Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
The Torah commands us to love our neighbor and treat them compassionately. But it also condemns the act of “man [lying] with man as with a woman.” How do we reconcile Judaism with LGBT issues? Also, what about women “lying” with women? – LB, Florida, U.S. There’s a lot to unpack in this question: what…
“There seems to be a lot of talk that non-Orthodox Judaism is Chillul Hashem. Is Hashem angry?” –D.B., London, U.K. That’s a great question—and one with a messy answer. First off, let’s come to an understanding about what Chillul Hashem actually means. In Vayikra (Leviticus) 22:31-33, following an extensive legal document that dictates the terms…
Over the last few weeks, a discourse has taken place between Rav Shlomo Riskin—chief rabbi of Efrat—and Rabbi Andrew Sacks—the director of the Rabbinical Assembly of the Masorti (Conservative) movement in Israel. The conversation started when Riskin wrote in the Jerusalem Post about the conversion controversy in Israel. For the not-yet-up-to-speed: Debates have surged in the past…
British Religious leaders of every stripe have weighed in on the devastation caused by London rioting. Some, like Rabbi Anna Gerrard of the United Kingdom’s Liberal Jewish movement, took a moment to offer words of comfort. Others, like the Church of England, provided liturgical supplements praying for a stop to the violence. In the case of…
The Jewish world has so many layers beyond its pain, but tales of Jewish identity too often recount suffering with an almost liturgical precision – to the exclusion of its triumphs. Evelyn Toynton’s second novel, “The Oriental Wife,” is the tale of young Jews who flee Hitler’s pogroms for America, exploring the effects of culture clash without miring itself in that inescapable identity pity that asserts itself in similar works. As they struggle to eke out a life of substance in a strange country, these young people must deal with their shattered expectations and a new tragedy that will shake and redefine their relationships permanently.
Lo, when Moses didst return from the mountain, he spake unto the people: “People!” And the people didst say, “Yeah?” And, in his best Charlton Heston voice, Moses proclaimed, “I have many words from the Almighty—about ten-ish.” Verily, Moses gave the people the commandments, a lesser known of which was, “THOU SHALT MAKE CHINTZY RELIGIOUS…
Amy Winehouse’s “Frank” took its fast-and-easy hold on audiences with opening track “Stronger than Me,” a bouncing number that made sweet love to Winehouse’s knowing voice, while pushing the track’s subject away for not being man enough for her. Perhaps it was telling that Winehouse began her mainstream career with a hefty world-weariness that the greats of jazz and blues take a lifetime to cultivate. When she came on the scene, Winehouse – almost immediately the darling of music critics who praised her raspy cynicism and jazz roots – seemed somehow already old.
For the many who would not discover her until ‘Rehab’ became a pop culture staple (and something of a mean-spirited soundtrack for tabloid readers who followed her drug and alcohol problems), Winehouse’s fatigue was something of an absolute, a perpetual state of personal angst. This clouded Winehouse’s lighter material, her playful sense of self on tracks like “Fuck Me Pumps” and “Moody’s Mood for Love,” and made her a public punch line for many.