Article Archive

When Hurricane Irene blew through the Eastern Seaboard last month, the coordinators of Wesleyan University’s annual pre-orientation Jewish camping trip were faced with dropping enrollment. They scrambled to find a new location after the campsite they planned to hold the program at closed ahead of the storm.
The camping trip, a Wesleyan tradition over the past five years that is entirely organized by students involved with the Jewish community–though not all of them are Jewish–has established itself as an integral part of the Jewish community’s outreach to incoming freshmen and a way of strengthening existing ties. So when Irene threatened its continuation, its leaders fought for its survival.

Judah Cohen felt like he was living in a different world when he heard the news Sept. 11, 2001. Then teaching at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City, he said his scare began the moment he turned on the TV, and continued throughout the next couple of weeks as he saw missing persons’ pictures plastered everywhere on the streets of Manhattan.

If you’re in college today, you were as young as 8, as old as 12. The events of September 11, 2001 hover just at the edge of your memory, though growing up in post-9/11 America is an inescapable fact of life. Here, we present seven brief essays, the personal memories of New Voices contributors about that day.
–David A.M. Wilensky, New Voices Editor

Sometimes, it’s for free. Other times, it’s for college credit. On rare occasions, for pay. Some call it slave labor, while others call it a lucky break.
It’s no question that internships are becoming an easier catch for college graduates than entry-level positions. On occasion, the smooth transition from internship to entry’level job becomes a reality. For others, each internship is a stepping-stone to hopefully landing a job. But since employers have seen the rising trend of people wanting to work even for free to gain experience, a new question has been raised: Are businesses taking advantage of their interns?

When the opinion editor of Israel’s Maariv newspaper, Ben-Dror Yemini, visited the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this year, he gave a lecture tour stretching from the campus of Stanford University to the network of Bay Area JCCs. He talked about the things he knows: Israel, the media and multiculturalism.
“The main problem that I recognize here is ignorance,” Yemini said from across a coffee table in his hotel in downtown San Francisco. He wore a crisp black suit and round, wire-framed glasses. “They don’t hate Israel or love Israel. They just don’t know.”

In this installment, Carly Silver returns to Hinduism, visiting a Hindu temple under construction in Flushing.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder and president of J Street–the self-proclaimed “Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace” lobby–has faced a lot of flak since his organization arrived on the scene three years ago. Facing controversies from the left and right, on and off of Capitol Hill, J Street–and Ben-Ami–have at times struggled to get their message across.
“A New Voice for Israel,” Ben-Ami’s first book hits the shelves tomorrow. The book describes Ben-Ami’s personal and professional journey to the helm of J Street, the issues Israel faces and why he thinks the American Jewish conversation on Israel needs to change. Ben Sales spoke with Ben-Ami about the book. Here are some of the lobbyist’s thoughts on students’ place in J Street, Jewish organizational dynamics and that other Israel lobby–AIPAC.

This story may sound familiar: On a free summer trip to Israel, a group of college students visited the Western Wall, drank in Tel Aviv, met with Israeli soldiers and had an encounter with a group of Bedouin in the Negev. But this story has a twist: This trip was not funded or organized by Birthright–this trip was provided by J Street U, the college arm of J Street, a lobby that describes itself as, “The political home of pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans.”
J Street U’s first summer Israel trip ran from June 13-23, taking its 14 participants to many of the standard stops for a Birthright trip, but also gave participants a look at a side of Israel that Birthright trips are barred from seeing.

Summer means less for you to read at New Voices. But it also means more for you to write. Or edit. Or take pictures of. Or blog about. Or…

Jaclyn Skurie spent her spring break in Cuba with a group from the Northwestern University Hillel. The Jews she met there lead a hard but fulfilling life–living in dilapidated houses but praying in an ornate synagogue. Welcome to Havana.

Brian Lasman’s problems had only begun when he lost vision in his right eye during a year of study in Israel. What followed was a two-week stay at a hospital, where he got treated, got confidence and learned how Israel really works.

With Israel Apartheid Week in full swing at campuses nationwide, here’s what five students from right to left have to say about the programs and controversy at Berkeley–the birthplace of Students for Justice in Palestine.

500 college students–one quarter of the total attendees–descended on Washington at the end of February for J Street’s national conference. The size of the student delegation displayed the growth of J Street U during the past year, and gave students a central role in the conference.

Becca Strober has considered herself Jewish for her entire life. Then she converted to Judaism. Then she converted again. Now she might convert for a third time.

They host shabbat dinners, say blessings over the wine and bread and talk about the Torah portion. Then they praise Jesus. Carly Silver takes an inside look at the world of Jews for Jesus at Brooklyn College.