The Internet Of Queer Jewish Girlhood
Digital spaces like jGirls+ act vital online communities for an under-researched group of Jewish youth, seeking precious few places to negotiate gender, sexuality, and religion.
Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Article Archive
Who’s Disarming the Fight Against Antisemitism?
Crying wolf about online antisemitism cheapens the term to the point of insignificance, endangering American Jews in the process.
Rabbi Hillel, the Tube, and Reading the Comments – A Jew in the Motherland
I usually read, but do not respond to, the comment threads on my articles for this publication and others. Why, then, do I read them, despite my editor’s adamant suggestions not to? To a certain extent, I have a perverse pride in rankling ideologues of all stripes (and for those of you critical of my…
5 Ways to Make Jewish Life Less ‘Clichéd’ from an Actual Millennial
I am a Millennial. I say this proudly. I dance around Jewish tradition, modernity, and practice in a way that Millennials do. I whole-heartedly enjoy my status as a Generation Y’er. At the same time, however, I really don’t like how much of the conversation about how to engage my peers is fundamentally had…
Can I Really Have a Bad Day if I’ve Never Lived in a Concentration Camp?
On a scorching day, during my Holocaust studies trip to Poland in the summer of 2012, a fellow student and I wandered through Birkenau like ghosts, pale despite the fact that the July sun was burning our backs, pondering the same question. It was the same question that we, and several others of our peers…
White Guilt and Evil Tongues
As with much of Leviticus, the material found in this week’s Torah reading, Parashat Tazria, can make us, with our modern sensibilities, squirm a bit. With the description of tzarat, a specific skin disease, the text seems to be stating that any who have strange marks on their skin are sinners who must be isolated…
In Praise of Al Jazeera America – Israeli Media Can Take a Lesson
Al Jazeera. Simply hearing the name would bother me two years ago, like nails on a chalkboard. In my ethnocentric view, I believed Al Jazeera existed for the sole purpose of promoting anti-Israel propaganda with the utmost criticism of the nation. How could I trust any of their other journalism with their articles containing blatant…
My Thanksgivukkah Dilemmukkah: A Retrospective
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…
Israelis and Their Prostate Porn
Every second, 28,258 people are viewing pornography. In China alone, the porn industry revenue is $27.4 billion. And every 39 minutes, a new pornographic video is made in the United States. (Thank you, porn statisticians.) Given the amount of time and energy put into porn—making it, watching it, pretending not to watch it—and given our fascination…
BuzzFeed’s Kosher Kick
BuzzFeed, that random website that sort of just shows up in your Facebook newsfeed from time to time, apparently has a bit of a thing for the Jews. From 31 Reasons Why Bar & Bat Mitzvahs Were The Best to 25 Delicious Ways To Use Matzoh (and believe me, they get pretty creative in that…
Facebook co-founder renounces U.S. Citizenship; Ultra-Orthodox go offline; the future of the peace process, and more [Required Reading]
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…
Sci-Fi & the Jews; Mother’s Day; the Internet; and more. [Required Reading]
Haredim and the Internet… part whatever [Haaretz] Hmm… so it’s tough to know what to make of it, but whatever you think, it’s an intriguing report. Maya Epstein writes: “To put things into proportion, both the Arab and Haredi communities are relatively impoverished, and their proportion of households with Internet is lower. But among those who…
Bob Marley and ‘Zion’; Beastie Boy passes; and more. [Required Reading]
Bob Marley’s heirs to Israeli MK: “Stop using ‘Iron Lion Zion’” [Haaretz] Given the title of the Bob Marley song, it’s probably a given that someone might think to use it for Israel-related material (propaganda or otherwise). But it seems a recent use of the song has raised the ire of Bob Marley’s heirs. Haaretz reports:…
The Haredim Meme [Humor]
You may not have heard, but there’s this new thing all the hip kids are using now, called the Internet. It’s the only place you can find bigfoot porn and chinchillas playing piano seconds apart from each other. And there are useful, sane things too. For instance, we can do all our banking online, learn a new…
Haredi Jews vs. the Internet; formerly ‘frum’ and looking for love; and more. [Required Reading]
Off the path, on the prowl [Slate] This might be the most fascinating article about former Orthodox Jews learning to navigate the complicated waters of love, lust, and being around… “the rest of us.” (Plus, the title is a winner; just click and see what we mean.) Meet Israel Irenstein, coach to the socially awkward, no-longer-frum….