Zionish challenges readers to find nuance in Zionism

By Nicole Zelniker December 17, 2015

There seem to be two choices in mainstream Jewish life: Either you’re pro-Zionism, or you’re anti-Zionism. A new online publication, Zionish, rejects that binary. “Our stance is to reject the traditional stances,” Zionish editor Aaron Simons told New Voices via email. “People conceive of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one where you have to be either…

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Losing My Monarchism: A Jew in the Motherland

By Jonathan Katz May 28, 2015

Some people go to the United Kingdom and develop a love for the royal family. I went to the U.K. and became strongly anti-monarchist. Don’t get me wrong: the current Queen is fantastic, and the British monarchy is one of the most fascinating traditions alive today. But there’s something I find utterly ridiculous about a…

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Honoring the Holocaust in the Land of the Liberators and Bystanders: A Jew in the Motherland

By Jonathan Katz April 16, 2015

Seventy years ago, on April 15, 1945, the British Army liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and its 60,000 mostly Jewish, starved, and diseased prisoners. Among these prisoners was my maternal grandmother – who had survived several deportations, from Kovno (Kaunas) to Vaivara to Bergen-Belsen – and had lost her first child, first husband, and most…

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What Can Marmite Tell Us About Diaspora? – A Jew in the Motherland

By Jonathan Katz November 13, 2014

  It was certainly one of the stranger Jewish conversations I have had. (Mind you, I have had many.) There I was in Oxford after a hearty Sabbath lunch, walking in the beauty of Christ Church Meadow, chatting with a new friend about food. At a moment, he turned to me and said, “You said…

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Consulting the List: Discreet Judaism and British Kashrut – A Jew in the Motherland

By Jonathan Katz September 29, 2014

In the US, those of us who keep kosher in any form (and yes, that means many things) are used to kashrut wars. Is Does said person keep to that seal? Is this food OK, or is it Star-K? Will a thousand demons eat me if I have a block of Triangle-K cheddar? In short,…

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The Reading List: Anti-Semitic IU Suspect Turns Himself in

By Ben Sales December 20, 2010

The man who vandalized a Jewish building at the University of Indiana turned himself in to police. [JTA] A Jewish student goes to India and takes a cooking class with three Israelis. Why are we not surprised? [Pink Pangea] Increasingly more Muslim students are attending Catholic universities. [WaPo] A British student leader says Jewish persecution is a…

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JFS in Britain Questions Jewishness

By kseeger November 11, 2009

I am sure you are all aware of the case being considered by Britain’s Supreme Court over the issue of rejecting a student because the mother converted to Progressive Judaism, and not Orthodox at JFS (Jews’ Free School). If not, or if you want to read more details, I have provided several links throughout this…

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