The Fiddler And The Self-Hating Jew
“Right at the moment when I felt the least aligned with Judaism, I was cast in the most Jewish musical in existence.”
Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Article Archive
Jewish Food Rituals in the Age of Diet Culture
“I relapsed almost every Passover.” For some, the holiday of liberation can feel like Mitzrayim. Experts weigh in on how to find freedom.
The Torah of Reality TV — Jumping the Fence, Jewishly (Judaism Unbound Podcast)
Pop culture is often dismissed as unsophisticated, reality TV considered a “guilty pleasure”. But let’s take a closer look: is there hidden Torah in the practice of watching reality TV?
Can a Jewish Gamer Novel Help Us Redefine Friendship?
Gabrielle Zevin’s newest bestseller highlights an unlikely duo: a lifelong chavruta pair. Can the holiness of their collaboration withstand the pressure of stereotypes?
Revisiting the Jewish American Princess Zine
“While the Jewish American Princess has been weaponized by non-Jews for antisemitic purposes, intracommunally it’s often been used as a caricature to make fun of classist and racist Jewish people.” Welcome to the Jewish Underground Press.
Are We White Right Now?
After the election, my friend’s younger brother called from Israel. “Are we white?” he asked. Her immediate response was, “Not anymore.” As I listened to my friend talk about this exchange, I wasn’t sure which part was more telling, the question or the answer. The question – how we fit into America’s racial landscape as…
There’s Life After “Stranger Things” – and It’s Called “Red Oaks” Season 2
Let’s face some unsavory facts: the first season of “Stranger Things” is over and the show won’t be back until 2017. If you’re anything like me, there’s a gaping Eggo waffle-shaped void in your soul where Eleven and the rest of the Hawkins, Indiana gang used to reside. Was it the best new television series…
Q&A: Author Michael Croland on Jews and Punk Rock
“Punk rock?” your bubbe might say. “Funny, it doesn’t look Jewish.” But according to author Michael Croland, Jews and the punk movement go way back. In April 2016, Croland published Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk, a book detailing Jews’ historic role in the punk movement and the ways in which Jewish artists use…
In defense of organized religion
There’s a stereotype that engagement programs for Jewish young adults are geared solely at producing the next generation of Jewish children. Many stereotypes exist for a reason — and this one is no exception. Many efforts to engage youth make a desire to produce the next generation of engaged Jewish youth explicit — and that’s…
How to be socially Jewish
“What do you mean, you’re not allowed to have bacon?” “If you go to public school, how do you have time to daven every morning?” “So, you don’t believe in Jesus?” “You never learned to speak Hebrew?” It seems unlikely that every one of these questions — expressions of bewilderment about Judaism, and confusion about…
How I discovered Jewish strength and history in the pages of a comic book
Comic books, for me, were an acquired taste. Growing up, I devoured anything with words — the backs of Pokémon cards, books pilfered from my mom’s shelf, the booklets stuffed inside CD cases — but never comics. Nobody in my life read them, and my weekly TV rotation was tuned into Rugrats rather than the…
At what point does exploitation become inappropriate?
I love over-the-top, grindhouse, Tarantino-esque exploitation B-movies as much as the next Nice Jewish Boy™ — but sometimes I wonder if there’s a cut-off for when the blatant mocking of reality goes a little too far. I’m not talking about the explicit use of sex, drugs, violence and cursing; these elements are the essential cornerstones…
Tevye the Dairyman’s Seventh Daughter
i. Tevye Comes to Brooklyn My dad and I read Sholem Aleichem when I’m young. He has a copy of Tevye the Dairyman and the Railroad Stories, but we stick to Tevye. We sit on the couch and he reads out loud to me. I grow up on Aleichem, not Fiddler on the Roof; my…
The fridge wasn’t nuked after all: An impassioned defense of “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”
There was an announcement back in March that was great news for some and dreadful news for others — that is, of course, the announcement of a fifth installment in the “Indiana Jones” franchise. It’s currently scheduled for the summer of 2019, with Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford set to return to directing and acting…
Not your average Brooklyn hipster: Meet Meir Kalmanson
At first glance, you might think Meir Kalmanson is just another 25-year-old hipster filmmaker from Brooklyn. But if you take a closer look, you’ll find that he’s far from typical. Kalmanson was born into the Chabad Lubavitch movement, which is a sect of ultra-Orthodox Hasidism — and the largest and fastest-growing Jewish organization in…