Archive
Publications aimed for a queer Jewish audience, like any niche-aimed work, tend to concentrate on certain themes. There are your coming out to your community publications, there are your famous-queer-Jews publications, there are your “my story” publications. And then there is another trend: a deep, heavy, nearly-overwhelming concentration on Israel. Israel is everywhere in the […]
Former President George W. Bush once referred to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 as “[the] most devastating attack[s America has experienced] since Pearl Harbor.” Last week was the twelfth anniversary of 9/11, and by interesting coincidence, that day also saw a United States governmental official’s confirmation to CNN that weapons funded and organized by the […]
Just a few weeks ago, the White House released a video of President Obama wishing the American Jewish community a sweet New Year. Obama emphasized the importance of the newly-resumed peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the responsibility of American Jews to act to bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Now […]
WASHINGTON – When Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn told his former congregants that he was opening a medicinal marijuana dispensary, they were nothing but supportive. “The cannabis plant was created by God on the second day of creation when God created all the other plants, and touching this one isn’t forbidden,” Jeff said in a June interview. […]
The first thing you should know about the new editor is that I am new to New York, having moved here from my native Pittsburgh just after Rosh Hashana to captain this rickety little ship they call New Voices. The second thing you should know about me is that I have a long subway ride […]
On August 29, the Washington Post published an article titled “Nine Questions About Syria You Were Too Embarrassed to Ask.” The sixth question listed in this oversimplified piece of rhetoric asks, “Why hasn’t the United States fixed this yet?” This type of question illustrates a fundamental arrogance in the attitude of Americans, with regard to […]
Back in April we invited high school and middle school students to complete the following sentence: “The thing they don’t tell you about Israel is…” as part of our inaugural essay contest. The entries trickled in, and intriguing reponses quickly appeared in our inbox. We want to thank all of our contestants for working hard […]
I went to my graduation. It was about as anti-climactic as I expected it to be: my gown was the same obscene shade of red as everyone else’s, I didn’t have enough time to shower before the ceremony, and the rain forced me to wear shoes. I know, these are all material concerns. But in […]
Today was my college graduation and instead of attending, I’m at work writing about it—much to the chagrin of my poor mother, who has now had two children finish college with not one graduation ceremony to cry at. According to a very informal survey I just took, about a quarter to half of college grads […]
BBC World Service recently released the results of a 25-country survey determining how the world’s citizens view 16 countries and their influence on the world. Iran came at the very bottom of the list, with 15% of respondents seeing it as having a positive influence and 59% saying it has a negative influence. That result […]