The Global Citizen: Mayim, The Resource

By jsiegel December 31, 2009

The Global Citizen is a joint project of New Voices and the American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Throughout the year, a group of former AJWS volunteers will offer their take on global justice, Judaism, and international development. Opinions expressed by Global Citizen bloggers do not necessarily represent AJWS. This blog post was inspired by the…

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Christmas Chinese Balloons

By meuriarte December 29, 2009

Bethlehem, Christmas Eve 2009. It was a dark, still night. I huddled close with friends and drank hot tea poured from a thermos by a vendor circulating the crowd to keep warm. Red and blue lights illuminated the crosses over the Church of the Nativity. A towering fir tree glistened on the side of the…

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Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Union?

By bzalcman December 28, 2009

I was surprised to learn that one of my friends was involved in Bar Ilan’s student union. Who gets involved in the student union?! To put it mildly, participation in events hosted by the student union are not a popular pastime, so involvement in the student union, working for and with them is practically unheard of. You…

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Ethical Monotheism

By sgreen December 25, 2009

Tonight about a third of the world’s population is getting ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David, considered by Christians to be the Messiah, as prophesied by Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible book by the same name. So even if we ignore the stuff about JC being the Messiah,…

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Measuring an Uncertain Progress

By miriamberger December 24, 2009

Recently, as the end of the semester approached, I sat down with my co-teacher to prepare an overview of our class as part of the student progress reports that my Religious School sends out twice a year. To my surprise, it only took about twenty minutes for us to condense these past four months into…

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The Politics of Compassion

By Ben Sales December 23, 2009

December Issue Editor’s Note: What I learned after one Shabbat in the settlements.

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Get Jew the Season

By Ben Sales December 22, 2009

To the extent that the subway-riding population is representative of the citizenry of New York, I feel privileged to live in a diverse metropolis. The subway’s signs and ads, in turn, reflect this diversity: I’ve learned more Spanish during my commute to and from work than I did during the week I spent in Mexico…

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Help Out the Needy This Winter

By kseeger December 22, 2009

Regardless of religious affiliation, it is common for people to feel guilt during the holiday season. From all of the money one tends to spend on gifts to the cold weather that triggers minds to think of the homeless people, there are all sorts of wintery moments that trigger guilt. Even if you don’t feel…

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The New Matisyahu

By Alisha Kinman December 21, 2009

A quick look at a few Jewish musicians, all hoping to cross over and be the next big thing.

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Signs of Our Times…

By bzalcman December 21, 2009

    Some time last week, thieves broke into the Auschwitz concentration camp and stole the famous “Arbeit Macht Frei” [“work frees”] sign between 3 and 5 in the morning. While waiting for investigators and police to locate the sign, the museum’s curator has put up another sign in its place.     This sparked…

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Anti-Semitism and the Left

By mmicner December 18, 2009

This morning, the world learned that the “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign was stolen yesterday night from the entrance of Auschwitz. As Channukah is coming to an end, a holiday when we celebrate our victory over historic enemies, we are hurt by new enemies. I read today in JTA that the former Polish President Lech Walesa…

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Jewish Power

By Ben Sales December 18, 2009

Given the opportunity, I would shoot Hitler in the face. That’s why, when I saw “Inglorious Basterds” for the first time, I sat in my chair near the end of the movie laughing and high-fiving the person next to me as Donny Donewitz, the Bear Jew, pummeled the Fuhrer right in the Charlie Chaplin mustache…

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Global Citizen: Tamar’s Story?

By jsiegel December 18, 2009

The Global Citizen is a joint project of New Voices and the American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Throughout the year, a group of former AJWS volunteers will offer their take on global justice, Judaism, and international development. Opinions expressed by Global Citizen bloggers do not necessarily represent AJWS. Last week’s weekly Torah portion, Va-yeishev, contains…

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The Real Iran Problem

By Jordan Reimer December 17, 2009

The differennce between “Freedom In” and “Freedom From”

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