowed to a religious sight. Was it just a part of getting out of the way— a matter of priorities in which his holy experience need not interrupt our photograph opportunity? Or was there something deeper there— a mutual shame on both our ends.

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Diaspora English: Saying Goodbye to Students in Tel Aviv

By Daniel Crasnow February 23, 2021

“I’ll never forget seeing the kids light up as they are given the chance to work with me. I’ll never forget hearing them repeat new words under their breaths in order to memorize them. And I’ll never forget having to say ‘hello’ to twenty kids between the time I walked into school, and the moment I reached my classroom.”

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Diaspora English: Growing Roots After Quarantine

By Daniel Crasnow October 8, 2020

“By doing our work here…and by recognizing that we are not as strong or as stable as we thought we were, we are building our roots.” Daniel Crasnow reports on his experiences as an English teacher in Israel during a year of pandemic in a series entitled, “Diaspora English”.

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Diaspora English: Quarantine in Israel

By Daniel Crasnow September 18, 2020

Part one of an ongoing correspondence with New Voices Magazine, Daniel Crasnow reports on his experiences as an English teacher in Israel during a year of pandemic in a new series entitled, “Diaspora English”.

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“Multitudes of Who I am”: Queer Jewish Songwriting with Syd Bakal

By New Voices Editorial Board August 28, 2020

In a day and age of DIY Judaism and Jewish innovation, Syd’s Queer Jewish music is modern revelation: a Jewish practice that draws from tradition and is refreshed with new melodies and media. New Voices has a conversation with Syd to talk about composition, spirituality, queer identity, and creativity in a time of quarantine.

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Parting of Seas

By Jordan Dalzell May 4, 2020

The water doesn’t part for you this time,
will not kill for you again.

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On French Anti-Semitism and Conflicting Identities

By Ari Bloom April 8, 2015

My first experience with anti-Semitism was at 6 years old. Someone painted a swastika on the front gate of my school and I remember asking my dad why it upset him so much. I had a limited understanding of Nazism at that age, but I knew enough to understand when he told me simply that…

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This is not a Blog Post about Bibi

By Amram Altzman March 9, 2015

I am done with Bibi. I’m also done with Purim, which means that I’m even more done with the various editorials analyzing Bibi’s references to the Purim story in Congress. At its root, however, my frustration lies not with Bibi himself, but with the answer that we have given to the question: How should we,…

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The Language of Angels

By Josh Morrel February 5, 2015

  As I sit across from her over a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a cup of dark coffee in the newly renovated faculty cafeteria, I think to myself: “I have so much respect for her.” Truth be told, I have so much respect for all of my colleagues because they’ve been doing this…

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Two Egal Jews Talk About Gender and Ritual

By Amram Altzman November 17, 2014

Both Avigayil and I (Amram Altzman) have written extensively about the ways in which we have taken on Jewish rituals which, traditionally, fall outside of our traditional gender identities. This is a conversation we’ve been having, more specifically, about what it means to take on Jewish rituals and how that relates to our Jewish identities…

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The Only Jew in Yellowstone

By Amber Ikeman October 20, 2014

I’ve been the token Jew for much of my life. People have referred to me as “my Jewish friend, Amber” and some have told me that I’m the only Jew they’ve ever met, especially out here in Wyoming. Since I went to Israel for the first time 7 years ago, I have successfully lived up…

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OMGWTFEXODUS: A Dialogue With the Man Who’s Bringing the Bible to the 21st Century

By Derek M. Kwait September 5, 2014

Part live spectacle, part Biblical scholarship, comedian David Tuchman’s OMGWTFBIBLE podcast “reframes the Bible as the world’s oldest weekly comedy serial.” A year-and-a-half after its debut in April 2013 (as seen in New Voices), he’s now heading into Exodus. I caught up with David recently in the food court of Grand Central Station to discuss…

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“Even Jacob Went Down to Egypt”: On Shmemel’s “Berlin” and Israeli Out-Migration

By Jonathan Katz September 3, 2014

The Israeli band Shmemel recently released a controversial, tongue-in-cheek video single entitled Berlin(English translation and annotation here, courtesy of The Forward). In the song, the band sings a ballad of Israelis leaving the country – for economic opportunity, for the madness of living in a state of constant war, or for a better and more…

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Promises are Like Fast Food – The More You Commit to, the More Regrets You’ll Have

By David G. July 18, 2014

The typical translation for the Hebrew name of the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar, is not “Numbers,” but “In the Wilderness.” While this translation is most definitely accurate, I have discovered that there is actually a different meaning to this name. The root of the word “speak”, d’var, is actually hidden in the name of this…

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