The Surprisingly Sunny Story of Israel on Campus

By Editorial Board November 10, 2012

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…

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The freaks of J Street [J Street]

By Shani Chabansky April 2, 2012

I came to the J Street Conference looking for allies. As a queer Jew who is sternly critical of Israel, but still a staunch Zionist, I was looking forward to meeting some like-minded folks. Folks who can’t help but discuss privilege, minorities, and oppression. Folks who are obsessed with identity politics. Folks who face the…

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I was accosted by a Jewish Second-wave feminist… Awesome! [J Street 2012]

By Shani Chabansky March 29, 2012

Just after the “Bringing Women to the Fore and Advancing Peace” session, an elderly woman approached me to respond to a question I had asked about intersectionality, a term used in modern feminist theory to describe how all forms of oppression are connected. The idea is that you can’t eradicate racism without getting rid of…

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Reflections on the J Street Conference [Blogging]

By rcohen March 28, 2012

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…

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College Students Flood J Street Conference [J Street 2012]

By Zach C. Cohen March 24, 2012

Of the 2,500 attendees of J Street’s “Making History” Conference, a lot of them are skipping class. About 650 students, 24 percent of the conference’s attendees, turned out in droves for the movement’s third national conference in Washington, D.C. (500 were at last year’s conference). Just to break that up for you, that’s: 125 universities, 24…

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Torah and modern activism; don’t pray the gay away; and more. [Required Reading]

By John Propper February 27, 2012

Israel has more non-orthodox Jews than Haredim, study finds [Jewish Journal] A recent study demonstrates that Israel’s Conservative and Reform populations appear greater in number than that of its Haredim (ultra-orthodox), though not by much. Could this knowledge spell a shift in representation for an Israeli population that doesn’t seem to make as much political…

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Two Signs of the Apocalypse?

By Ben Sales June 6, 2011

So you thought those May 21 people were nuts? Turns out some Jews aren’t so far off. Josh Freed films an interesting encounter: And here’s Eli Valley on the Kafkaesque Knesset: Eli Valley — The Trial from Jewish Forward on Vimeo.

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The J Street You Don’t Hear About

By Ben Sales April 6, 2011

A multiple-choice question for our readers: Last week, a  Jewish advocacy group sent an email to its supporters titled “Tell Obama: Go to Jerusalem.” Which group was it? a. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) b. The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) c. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) d. J Street As is obvious from…

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The Double Reading List: Jewish Student A Cappella Groups Unite!

By Ben Sales April 4, 2011

This reading list also counts for Friday. Can’t get enough Jewish a cappella? You’re in luck! Kol HaOlam, the first Jewish student a cappella competition, took place this past weekend, and some videos are here. [Gather the Jews] Speaking of Jewish a cappella, here’s the Pesach offering from the Fountainheads. Rebuttal, Maccabeats? And speaking of…

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The Reading List: Some things never change

By Ben Sales March 31, 2011

A synopsis of an article about the University of Wisconsin’s Jewish community from 1924: “The author defends the Jewish student population at the University of Wisconsin, declaring that such Jews do not engage with Jewish communal life because communal institutions have no interest in accommodating their specific requests.” Sound familiar? [BJPA] 45 years later, Woody…

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The Reading List: What Do YOU Think about the Conservative Movement?

By Ben Sales March 28, 2011

A couple of JTS students ask Times Square passersby in the hilarious video above. Here’s a cool feature where high school students talk about their future. Even cooler game: debate which of these high schoolers may or may not be Jewish. [NYT] And here’s a video where a bunch of younger kids–all Jewish–talk about the Jewish future….

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Correction: J Street U was, is, and will be pro-Israel

By Harpo Jaeger March 13, 2011

My last post alluded to a dust-up where J Street U dropped the term “pro-Israel” from its slogan.  Trouble is, that never happened: The national board of J Street U neither discussed nor voted on any action to remove the term “pro-Israel” from our platform, policy or the way we describe ourselves at J Street…

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J Street Conference: Not Kosher

By Ben Sales February 28, 2011

Some people say J Street is too far to the left; others complain that it’s too far right. But there’s another, more basic reason for Jews to doubt J Street’s kashrut: Its food is literally not kosher. Of course, plenty of Jewish organizations serve non-kosher food at their events, and that’s fine. Given that the…

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J Street Conference: Clapping for Hate?

By Ben Sales February 27, 2011

There’s a plenary going on right now at the J Street Conference that’s exploring the present democracy movements in the Middle East. Good stuff. Something everyone–and especially the peaceniks here–can get behind. The first two panelists gave unsurprising speeches supporting democracy and the peace process, which elicited some token cheers from a mostly silent crowd….

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No Surprise

By admin October 4, 2010

This is a guest post by Moriel Rothman, a senior at Middlebury College and the president of J Street U. The Israeli government did not renew the ten-month settlement freeze that ended on Sunday, so settlement construction restarted. No surprise. Netanyahu would have displayed courage and conviction by renewing the freeze, given his hawkish history…

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