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An Inter-Everything Conversation About the Pew Survey

By Derek M. Kwait October 28, 2013

Part 1 in a 3 part series.   We might just be the last Jewish organization to respond to the big bad Pew Survey and we’re fine with that. It seems like every response so far is other people telling us what how we need to feel about it, whether we should be scared,  take…

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Open Hillel for an Open Hillel

By Gabriel T. Erbs October 23, 2013

The Midwest does not get enough credit for its foundational role in the American Jewish community. However, the first campus Hillel was established in 1923 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In an atmosphere where Jewish campus life was largely non-existent, the first Hillel marked a new age for American Jewish students who endured…

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“Real” Rape

By Meggie O'Dell October 14, 2013

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…

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Dual Loyalties: Balancing College Football and Jewish Tradition

By Eric Steitz October 2, 2013

A cool breeze rolls through campus and students everywhere know what that means. It’s that time of year again. No, it’s not the High Holy Day season that comes to mind, but football season. For Jewish college students, it’s the start of another potentially conflicted semester. As Jews celebrate Shabbat each weekend, campuses around the…

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What do Hindus and Jews Have in Common? A Lot

By Gabe Weinstein April 24, 2013

“Lead us from the unreal to the Real; Lead us from darkness to Light; Lead us from death to Immortality,” the audience repeated after the speaker. Though they were there to memorialize the Holocaust, their words did not come from the Torah, nor are they found in Christian Bible or the Quran. The prayer came…

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J Street U Students Meet for First-Ever Student Summit

By Gabriel T. Erbs April 2, 2013

This year’s four-day J Street U Student Summit in Washington, D.C. was followed shortly by both the Passover holiday and President Obama’s quick trip to the Holy Land – yet the organization’s student leadership made a pointed effort to avoid the low-hanging fruit of the Passover metaphor. However, many an interlocutor capitalized on the intersection…

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Among Indian Jews, a Muslim Finds Calligraphy and Kinship

By Gabe Weinstein February 24, 2013

The fenugreek sprinkled into the chicken coconut stew has no significance to the half-dozen diners scattered around the restaurant. But to Thoufeek Zakriya, an Indian Muslim, the plant is not just a staple in Indian cuisine — it is an artifact in the history of Cochin’s Jewry, the long tale of a small community in…

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A Mechitza Runs Through It: ‘Partnership Minyans’ Arrive on Campus

By Rebecca Borison February 4, 2013

Students trickle into a cozy room. Boys walk to the farther side, and girls sit in the closer side. A mechitza [partition] runs down the middle. Everyone opens up his or her siddur and prepares for Kabbalat Shabbat as a female student walks up to the bima [stage] and starts the Yedid Nefesh prayer. This…

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Photo Gallery: Along India’s ‘Hummus Trail,’ Businesses Brush up on Hebrew

By Gabe Weinstein January 31, 2013

There is still at least another hour before the moon blankets the surrounding rice fields and the gargantuan boulders here in the south Indian town of Hampi. But at Dudu Falafel it may as well be midnight. An Israeli tourist stands in the main window serenading passing strangers with the lyrics of an Israeli pop song as it blasts over the speakers. In the kitchen, Dudu Falafel owner Chandru Singh supervises his staff as they prepare falafel, shakshuka, and moussaka for Israeli backpackers and other foreign tourists. Dudu is one of several local restaurants offering Israeli comfort food – but it stands out from the rest, boasting that it imports its zaatar, paprika and even the instant coffee that many Israelis can’t live without.

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American Jewish University: Not Just American Jews

By Sara Gold January 17, 2013

From an outsider’s perspective, the undergraduate college at American Jewish University in Los Angeles may not seem diverse. After all, the college, while not a religious institution, is predominately Jewish. However, AJU students – much like American Jewry as a whole – are differentiated by homeland, customs, beliefs, and individual personality traits, despite being generally…

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Reconstructing Reconstructionism, Part Two

By John Propper December 17, 2012

This is the second in a two-part feature on recent changes in the Reconstructionist movement. For the first part, an interview with Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz, current president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, follow this link. The modern rabbi is vastly different from her traditional counterpart. In addition to the responsibilities of scholarship and leading meaningful liturgical…

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Jill Stein: Jew for President

By Brian Lasman December 13, 2012

Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party’s 2012 presidential nominee, was the one of the few Jewish candidates to ever run for President. Stein, a former physician, has been involved in politics since 1998 and has consistently been a loud voice in favor of social reform. Her 2012 campaign focused on issues including environmental sustainability and the increasing cost…

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Reconstructing Reconstructionism, Part One

By John Propper December 13, 2012

This is the first in a two-part feature on recent changes in the Reconstructionist movement. Stay tuned for part two, which will feature an interview with S. Tamar Kamionkowski, Ph.D., Vice President of Academic Affairs and Academic Dean at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, on the future of rabbinic studies. While some have described it as the…

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We Are The 5 Percent: Being Non-Jewish at American Jewish University

By Sara Gold November 20, 2012

Aside from Israel, there is no question that Jews are a minority in most of world. Whether you are the only person at your office taking time off for the High Holidays or the only house on the block not decorated with Christmas lights in December, most Jews have felt small at some point or…

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At This College, Being ‘Against Racism’ is Unacceptable

By Robyn Gottlieb September 13, 2012

It was shocking enough to read that a protest against Islamophobia was being organized at Portland State University. When I found out that a pro-Israel group had invited the speaker being protested, my jaw dropped.
I’m on a Middle East Studies listserv at school. During May, I received an e-mail inviting me to attend the protest of an appearance by ultra-right-wing Christian Broadcast Network pundit Erick Stakelbeck.
Stakelbeck’s blog and articles are overwhelmingly anti-Islamic. He once called Dearborn, Michigan “Dearbornistan” because of its large Muslim minority. It was also disturbing that Stakelbeck’s appearance was sponsored by a pro-Israel group, Christians United for Israel. CUFI is an evangelical Christian Zionist group; Stakelbeck holds similar views. Stakelbeck uses the Jewish people and our home, Israel, as a platform for his discriminatory, vitriolic position.

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