Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
“How would you rank the attractiveness of female Jews on your campus?” Does this question bother you? It certainly would bother me, regardless of the circumstances. What if it were being utilized as a question to determine the “Best Jewish Campus” in the country? Would it bother you more? For me the answer is a…
Hillel is advertised as “the foundation for Jewish campus life.” Yet, even before I joined the programming board of my Hillel at Tufts University, I could tell it was missing an important part of the Jewish campus community: those who support Palestine through international non-violent movements that currently fall outside the Jewish institutional mainstream. In order to…
Both Jewish and non-Jewish organizations are part of increasing opposition to a 2010 ruling by Hillel barring fraternization with pro-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions [BDS] groups on campus. The 2010 ruling encouraged, but did not require, local Hillels to draft rules in line with the national policy that the organization would “not partner with, house, or host organizations, groups, or speakers” that…
We hear it all the time: The American Jewish community is in decline. Interest is lacking, affiliation is down — and Jewish babies are popping out less frequently than we would like. If members of the Jewish establishment are correct, the future of American Judaism is in great peril, and if we don’t do a…
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. School is off, joy is in the air, and the NFL playoffs are about to start. Christmas and Chanukah? Well…they’re done, and with them the holiday season is now reduced to the solar New Year. But we all know what that means. It’s the time of year…
Last week, it became painfully clear to the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA) that Hillel is moving farther and farther from being “the foundation of Jewish campus life” that it claims to be. As an affiliated group of Harvard Hillel, PJA tries to promote dialogue and discussion between Jews and Palestinians on campus and…
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…
In a stunning twist, a national organization just invested a great deal of time and effort into researching the nature of Israel’s reputation on college campuses. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, a non-profit established to spread knowledge of “the values our nations share” (America and Israel), has produced the latest report on anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment…
Space is still available for the 41st annual National Jewish Student Journalism Conference at the NYU Bronfman Center, May 20-22. Check it out on Facebook or register here. If you’re a Masa Israel alum, you’re eligible for a limited number of subsidies for the conference. (And the whole thing only costs $40 anyway!) Apply here…
As a student leader of J Street U, I was really looking forward to my first national conference in DC. Now that the conference has come and gone, I head back to campus feeling inspired and exhausted. I also feel motivated to try and figure out how to improve our organization in light of new…
This year I became a Peer-Network Engagement Intern (PNEI) for my Hillel, which is a paid position that works in conjunction with Hillel International in DC. The program varies from campus to campus, but essentially my responsibility at Johns Hopkins is to help engage Jewish students on campus, and to try and connect them to…
Yeah, remember when I said Occupy AIPAC was going to be across the street from AIPAC Policy Conference? Well…they crossed the street. Liza Behrendt, a recent graduate of Brandeis University and a current member of the Avodah service corps in New York, interrupted a session with the help of CODEPINK organizer Alli McCracken, shouting that she…
While reporting on the Union for Reform Judaism Biennial near Washington, D.C. a while back, I had the opportunity to sit down with Wayne Firestone, the president of the Hillel Foundation. After giving a speech to a crowded ballroom filled with 5,000+ people (embedded above), Firestone and I chatted about the future of Hillel and…
Yesterday, I talked about the uncertain future of college Jews in organized Reform Judaism. Now there may be hope, but from Hillel rather than Union for Reform Judaism, whose biennial convention I’m reporting from. About five years ago, Hillel realized there was a dirth of Jewish life on college campuses. When they asked themselves how…