Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
With one day left of school now, I feel I must reflect. What they say about this school is true, you know — people really do sleep in the library, and it is hard to make friends. Really, two of my only friends here include the rabbi and the Catholic priest. It’s kind of interesting. They…
Crossposted at Crystal Decadenz I am disturbingly familiar with the arguments against Orthodoxy. I imagine someone will take issue with my characterizations of the liberal branches, but it’s good to disagree sometimes. I know that really accurate characterizations would take a book to write (I’m telling you now so I don’t have to break up…
Did you know? Hillel elections are coming up, and as planned, I’m running. They’re a mess, as far as clubs are concerned. I even talked to our rabbi a few days ago (under the guise of interviewing him for our newspaper), and he confirmed that our Hillel is a “Jewish affinity club” and that I…
I was pretty surprised about the interest people showed when I finally let my Haunted Minyan idea out of the box. Haunted Minyan, for those of you who don’t know, is what happens when you have Kabbalat Shabbat services outside on the lawn of your haunted campus, preferably next to the campus graveyard. Sadly, the…
I’m trying to start a haunted (i.e. outside) minyan for next Shabbat. Conveniently, a friend wrote me an email making an offhand comment about my patrilineal descent (something I’m already highly self-conscious about), and its effect on my minyan: “Either accept fate as a reform [Jew] whose lineage will die out with her and organize…
On Saturday night, I went to our Hillel’s welcoming ceremony for the new rabbi. I guess they decided it would be a good idea to start out with a Havdala ceremony, but no amount of gentle singing could compensate for the lighting of yet another candle – under the luminous rays of the bright 7:00…
College is supposed to challenge your assumptions, but right now I’m experiencing the most annoying challenge possible. As planned, I went down a couple of days ago to talk to the rabbi—ordained Reconstructionist, though he insists that the congregation is “unaffiliated”—about my options for converting. He told me, of course, that I and my patrilineal…
My first week of school has been… chaotic. Before I even came, there was a fire. After I came, there was an earthquake. Now this hurricane, not to mention the most grueling orientation ever invented and having to be social 24/7, which can get pretty tiring when you’re not used to it. Welcome to my…
Did you ever notice that any time a T.V. show or magazine article or, well, anything really, wants to show something Jewish, they inevitably show either a boy holding a Torah or Hareidi men at the Kotel? Inevitably. This is true across the board, even for seemingly impartial sources such as National Geographic. During their…
Attention world. I know that, statistically, most of you probably live in New England, New York, or New Jersey. I know that because all the interesting synagogues and most of the independent minyanim are up there. I also know that because there are yeshivas and seminaries and Jewish day schools there. If you don’t have…
Crossposted and part of a series (I, II, III, IV, V). I like having a friend who is as excited about Judaism as I am. But I don’t like when it’s in such different ways. For instance, she likes likes hamsas and things that are (supposedly) made with sand from Israel. And I…well, don’t. For…
Since I’m the one who substitutes nonsense I draw for actual pictures, I thought I ought to use my last post for the semester to tell you that there is a method to the madness. Inspired by the fact that every comic I’ve read has at least one Jewish character (although in one case it…
I’m annoyed (and not just at Obama; I think you’ve got that covered anyway). I’m reading a book called The New Rabbi by Stephen Fried (2002), and it’s not very good. It’s a journalistic log of what happens “when a rabbi is replaced” in a popular, large and prominent congregation, which may or may not…
Really long version crossposted at Crystal Decadenz I predicted that about eleven o’clock was the latest I could show up Saturday in time for Kaddish, but of course I got in a little early, right before the Torah reading. I looked at my watch and decided next week I could come in half an hour…
Before I start, let me just say that I intended to write this post. Try buying tzitzit on the internet. Just try it. I learned something quite fascinating at about 4:30 AM last night. You may not have known this, but there are lots of different types of tzitzit. Not just techelet and non-techelet, oh…