Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
I’ve spent this summer interning at two very different locations. The first is the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, where, among other duties, I compiled a dense history of my father’s family. My other job is at Archaeology Magazine, writing articles for their website. To my surprise, as I dug deeper (pardon the archaeological…
For every critic who disparages hip-hop as being all about “booty-shaking†and liquor, there’s a rapper who defies that stereotype by putting out “conscious rap.†This subcategory of the genre often deals with real life problems that the artist faces, everyday dilemmas that are problems common to the artist’s listeners. As an area with its…
After I got home from work today, I pried my hair off my sweat-soaked neck and flopped down on my bed. Flipping on the air conditioning, I turned my computer on and searched for an episode of Friends that I hadn’t seen yet. Knowing there were none, I settled into a re-run, as happily as…
One student goes to a synagogue because the services are longer. Another has found her Judaism in communal living. A third engages religiously by participating in a non-religious neighborhood council. How students are finding Jewish experiences by leaving campus.
Louis Farrakhan is ridiculous. Let me begin by putting that out there. I first came into contact with Minister Farrakhan when I was about 12, when hip-hop stars Ja Rule and 50 Cent sat down for a special “mediation†with him on MTV. Rule and 50 were interviewed separately about their “beef†with one another,…
A Jewish dance troupe in Germany is attacked by young boys throwing stones. Welsh men bandy racial slurs about and tell the Jews to “go home.†Helen Thomas barks out a similar request. What is all of this hatred doing in today’s world? It’s time to take a stand and nip this racism in the…
This summer, I’ve been lucky in my work: my interest in ancient history has led me to work at Archaeology Magazine and my love of family history resulted in an internship with the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Enter my Jewish heritage. One of the projects NYG&BS interns work on in the summer is…
Who are we? Where do we come from? As it turns out, Jews are just Jews: our very own ethnic group. Recent studies have shown that Jews appear to be genetically different than non-Jews and, indeed, are closely related to one another. This revelation comes through Human “HapMap” Project, which examines human genome sequences; recently,…
Judaism and Catholicism may not seem to go together, but the Catholic Church begs to disagree. In an attempt to show that the papacy isn’t hiding any self-incriminating archives from World War II, the Vatican will open up some World War II-era private archives for public consumption within the next six years. First of all,…
As I strolled through the streets of Morningside Heights, the humid air nearly suffocating me, one thing I noticed was the emptiness. Empty of students, empty of professors, empty of Jews. Where were all my comrades in religion? Home for the summer, undoubtedly, but this presented a sharp contrast to Barnard and Columbia during the…
For the first time since Angela Merkel made that weird facial expression when George Bush tried to give her a massage, I can say: the Germans did something right. Recently, the German village of Oberammergau has revised its traditional “Passion Play,†a rite of passage that has gone on since 1633, to emphasize the historical…
All Jews know the Temple Mount is sacred. Those who have been lucky enough to visit what remains in Jerusalem have prayed at the Wailing Wall, stuffed little messages into its crevices, and reveled in the holy atmosphere surrounding the ancient Jewish center of worship. For centuries, Jews have wanted to reclaim the Temple Mount,…
I’ve always been fascinated by royals and genealogy. I’ve giggled gleefully at the millions of descendants from one Irish high king named Niall of the Nine Hostages, chuckled at the amusing antics of Infanta Leonor of Spain and smiled at the moving humanitarian efforts of Prince William of the United Kingdom. But no royal action…
As the first Saturday in May approaches every year, I begin my annual pre-Derby preparations. I analyze the contenders’ pedigrees, mark down the exact post time, and watch pre-race coverage with the fervor I usually give to a Columbia University event with free food. This year, though, I watched ESPN’s perfectly-coiffed anchormen with more interest…
Some say that a British accent makes everything better. But can an accent improve hatred? A new book out, entitled Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England, by Anthony Julius, investigates anti-Jewish sentiment in the land of nobles and fish ‘n’ chips. A blog by Canadian writer Barbara Kay examines what she…