Archive
As double minorities, LGBT Jews are small in number but have left a profound mark on the course of history. It’s not surprising that Jews have played a monumental role in erasing bigotry in all shapes and forms. Inherent in Jewish identity is a drive for social justice, or tikkun olam, the belief in repairing […]
Originally published in the Winter 2017 issue of The Leviathan Jewish Journal. When I was young and told the other children at school that one of my ancestors came to America from the Mayflower, they looked at my almond-shaped eyes, my long black hair, and laughed. “You can’t be from the Mayflower,” they mocked me. “Because […]
“Hate Spaces,” a documentary film released in 2016 and written and directed by Avi Goldwasser, aims to shine a light on campus anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. But, alas, “Hate Spaces” didn’t earn my love. Ultimately, while it starts out strong, it soon devolves into a conspiracy-laden diatribe about Muslims, social justice warriors, and Palestinians. “Hate Spaces” […]
Sarah Waxman and I immediately bonded over our curly, Jew-fro-esque hair. As Jewish women have done for centuries, we swapped notes over the creams, conditioners, gels, and mousses we use to keep the frizz away. But what I really learned from Waxman, the founder of a Jewish women’s wellness initiative, was that my mental health […]
When Oceans Stand Between You and Your Dreams, You Have to Keep Swimming By Rachel Chabin, Stony Brook University Our Exodus begins with water. It begins with crossing when the water is over your head. It begins with a decision, a conviction; it begins with the choice to try to swim. When we fled to […]
I screamed no. I screamed no, and he didn’t listen. He listened when I said yes to going to his room, he listened when I said yes to making out, but when I said no to sex, he didn’t listen. That’s rape. He took away my voice, my choice. He overpowered me, rendering me helpless. […]
The bar for President Trump is now set so low that he can clear it just by admitting that the Holocaust and anti-Semitism are bad. Praising Trump’s April 25 keynote speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual Day of Remembrance, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said, “It deeply matters that President Trump used the power […]
We spent the night before Passover in different rooms. Some of us were in kitchens with our families, clearing our drawers of chametz. Some of us were in the library finishing homework before the start of the holiday. And some of us spent hours in the last Tufts University senate session of the year. Yet […]
When I was in first grade, my family set high academic standards. From day one, my father told me I was going to Harvard, despite my learning barriers. For years, that belief was instilled in me, and I made sure to fit his dream, skeptical of whose passions drove me. To get the grades, I […]
My mom lights the Shabbat candles as she covers her eyes with the palms of her hands. The room is dark except for the light in the kitchen, a lamp in the dining room, and the yellow glow from the flames. “Baruch atah Hashem,” she recites the prayer alone, my sisters and I sitting in […]