Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
I think my education started early. I remember sitting in the car with my mother at the age of 10, en route from my Hebrew school to … somewhere. It was the spring of 2002, height of the Second Intifada,and the rhetoric that went alongside it. I was narrating all of the things we had…
I post a lot of things about the Holy Land on Facebook. I mean, I post about a lot of things – South Africa, migration politics, tasty coconut-based desserts – but also a lot about Israel and Palestine. And many of the things I post are not terribly adulatory of Israel. In fact, they’re starkly…
I will never forget the day I brought herring sandwiches to school. There I was, an awkward little seven-year-old, eating a vinegary and odorous pickled herring sandwich on brown bread in the middle of the lunch room. A delicious and very filling lunch for a first-grader. And there were the faces of my (mostly Jewish)…
Part 3 in a 3 part series. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. 7. What are your reactions to survey respondents’ answers to “What does it mean to be Jewish”? What creates Jewish meaning for you? Dr. Steven M. Cohen, sociologist: These questions pertain to areas of great ambiguity. I wouldn’t…
This week, the 2010 World Cup kicked off in South Africa. The biggest sporting event in the world, the monthlong slate of games is being hailed as the greatest thing to hit Johannesburg since democracy. Organizers have promised boosts in jobs and tourism, and promoters are convinced that this event will raise the profile and…
Didn’t see this one coming. Though it was never in any real doubt, we now have official evidence that Israel at one point possessed nuclear weapons, thanks to researcher and author Sasha Polakow-Suransky. Â And given the country’s continued ambiguity regarding its nuclear arsenal, its refusal to enter into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, its hawkish leadership,…
In South Africa, there’s a conspiracy theory that has spread among the white population since the fall of Apartheid. It goes by many names: Uhuru, Operation Vula, Operation White Clean-up, and – in a nod to Nazi Germany – Night of the Long Knives (in Afrikaans, Die Nag van die Lang Messe). Â What it says…
For years they wandered, desperate to be at home in their God-given land. Â Despite constantly being at the mercy of cruel, tyrannical leaders, they tried to live lives of dignity. Â Above all else, they were certain that they were God’s chosen people and that eventually, the land they loved would belong to them. Â The trials…
As Israel Apartheid Week finally winds to a close across campuses around the world, allow me to take a look back at the demise of the original Apartheid in South Africa. Â Though South Africa’s Apartheid and Israel’s occupation are two wholly different animals, at their core they are very much alike. Â In both, the government…
To start, let me apologize for the delay. I was in the midst of a move and was unable to access the Internet until now. Fortunately, this gave me the opportunity to further grapple with Israeli Apartheid Week–and my editor Ben’s response–and hopefully formulate a coherent defense of my position. First off, let me acknowledge…
It’s not often that I take to the New Voices blog to disagree with one of our writers, but I’d like to respond to Sam Melamed’s post from earlier today. Sam defends Israeli Apartheid Week as an effort “to louden international calls for the BDS movement – that is, the boycott of Israeli goods, the…
Today, the sixth incarnation of Israeli Apartheid Week gets underway. Â Aiming to amplify international calls for the BDS movement–that is, the boycott of Israeli goods, divestment from the Israeli economy and placement of sanctions on Israeli imports, respectively–organizers have planned various demonstrations in more than 40 international cities over the next 14 days. Â And though…
Earlier this week, the world celebrated the twentieth anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from South African prison. Though Apartheid wouldn’t officially end for another four years, Mandela’s release – more than anything else – heralded the racist institution’s imminent demise. As Umkhonto weSizwe leader Kebby Maphatsoe would later remark, “on that day we knew that…
Welcome everyone to my sparkly new MASA blog. To give you a better idea of where all this is coming from, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sam Melamed, I’m 22 years old, and I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison last May, having studied history and philosophy. Besides studying abroad in Cape…