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Whenever I attempt to explain to someone what I am doing in Israel, their first question is always, “What’s a kibbutz?” A kibbutz is a kind of gated community. It’s a collective community based on a high level of social and economical sharing, equality, direct democracy and tight social relations. A member of a kibbutz […]
I was in high school, spending the summer at a Jewish summer camp in New York, when Gilad Shalit was captured. For every generation of Americans, there is a conflict that defines the image of Israel that is most vivid to them. For some, it was the War of Independence, for others it was the capturing of the Sinai, the return of the Sinai or the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. For those not much older than myself and the writers whose reflections are presented below, it was the Second Intifada. For us, it looked like it would always be the capturing of Gilad Shalit. But it looks like we may soon be able to replace that with his release.
Those are my brief thoughts on the apparently impending release of Shalit. Below, we present the thoughts of five more New Voices Magazine writers. –David A.M. Wilensky, Editor of New Voices Magazine
There are stickers with Michigan spelled out phonetically in Hebrew characters, Jewish bling abounds and satisfying a falafel craving isn’t hard to do: Welcome to the University of Michigan.
For a lot of seniors, the beginning of the school year means being back in Ann Arbor for the first time in eight months–for others that hiatus was spent where hummus and shawarma are plentiful and shekels are the preferred form of currency. It seems only natural for these students to return even more in love with Israel than when they left. Eight months later and with much-improved Hebrew skills, two U of M students, Ben Wolf and Alyse Opatowski returned with a perspective that perplexes the creators of the programs that sent them to Israel–frustrated and disenchanted with Israel.
Question: What’s the first page that appears when you Google “Jewish social justice”? Answer: The Progressive Jewish Alliance and Jewish Funds for Justice. In addition to having an awesome domain name (jewishjustice.org!), this organization is also doing amazing things to engage the Jewish community in justice work. To quote their own vision statement, “In 25 […]
For me, hip hop is my secular music. After I’ve been working a shift at the Hillel for like 10 hours surrounded by Hillel-y Jews, I want to put on some grimy stretch and bobbito freestyles or some dirty south trap music. So I wasn’t sure how I felt about Shemspeed artist Y-Love, a Chassidic […]
Sukkot began last night. Since the 1,000-strong Kol Nidrei service at Occupy Wall Street that kicked off Yom Kippur this year, an Occupy Judaism page has appeared on Facebook. That’s how I found out that Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and Occupy Judaism organizer Daniel Sieradski were planning to erect a sukkah at Zuccotti Park, […]
Commotion surrounds a man holding a large sign that proclaims, “Google: Zionists control Wall St.” To his right, another man holds a sign that displays the word “ASSHOLE,” accompanied by an arrow pointing at the first man. Several more people are standing near him devoting their energy to telling passersby that the first man is […]
In a fruitless attempt to feel more spiritual and escape the close quarters in which I live, I spent Rosh Hashanah in Jerusalem. I figured heavy exposure to Judaism’s holiest sites on one of its holiest holidays would increase my spirituality via osmosis. (Shortly after beginning this trip, I realized the futility of that desire, […]
Israel is considered a pioneer. Its technological and medical developments might be the results of years of input from a culture of research and development. But even after one of the country’s top chemists’ latest Nobel Prize win, Professor Ehud Keinan of the country’s educational advisory board on chemistry has been very public with his […]
On a Friday night in July, I and three other American Jewish college students assembled for Shabbat services and a kosher dinner. But this night was different from all other nights. For amid the formal Hebrew prayers and familiar tunes, we spoke to each other only in Arabic. “Sabaat Salaam,” we greeted each other at the service’s conclusion. Shabbat Shalom.
The two months I spent this summer studying and speaking only Arabic through the Middlebury Arabic Language Institute in California were full of such seemingly strange occurrences. But having pledged along with 180 other students of all ages and backgrounds to speak, read and listen only to Arabic, situations like this quickly became the new norm.