Archive
Just when you thought Israel Apartheid Week was over, IAW Madrid makes a showing with one event – one week after most cities have wrapped up the program. Rebecca Powell delivered this dispatch from Madrid: With a tinge of fear, I planned to go witness some of the Spanish events myself. Yet, with only two […]
Florida law might threaten authority of Orthodox batei din [Forward] It began as a state bill to oppose Islamic sharia law, but it may end in compromising the authority of Orthodox courts. The Application of Foreign Law in Certain Cases bill, which is one of many such bills nation-wide based on model legislation (ironically by […]
A queer solidarity activist reclaims NYC’s LGBTQ community center
‘Slutwalk’, the controversial feminist movement in which women dress provocatively in response to social criticism that labels women who have been raped while being dressed “immodestly” were “asking for it” is coming to Israel. While I agree with Varda Bachrach that the term slut is derogatory and otherwise detrimental to female empowerment, I find the message […]
Purim & the Hunger Games [Tablet] Abigail Miller discusses the similarities between the age old Jewish holiday and the popular book series, highlighting the importance of pageantry, in an insightful portrait connecting past to present. “When fashion blogger Michael von Braithwaite writes, “You probably won’t want to dress like a dystopian hero every day, but if […]
As promised, I was on Al Jazeera on Monday, where I joined: Pro-Palestine activist Max Blumenthal, Breitbart.com editor Ben Shapiro, Al Jazeera anchor Derrick Ashong, Al Jazeera online producer Malika Bilal, Stanford University Student Body President Michael Cruz and Occupy AIPAC organizer Sasha Gelzin for a discussion on AIPAC and college Jews with a focus […]
Whew. That was quite a week. Now that it’s over, check out Dafna Fine’s terrific piece of news analysis on this year’s Israeli Apartheid Week: While reactions came in different forms from different pro-Israel groups, they were almost unanimous in their embrace of a new strategy this year: Avoid a direct attack on pro-Palestinian groups […]
The week is notorious for heavy-handed tactics like “apartheid walls” and mock checkpoints at universities all over the world. It is surrounded by passionate arguments from the pro-Palestinian side and equally charged counterpoints from pro-Israel groups. And though it is often a week of heated politics on college campuses, this year’s Israeli Apartheid Week, held Feb. 28-March 3, seemed quieter than usual.
While reactions came in different forms from different pro-Israel groups, they were almost unanimous in their embrace of a new strategy this year: Avoid a direct attack on pro-Palestinian groups in response to Israeli Apartheid Week. As Brandeis University marked its first ever Israeli Apartheid Week, fighting was absent on campus as pro-Israel groups celebrated Israeli life and culture in place of the usual conflict between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups.
“From what I have seen, not many people have been interested,” said Daniel Hammerman, a freshman at American University who is involved with AU Students for Israel.
For many American Persian Jews, self-identification can be complicated. Whether they were born in Iran or they are first-generation Americans, the culture and patriotism of their parents’ homeland can clash with their lives in America. This inner conflict has been exacerbated by the ongoing political tensions between Iran and the United States. Mix in some public musings on the possibility of war with Iran from Israel, and Persian American Jews (or are they Jewish Persian Americans? American Persian Jews?) are effectively being pulled in three directions.
The Persian Jewish community in American remains quite insular, concentrated in a few close-knit enclaves, including one on Long Island. And while the western label Orthodox doesn’t quite apply, Persian Jewish religious practice certainly has more in common with contemporary Orthodox Judaism than it does with any of the liberal streams. Because of all of these factors, Yeshiva University, the Modern Orthodox university with its various schools scattered around the city of New York, has a particularly high concentration of Persian Jews.
“I feel an internal conflict,” admitted Sarit Bassal, a student at Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University.