Eight Nights of Jewish Zines: Ushpi(zine) by Linke Fligl

By New Voices Editorial Board December 13, 2020

“Diasporism offers a path to that future, one of teshuvah (return) and remembering.”

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How to Build a Sukkah on your College Dorm Porch

By Rebecca Tauber October 20, 2020

A short instructional guide in six easy steps.

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The Enneagram as Jewish Holidays

By Rebecca Lubow September 24, 2020

Do you know your enneagram type? Find out which Jewish holiday celebrates you best!

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"Suspension" by Ali Zak

12 Tips for High Holidays Balance and Presence

By Raffi Levi September 23, 2020

In this excerpt from a collaborative High Holidays reader entitled “Our Still Small Voice”, Raffi Levi brings Jewish spiritual wisdom on enoughness and healing for readers looking to set an intention for the whirlwind Days of Awe.

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Why Bother With Philosophy?

By Netanya Abramson December 15, 2017

With the fall Jewish holiday season in the rearview mirror, I can’t help but miss the megillah we read annually on Sukkot and the epitome of philosophy, Kohelet, before it completely disappears beyond the horizon. For those of you that haven’t read it, Kohelet addresses big questions like does anything in life really matter? And…

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Reflecting on Sukkot as a Model For Pluralism

By Noah Strauss October 23, 2017

This year, I realized something new about the holiday of Sukkot. Sukkot challenges us to envision and construct a new kind of Jewish community, one that lies outside of our everyday institutions. We are commanded to dwell in a new reality, where we welcome in all those on the margins of our community, as well…

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Celebrating National Coming Out Day on Sukkot

By Noah Strauss October 10, 2017

This Yom Kippur, I sat in Kol Tzedek synagogue, where the majority of the congregation and the rabbi identify as queer or trans, thinking about how the last day of Sukkot falls on National Coming Out Day this year. Something felt natural about this intersection of celebrations and communities. During Sukkot, we come out of…

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To Go to Class or Not to Go to Class?

By Daniel Levine October 21, 2016

Originally published in Ha’Am. There is perhaps no decision more representative of the difficulties of being a practicing Jewish college student than the quintessential question of whether or not to attend class during Chag. To me, this is not a question of grades or even the inconvenience of having to spend long, sleepless nights catching…

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High Holidays and Midterm Season Survival

By Sara Weissman October 20, 2016

Original version published in The Daily Californian.  When I was preparing to come to UC Berkeley, my biggest fear wasn’t the academic rigor of college, making friends, or getting used to the sometimes-unidentifiable food at Crossroads dining hall – though those were definitely all high up on my list. It was observing Jewish holidays, including Shabbat, and…

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UCSD: Please Stop “Accommodating” Me.

By Zev Hurwitz January 30, 2014

This piece originally appeared in the University of California San Diego Guardian in response to a new University of California policy of avoiding conflicts between  Jewish holidays and move-in week by cutting a week out of winter break. This decision was made without any student input.  It is being reprinted with permission of the author….

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On Why I Take Yiddish

By Dani Plung November 27, 2013

Several weeks ago, I attended a screening of the classic 1937 Yiddish language film, The Dybbuk, open to the University of Chicago community.  For me, the appeal was in the Yiddish language; the film was a natural compliment to my Yiddish 101 class, and, in fact, my professor highly encouraged my class to attend.  There…

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Finding Permanence in a Sukkah

By Dani Plung October 31, 2013

[fblike style=”standard” showfaces=”false” width=”450″ verb=”like” font=”arial”] You’d think after forty years of wandering and two thousand subsequent years of diaspora, the Jewish People would be used to spatial transitions.  I mean, we seem to pass everything else L’dor v’dor, from generation to generation, so why not the nomadic nature? Don’t we even take a full eight…

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Is That a Lulav in Your Pocket…?

By John Propper October 3, 2012

Welcome back! Here’s hoping your Yom Kippur was meaningful, your fast easy, and your shofar loud. Over the next few days, Jews around the world will observe Sukkot, an agricultural festival. Many of us will construct a sukkah or booth structure, where we will eat, pray, sleep and yes, (some of us) even shtup. Though it…

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Hathaway Hitches Into Da Tribe

By H. B. Rubin October 2, 2012

And she’s at it again. After making headlines last Monday for her quick smooch outside a Los Angeles Jewish Community Center, Anne Hathaway is back in the spotlight. But this time, she got married. Former cat seductress Anne Hathaway tied the knot this past Saturday night with Jewish fiancé Adam Shulman, much to everyone’s surprise (okay, by…

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The Holy Alliance of Occupy Wall Street and DIY Judaism

By David A.M. Wilensky October 13, 2011

Sukkot began last night. Since the 1,000-strong Kol Nidrei service at Occupy Wall Street that kicked off Yom Kippur this year, an Occupy Judaism page has appeared on Facebook. That’s how I found out that Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and Occupy Judaism organizer Daniel Sieradski were planning to erect a sukkah at Zuccotti Park,…

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