Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
When my roommate at USC, a film student with a pink streak in her hair, edited a documentary on rape, I remember the ambivalence I felt. This issue, I thought, was a closed book: a mandatory assembly on rape and consent, massive turnout for Take Back the Night demonstrations, “yes means yes and no means…
On one of the hottest days of the year in San Francisco, a whirlpool of polyester hijabs, Gucci sunglasses, and strollers surround the Dewey monument pillar in Union Square. A stage in the shade of Saks Fifth Avenue is draped with a vermilion banner reading, “19th Annual Arab Cultural Festival.” Every October since 1995, the…
Jewtopia features Tom Arnold as a gynecologist. That could be the review right there; any further commentary seems superfluous. Yet I will go on because in truth, I have a lot more to say, or at least vent, about this movie. Its central plot concerns the unlikely friendship between Christian O’Connell (Ivan Sergei) and Adam…
WASHINGTON – When Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn told his former congregants that he was opening a medicinal marijuana dispensary, they were nothing but supportive. “The cannabis plant was created by God on the second day of creation when God created all the other plants, and touching this one isn’t forbidden,” Jeff said in a June interview….
Across from Red Sea tobacconist and flanked by a dive bar, parking lot, and storage unit is Urban Adamah, a one and a quarter acre Jewish urban farm in the heart of Berkeley, California. Rows of collard greens, chard, onions, beets, and peas radiate from a newly-built yurt and cob oven. Inside the farm, the…
As I sat down to review Ruth Feldman’s “Blue Thread,” I struggled to make sense of how to describe the novel in a way that wouldn’t, by default, turn away large segments of the reading public. With my fiancee, also a voracious reader, I tossed out ideas for pitching this novel without falling into the…
It’s the recent opening of Cinderella on Broadway, and excited crowds of kids and adults pour in to be taken in by the magic. The lure of witnessing a fairy tale live and breathing, and reliving those magical moments from childhood in the process, is enough to draw in most audiences. Like others who grew…
It has been pointed out that director Steven Spielberg’s mainstream success has inspired a turn toward broad, “public interest” works. For Spielberg, pop-history and film preservation have taken precedent over purely artistic endeavors. If one were to mark this shift in Spielberg’s career, it likely started with the Holocaust drama “Schindler’s List,” for which the…
Ever read the Bible cover to cover? Think it’s a bit strange so much of our society is built by a book most people never read in its entirety? Listen to one little podcast, and your relationship to this all-pervasive text may change radically. Enter OMGWTFBIBLE. Each month on this monthly podcast, a guest reads…
From the mound of peeling matzah box empties, it looked like a massive Passover seder was brewing. Instead, Ambacht Brewery co-owner Tom Kramer was tossing the discarded boxes to the brewery floor after adding crushed up matzoh to a bubbling mash of soon-to-be Matzobraü Beer. Matzobraü beer is the after-Passover brew of a two-room brewhouse…
I was playing tennis with a friend two summers ago when the subject of food came up. “I don’t cook at all, “ she laughed, as she served the ball, “because I’m an independent woman. Unless you count eggs? I think I can scramble eggs.” This comment has stayed in the back of my mind…
There’s a bit of a dilemma brewing in my brain. Let me unpack it for you. I’m an avid reader: a non-fiction guy. Philosophy, pragmatic thought and ethics. Religion, mysticism, law and queer Torah studies. Politics and liberal theory. History (the American Civil War). Economics, finance and banking. On average, I read anywhere from 25…
The day-end sea of black-and-white flooding out of Jerusalem’s yeshivas is a lesson in the pleasure of monochrome. At what seems like the same time every afternoon, thousands of frocked and bearded men turn Strauss Street into a conveyor belt of bobbing Borsalino hats. It’s amazing to watch during any day of the year. The…
You may not be familiar with Israel’s new hit “Kathmandu.” If not, check out this feature story by our own Gabe Weinstein to learn more. Though it may be a bit over dramatized, the show’s central premise is definitely true: there are few places in the world that don’t have a Chabad presence. If one of…
Every Friday night thousands of backpackers, suburbanites and college students stream into Chabad Houses from Columbus to Cambodia. But before Chabad emissaries can clank their glasses of Johnnie Walker to a “gut Shabbos,” they have to learn where to find kosher meat at the local Kroger, or master the art of bartering for vegetables at…