Archive
The recent debacle about the (Jewish, day-school alum) Princeton freshman who claims he “checked his privilege” dominated my social media network for a good two weeks. A few people came out in his support, but most people – myself included – were furious at his complete inability to consider the advantages he may have […]
Written in response to Eat the Food Without Drinking the Kool-Aid: How to Get the Most out of Orthodox Outreach Programs “Ben Zoma said: Who is wise? He who learns from all people, as it is said: ‘From all those who taught me I gained understanding’ (Psalms 119:99). ‘Who is honored? He who honors […]
I’ve written before on my day school education and its different aspects, critiquing how it taught me (or perhaps should have taught me) to look at my history and my past; I’ve also offered what can perhaps be best described as a back-handed compliment to my Jewish education. Now, as someone who has been […]
Around the time I learned that my UChicago team won this year’s annual Scavenger Hunt, I happened to be on the phone with my mother. Knowing how much of my previous weekend had been devoted to “Scav,” how I had stayed up into odd hours of the night every night for three days completing […]
Here’s why I usually hate Twitter: We will never get to the bottom of the big issues facing humanity—poverty, disease, warfare, Israel on campus—without a long dialogue held in good faith between dissenting viewpoints. In other words, getting to the bottom of the world’s ills will take more than volleying 140-character spitballs with a […]
So my last article– discussing the historical parallels between Israel today and White South Africa pre-1994 – went mildly viral. It was something I was not prepared for: I had expected the typical (warm, exciting, and fairly big, but nevertheless decidedly niche) response a New Voices article garners: a few dozen Facebook “likes,” no more […]
“It is the epitome of intellectual dishonesty to use a well-established term to define a group (pro-Israel) when that group and its members such as yourself admit that the meaning of the well-established term does not in fact apply.” This was one of the many responses I received after my op-ed last month, “Hillel Student […]
Just over two weeks ago, the Conservative Movement’s Committee on Jewish Laws and Standards (CJLS) voted in favor of a controversial teshuvah (responsum), written by Rabbi Pamela Barmash, ruling that, according to Jewish law, women can be considered obligated in all of the ritual commandments from which they have classically been exempt. When I first […]
If you want to receive something from another person, often you have to do something for them at some point first. This week’s parsha, Bechukotai, shows us that even God is aware of this part of human nature. The parsha starts with God saying, “Hey, I get it! You’re selfish, and I can’t expect you […]
write this piece having just returned from a fascinating lecture by Bernard Wasserstein, a prominent history professor emeritus here at the University of Chicago. The lecture roughly corresponded to a recent book of Wasserstein’s, “The Ambiguity of Virtue: Gertrude van Tijn and the Fate of the Dutch Jews.” Unsurprisingly, Wasserstein discussed the story of Gertrude […]