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.
Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Article Archive
In Pursuit of a Kosher Campus
How Jewish students across America are struggling to keep kosher at COVID colleges.
Delicious Yiddish Anarchy at The Pink Peacock Café
A conversation with the Pink Peacock Café on anarchist Yiddish revival and the tastiest parts of diaspora.
There and Back Again: Navigating Judaism Between Campus and Home
Sitting at the dinner table over winter break with her parents, holding her very own three-person Shabbat service, Adrienne Sugarman got the distinct sense that home was not quite the place it used to be. Sugarman, a Middlebury College sophomore, was intent on recreating the Shabbat services that she attends every week on campus. Needless…
Is Kush Kosher? I Went to Cannabis Fest to Find Out
This is the true story of a nice Jewish girl’s adventure at the National Cannabis Festival in Washington DC. I went on a quest to find intersections between Judaism and the healing aspects of cannabis. Although Cannabis Fest DC is a Mecca of marijuana education, culture, and music, my journey with marijuana’s medicinal qualities began…
Want Free Kosher Food? UCLA Has an App
Jewish students at the University of California Los Angeles recently launched an app to bring awareness to an important issue in their Jewish community – free, kosher food on campus. When members of UCLA’s Ha’am Jewish Newsmagazine developed an app to increase engagement with their articles, fourth-year computer science student Joey Levin thought of an…
Radio Jewce offers a refreshed look at Pacific Northwest Jewish life
Think you know Jewish life in Portland? Radio Jewce wants you to think again. Radio Jewce, a podcast that released its first episode last month, is the project of Ellena Rosenthal, a junior at Portland State University, and Aaron Peterson, the engagement associate at Greater Portland Hillel. The podcast is described as a “looking glass”…
Modern Orthodoxy: Stop Appeasing Orthodoxy
In January 2014, Rabbi Avi Weiss’s conversions were called into question by the Israeli Rabbinate. At the time, this was the most prominent example of the differences between the Orthodoxy’s left and right wings, as well as the growing gulf between American and Israeli Jewries. This gulf widened last week when news broke of the…
Frida Kahlo’s Cannoli Cream for Shavuot
If you’ve been counting the Omer, you are aware that Shavuot, a.k.a. the holiday of blintzes and cheesecake, is approaching this Saturday night. As a vegan, I have often wondered why Jews eat dairy on Shavuot. There are many answers to this question. One is that eating dairy foods symbolizes our continued acceptance of the…
Can a Fully Feminist, Fully Traditional Jewish Space Exist? A Dialogue
AVIGAYIL HALPERN: When I was fourteen and just beginning to explore what it would mean to me to be a halakhic, or Jewish-law-abiding, Jewish feminist, I was delighted to stumble across a blog called Star of Davida. The blog’s author, who went by the name “Talia bat Pessi,” explored her own beliefs and experiences as…
Passover in College: A Journey Worth Taking
Keeping kosher in college is not easy; keeping kosher for Passover is even harder. Pizza, bread, eggs, fruits, veggies, and desserts are my go-to dorm foods. While mentally preparing for Passover, I realized many of the main staples of my already restricted diet were no longer options, and that was daunting. No more opening the…
Why Small Campus Jewish Communities Are the Best
When applying to colleges, I gave barely any thought to Jewish life on campus. This was not because I didn’t care about being engaged with a Jewish community; on the contrary, between leading my Temple Youth Group, attending regional NFTY events, working as a teaching assistant at a religious school, and moving up the ranks at…
Why This Religious Jew Wants a Non-Jewish Roommate
Around winter break, during the peak of Israel’s “Birthright season,” I received an invitation from the Columbia/Barnard Hillel to attend a meet-up in Jerusalem for gap-year students in Israel. It was the first time the thought of college had even crossed my mind – I had been doing a pretty good job of focusing on…
The ‘Two-Station Solution’ for Campus Conflict
If we are to believe that there is truly a growing anti-Semitic presence on all college campuses these days, then what you’re about to read won’t make sense. Last May, I walked in front of the Israel “Apartheid” Wall at my campus during Justice in Palestine Week, wearing my yarmulke, and a member of Students…
Dear World: Celiac is More Than Just ‘Gluten-Free’
As far back as I can remember, I have been excited for college. Even as a young child, it was always somewhere in the back of my mind: after middle school, then after high school, I would get a chance to study away from home, learning something I loved, and practicing for something I’d do…