Archive
I never thought Obama was the messiah. Sure, the posters moved me. So did his words, his slogans, that music video and all the rest of the propaganda that came with his movement. But despite my enthusiasm, I did not expect Barack to fix all of our problems. I, like many, knew that there would be pitfalls […]
Amid the recent controversy in Vancouver about George Galloway and the Canadian Gaza Flotilla, Tarek Fatah is a breath of fresh air. The Canadian author and advocate has dedicated his life to promoting a more liberal version of Islam. However, his opposition to Shariah and support for gay rights has made him the target of […]
The man who vandalized a Jewish building at the University of Indiana turned himself in to police. [JTA] A Jewish student goes to India and takes a cooking class with three Israelis. Why are we not surprised? [Pink Pangea] Increasingly more Muslim students are attending Catholic universities. [WaPo] A British student leader says Jewish persecution is a […]
Eschewing every stereotype of what the life of a member of the clergy is like, a new four-hour documentary called “The Calling” debuts its first half on PBS tonight. The first half follows five people — Presbyterian Rob Pene, progressive Muslim Tahera Ahmad, African Methodist Episcopal Jeneen Robinson, Open Orthodox Yerachmiel Shapiro (the one at […]
Hillel recently banned Jewish Voice for Peace from its facilities nationwide. Such a ban betrays Hillel’s mission and divides the Jewish campus community that Hillel purports to serve.
Finally, another princess. My royalty-loving heart fluttered as reports circulated about Prince William’s proposal to Kate Middleton. Naturally, I was very happy for the handsome young couple. Interestingly, though, as I researched Kate Middleton, I found that some people think she might be Jewish. Fascinated, I took a deeper look at these claims. J Weekly […]
Ha’aretz’s opinion page says religion is bad. The recent furor over a declaration issued by several Israeli rabbis, headed by the chief rabbi of Safed, Shmuel Eliyahu, urging Jewish residents not to rent apartments to Arabs, has been heated in all quarters. The primary angle taken by the Ha’aretz opinion page is that this shows […]
According to Philip Weiss, pro-Palestinian students at Brooklyn College don’t want dialogue with the pro-Israel group. Here’s a telling quote from a student there: “We hold an anti-normalization stance on dialogue,” said Eeman Abuasi, 21, a co-founder of the Palestinian Club who grew up in Brooklyn, east Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah. […]
How Jews separate themselves from the rest of the world is an interesting issue, and a hot topic this week. It so happens, at Pardes this week, we looked at issues of separatism in Judaism, from the extremely current issue of the letter banning rental of apartments to Arabs to the more theoretical ‘how should […]
Natan Sharansky says that anti-Israel intimidation is silencing pro-Israel students on campus, but where’s his evidence? [NJJN Just ASC] Hillels should include, not oppose, JVP groups. Look for more on this in an NV blog post later today. [The Magnes Zionist] In related news, the NIF comes out explicitly against BDS. [Atlantic Jeff Goldberg] And BTS (Breaking […]