Zoomed image of The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Japanese artist Hokusai.

Can a Jewish Gamer Novel Help Us Redefine Friendship?

By Gila Axelrod February 23, 2023

Gabrielle Zevin’s newest bestseller highlights an unlikely duo: a lifelong chavruta pair. Can the holiness of their collaboration withstand the pressure of stereotypes?

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The Reading List: Majors that Make You Money

By Ben Sales May 25, 2011

Here’s a list of the 20 highest- and lowest-paying majors. [Time] I’m farklemt in my genektezoink! [Forward] Everything I really needed to know I learned in first grade. [JW] Elie Wiesel brings the wisdom at Wash. U. [WUSTL] Want to learn? Don’t go to college, and we’ll pay you. [Chronicle of Higher Ed.]

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The Reading List: College Costs a Lot

By Ben Sales May 18, 2011

Ouch! [Inflation Data] Schechter put $240,000 toward a new logo and slogan, among other initiatives. [JW] Birthright is raking in the cash. [JW] A self-hating Jew named Israel. [Tablet] This person hates Philip Roth. [The Guardian]

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The Reading List: A Baby Named “Like”

By Ben Sales May 17, 2011

Only in Israel… [Ha’aretz] I’ll be honest: This is here only because the words “New Voices” are in the title. [NYT] Interesting piece on the hunt for Ivan Demjanjuk. [Forward] Leonard Fein goes to Sderot and Gaza. [Forward] The first Jewish mayor of the Second City. [Tablet]

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The (more frequent and double) Reading List: Satire galore!

By Ben Sales May 12, 2011

A brilliant, though morally dubious, satire of the Bin Laden killing. [Galactic Empire Times] A hilariously appropriate response to the Der Tzeitung-Hillary Clinton fiasco. [Feministe] Turning the Der Tzeitung-HC fiasco into a meme. [Hasidic Photoshop] Who said falafel could unite Israelis and Palestinians? In Brooklyn, it’s another excuse to fight. [The Brooklyn Paper] A clever idea: limericks…

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The Reading List: “Is Israel an Apartheid State?” Student Edition

By Ben Sales April 11, 2011

Is Israel an apartheid state? This Israeli says it is. [Columbia Spectator] Meanwhile, a range of African-American students say that Israel is definitely not apartheid. [JPost] Sleep, a social life or good grades: In college, you can’t have them all. [Very Demotivational] But the creator of Dilbert thinks that you should forget academics and focus…

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The Reading List: The Student View on Goldstone

By Ben Sales April 8, 2011

Students at Harvard say that the world’s military powers need to be more attentive to how they confront non-state actors in the wake of Judge Richard Goldstone’s recent retraction. [Harvard Crimson] This article on JVP should have quoted leaders from other groups involved in Israeli-Palestinian discourse. [Brandeis Justice] Yeshiva University’s neighborhood is the rat capital…

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The Reading List: Yet Another “Just Had Sex” Parody

By Ben Sales April 6, 2011

Jewish A Cappella groups are going crazy with the videos. Above is the latest offering, from Kol Ish: “Just Had Chametz,” a parody of “Just Had Sex” that I like better than “Just Broke Shomer.” And here’s a video of an awesome Jewish student with two moms. And here’s a kid who’s extremely excited to…

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The Double Reading List: Jewish Student A Cappella Groups Unite!

By Ben Sales April 4, 2011

This reading list also counts for Friday. Can’t get enough Jewish a cappella? You’re in luck! Kol HaOlam, the first Jewish student a cappella competition, took place this past weekend, and some videos are here. [Gather the Jews] Speaking of Jewish a cappella, here’s the Pesach offering from the Fountainheads. Rebuttal, Maccabeats? And speaking of…

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The Reading List: Some things never change

By Ben Sales March 31, 2011

A synopsis of an article about the University of Wisconsin’s Jewish community from 1924: “The author defends the Jewish student population at the University of Wisconsin, declaring that such Jews do not engage with Jewish communal life because communal institutions have no interest in accommodating their specific requests.” Sound familiar? [BJPA] 45 years later, Woody…

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The Reading List: Birthright Alumni Fail

By Ben Sales March 30, 2011

Check out the above picture of a sweatshirt, put out by the Birthright Israel Alumni Community, an initiative of the Jewish Enrichment Center: not only did they spell “Israel” wrong, but the Victoria’s Secret panties that this sweatshirt refers to aren’t even made in Israel. In fact, they’re made by Palestinian laborers in Jordan. Good…

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The Reading List: What Do YOU Think about the Conservative Movement?

By Ben Sales March 28, 2011

A couple of JTS students ask Times Square passersby in the hilarious video above. Here’s a cool feature where high school students talk about their future. Even cooler game: debate which of these high schoolers may or may not be Jewish. [NYT] And here’s a video where a bunch of younger kids–all Jewish–talk about the Jewish future….

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The Reading List: Helen Thomas in Playboy… Not What You Think

By Ben Sales March 21, 2011

The 90-year old journalist, made famous last year for telling Israeli Jews to go back to “Poland and Germany,” gets interviewed in Playboy. She keeps her clothes on, but it’s anti-Zionist porn. [Playboy] Purim is over, but below is the funniest Purim video I’ve yet seen, this time by a couple guys I know from Camp Ramah…

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The Reading List: The Next Maccabeats?

By Ben Sales March 2, 2011

Better late than never: Not as good as those Hanukkah dreamboats, I think, but still fun. [Ein Prat Fountainheads] And you thought Natalie Portman couldn’t get any more amazing. [NYT] Turns out Italy isn’t as Catholic as it seems. [Pink Pangea] Where do you go if you’re a student in Egypt and things get ugly?…

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The Reading List: The blind, African-American man at Hillel

By Ben Sales February 24, 2011

A feel-good story from our friends at Penn. [The Jewish Exponent] And if you want a (rare) feel-good story from Israel, check this out: The Chilean miners just landed there. [YNet] How can American colleges affect the Middle East situation? [Chronicle of Higher Ed.] Alliteration is alive! Mini Me visits the Western Wall! Extremely Excellent! [Heeb] Rahm…

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