Learning From Ari Shavit’s ‘My Promised Land’

By Alex E. Lipton March 27, 2014

  I My stepfather always told me that all the best books have maps.  So when I opened Ari Shavit’s My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel a map was the first thing I looked for.  I found it on the first page of the book, just after the title page and the…

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Racist Moms, Russian Spies, and Chabadniks: The Latest Sensations from Israel

By Catie Damon November 11, 2013

For 12 weeks I dated an Israeli. The majority of our relationship involved watching TV and smoking cigarettes on his couch. National Geographic was our favorite channel, since it was guaranteed to be in English. At first I felt guilty about staying indoors when I could hear Tel Aviv’s beaches a block away, but I…

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The Return of the Reading List: A Jewish Student in Cuba

By Ben Sales February 9, 2011

A Northwestern student visits the Jewish community in our socialist neighbor. [Schmooze] While a student at Maryland works for social change during an Alternative Spring Break. [JewMD] And a student in Israel finds out what it’s like on the other side of the Jordan River. [Pink Pangea] Kids at a Hebrew charter school in New…

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Queen of the Moderates?

By Carly Silver December 22, 2010

In my last blog, I discussed the possibility that the future Princess Kate Middleton was Jewish. That conclusion was found to be false, but there are plenty of other royals out there who have political connections, or lack thereof, to Israel. I was particularly curious about Queen Rania of Jordan, whose parents are Palestinian. Rania…

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The Reading List: BDS Meets Lady Gaga

By Ben Sales November 9, 2010

Say what you will about the wisdom of BDS, but everyone should agree that these protesters find their inner pop star in their protest of Aroma Cafe. Check out the video here and above. [CGulkin] At Birzeit University, how the occupation impedes the academic progress of Palestinian students. [Chronicle of Higher Ed.] At Cambridge, one…

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All in the Family

By meuriarte February 9, 2010

I was in Wadi Musa Jordan to see the ruins of Petra, one of the seven wonders of the modern world, when our Bedouin tour guide called me “cousin.” This was the first time I had ever been called “cousin,” and I was unsure how to take it. I was traveling with seven friends from…

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From East of the Bank: Map, Mapa, Charita

By miriamberger July 23, 2009

As a child a tale was told to me of the Halutzim, the pioneers who came from the diaspora to the land of Israel and cultivated the parched, barren earth into the beginnings of a fruitful nation. I did not doubt this tale, or the image drawn for me of the proud pioneers as they…

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From East of the Bank: Christain, Notzrim, Missihi

By miriamberger July 14, 2009

From the start of my home-stay in Amman, I made it clear that I was a practicing and self identifying Jew. I felt that this was an important first step in building an open relationship with my host family, as well as in exploring how my sense of identity could co-exist within an Arab household….

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From East of the Bank: Meat, Basar, Lahem

By miriamberger June 30, 2009

I have found that I lack the necessary Arabic words to adequately describe the concept of “keeping kosher.” While the notion of vegetarianism may be generally accepted in Amman, for my home-stay mother, Madame Basma, such a lifestyle remains as foreign… as the American Jew living in her house. I had barely walked through the…

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