Archive
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.
Sheer panic. That was my first reaction when I saw my seminary schedule. Back in high school—oh so very long ago—my longest class was an hour. And that was endured with several lengthy “bathroom trips.” Now, my shortest class is a grand total of two hours, with the strong recommendation not to leave the class […]
Dude hit me up on twitter so I had to post it. He says, “I’m late at night wasted with my sweatpants on”. He talks about cutting a hole in his sweatpants for sexual purposes. Like I said, I had to post it. Required reading: My interview with Kosha Dillz from a few weeks ago.
Ilana Rossoff is a daycare worker by day and political organizer by night. She recently graduated from Hampshire College, where she studied US History, race studies, and Jewish studies, and completed a senior thesis on the history of Jewish anti-Zionism (mostly) in the US. At Hampshire, was active in Students for Justice in Palestine, Student […]
I’ll have some analysis up soon. For now, here’s folks are saying about the service, which I’m fully prepared to call greatest Yom Kippur experience of all time: My post at the Forward: I’ve got a post on Forward Thinking blog about my experience at the service. This is the most concise assessment of the phenomenal […]
I’m trying to start a haunted (i.e. outside) minyan for next Shabbat. Conveniently, a friend wrote me an email making an offhand comment about my patrilineal descent (something I’m already highly self-conscious about), and its effect on my minyan: “Either accept fate as a reform [Jew] whose lineage will die out with her and organize […]
It was 2:00 AM and the joint was jumping. Men in suits bustled through the crowded street. Here and there, small pockets of girls were gathered as well. In the snippets of overheard conversations, I picked up Hebrew, Yiddish, and English. Everywhere, an overwhelming, unfamiliar, and putrid smell, the source of which was also the […]
My last post, “How Do We/I Connect to God,” mentioned several ways to revitalize Reform and Conservative Judaism. One of these avenues relied on self-exploration and creating one’s own personalized Judaism. This leads to the question of how to keep the Jewish community together when everyone practices differently. Some historical analysis is very helpful in […]
When the classic beet soup arrived at the table my brother complained “I don’t eat anything that ends in ‘scht.’” Borscht, a soup of Ukrainian origin, served hot or cold, is popular all over Eastern and Central Europe. How did it become Jewish? Throughout history, Jewish people have absorbed and adapted the culinary traditions of […]