Article Archive

Editorial: Community, not continuity

By New Voices Editorial Board | November 17, 2011

Wringing their hands over the imagined plight of “the youth,” the Jewish Federations of North America came together in Denver last week for their annual General Assembly. Rabbi Elie Kaunfer — a founder of Manhattan’s traditional egalitarian yeshiva, Yeshivat Hadar — was the scholar-in-residence at the GA this year. In his address, Kaunfer drew the connection between our generation’s increased willingness to criticize Israel and our generation’s decreased involvement with the Jewish establishment. But the post-GA discussions that have emerged indicate a broader misdiagnosis of what ails the Jewish community — it’s the very definition of community.

Editorial: Divide points to larger problem

By New Voices Editorial Board | November 17, 2011

We have created a Jewish community so torn by internal politics about Israel speech that we can no longer so much as propose a social justice trip to Israel without creating a political divide in the Jewish community, alienating Jews of good conscience who have already been marginalized for their views.

Pursue is an alumni program cosponsored by Avodah and the American Jewish World Service. Knee-jerk reactions abounded when Pursue announced that it would sponsor an Israel trip. One Avodah staffer resigned in protest and a group of current Avodah participants circulated a petition, which demands that the trip include some Palestinian components like a visit to the territories and interactions with real live Palestinians.

#Occupy and the occupation [Parsing]

By Harpo Jaeger | November 16, 2011

The JTA has an interesting round-up of #Occupy’s Palestinian solidarity issues: While the pro-Palestinian events have been organized by outside groups, the closest Occupy Wall Street has come to endorsing Palestinian activism was a Nov. 3 tweet from the New York branch’s unofficial communications team expressing solidarity with the Freedom Waves mini-flotilla, which tried to…

Sammy’s Palestinian brother | Today in New Voices

By Zach C. Cohen | November 16, 2011

While researching my article about Jewish Greek life here at American University, one of the most Jewish private universities in the country (depending on who you ask), I ran into someone interesting. Ibraheem Samirah is a normal college student. He’s a junior studying political science and pre-dentistry, he likes hanging out with friends, he ran…

Devotion to free speech should fight ignorance, not enshrine it [Global Jewish Voice]

By Gabriel T. Erbs | November 16, 2011

Some consider Nick Griffin a racist, some a hero. The British National Pary Chairman was (almost) invited to debate the death penalty at Nottingham University. If you haven’t heard anything about the backlash, check out Rebecca Schapira’s latest article for the Global Jewish Voice: Education Should Battle Ignorance at University By Rebecca Schapira in Nottingham…

Propaganda for Israel vs. Educating for Israel

By Lonny Moses | November 16, 2011

When I attend a large Jewish conference, I come into the experience with a healthy dose of cynicism and a quick trigger to critique. As a committed Zionist and Social Justice activist, not to mention a philosophy major, I consider myself to be blessed with the ability to see past the explicit messages that these organizations put forward on the surface and to the implicit messages underneath. So it was that I attended the General Assembly (GA) of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) 2011, in Denver Colo., as a part of the Do The Write Thing student journalism conference. My main question was: As JFNA focuses more on Israel experiences, are they developing a truly Zionist initiative? Or is it merely window dressing, a way to capitalize on the trend of Israel experiences?

Jew-ish frats

By Zach C. Cohen | November 16, 2011

“‘Pi’ me in the face! Save a child’s heart!” It’s a typical shout on the quad from brothers in the local chapter of historically Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi during their biannual AEPi-in-the-Face fundraiser. Passersby pay for the privilege of pushing plates full of whipped cream into brothers’ faces to raise money for Save a Child’s Heart, an organization that provides life-saving services to underprivileged children. The sight is what one would expect from a fraternity: an image of a bunch of fun-loving guys, flirting with female students and laughing along with — or at — their dessert-covered comrades. But beneath the surface, the chapter of this historically Jewish frat is exactly that: Jew-ish.

Neighbors [Back to the Old World]

By hdilman | November 15, 2011

My group traveled to Jedwabne on July 11, 2011. We were not meant to go to Jedwabne; it was not on our original itinerary. We left Warsaw early in the morning, and by the time we pulled into Jedwabne, it was a beautiful day — the first nice day after a week of rain. The…

An old maid at 22 [Modern Unorthodox]

By Simi Lichtman | November 15, 2011

My most recent blog post, some musings on issues of shomer negiah (boys and girls touching) in the Modern Orthodox community, segues quite naturally into a discussion of dating. Dating is a bit of a sore topic for many students at here at Stern College, Yeshiva University’s all-women undergrad school. Warranted or not, there’s a…

Non-Members of The Tribe: Part III

By Jun Chen | November 15, 2011

In the third and final part of this series about non-Jews in Bloomington, Ind. who have become deeply involved with the Jewish community, Jun Chen interviews non-Jewish members of a Hooshir, a Jewish student a cappella group.

Is #Occupy anti-Semitic? (spoiler alert: no) [Parsing]

By Harpo Jaeger | November 14, 2011

Our previous post on #Occupy and the baseless charges of anti-Semitism that have been levied against the movement as a whole based on a few crazy people has received more trackbacks than any other I can remember in this blog’s history. As far as #Occupy bots are concerned, we must be great writers! But just…

An Orthodox Rabbi Walks into a Gay Wedding [Klal Yisrael]

By sphilp | November 14, 2011

On Thursday evening, Steve Greenberg became the first rabbi ordained by the Orthodox movement to officiate a same-sex marriage. Yoni Bock and Ron Kaplan exchanged vows before some 200 friends and family members, wearing matching kittels – the traditional white robe worn during Jewish weddings – and marigold kippot. The ceremony took place at the…

Jews & musical theater: 2 great tastes that taste great together! [Seriously Stereotyped]

By gedelstein | November 14, 2011

It’s official: “Funny Girl,” the musical semi-biography based on the life of Fanny Brice, will not be coming to Broadway anytime soon. According to Dave Itzkoff of The New York Times, the production is having “economic difficulties.” News of this tragedy made several excited yentas planning their mid-winter Broadway trip plotz. Thousands of gay Jewish…

Strategic alarm clock escalation [Israel]

By eglogauer | November 14, 2011

I’ve been taking care of myself for 71 days – cleaning up after myself, doing my own shopping, making my own food, doing my own laundry – and somehow, I’m still alive (I think everyone back home is kind of shocked that I’ve lasted this long). It has now been over two months since I…

The Quran as bedtime reading? [Global Jewish Voice]

By David A.M. Wilensky | November 14, 2011

If you haven’t been reading the Global Jewish Voice, our new blog run in partnership with AJC-ACCESS and the World Union of Jewish Students, now is the time to start. There is some terrific stuff being written for that blog. Here’s one example: Loudly Quranic in J-town By Adam Ehad in Tel Aviv So I’m…