Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
In the days following the results of the 2016 American presidential election, I actively searched for places to express my frustration as a young American socialist living abroad who was frankly devastated by the election results. I was overjoyed to find one Facebook group made up of Bernie Sanders supporters who wanted a place to…
Not even Molly Ringwald could save Netflix’s new teen romantic comedy. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, at a time when women’s rights are in and sexualizing women is out, it seems rather odd that Netflix chose to stream its latest teen flick “The Kissing Booth.” The film, starring Joey King, Joel Courtney and…
In the spring semester of my junior year, Jose* started hanging out with my friend group. The problem was he also hung out out with local gang members. Jose was from south of Worcester, Massachusetts. As a fellow Puerto Rican, he came to me for assistance when he was kicked out of his home, hoping…
If your family is anything like mine, you were raised on mandel bread and ridiculous family stories that felt like a “Seinfeld” reboot in the making. Growing up, I was a proud member of the Metro Detroit Jewish community. I went to shul regularly, sang in the congregational choir, taught at Sunday school, and attended…
This is the true story of a nice Jewish girl’s adventure at the National Cannabis Festival in Washington DC. I went on a quest to find intersections between Judaism and the healing aspects of cannabis. Although Cannabis Fest DC is a Mecca of marijuana education, culture, and music, my journey with marijuana’s medicinal qualities began…
According to a survey recently reported in the New York Times, 41 percent of millennials wrongly believe two million or fewer Jews died in the Holocaust and that 66 percent of millennials could not say what Auschwitz was. American Jews understandably reacted with extreme concern, shocked that so many of their fellow Americans – particularly…
“Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Phillistines, although it was nearer; for God said, “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.” (Exodus 13:17) In this verse, it seems like God did not trust…
Originally published in J. Weekly. My experiences in Israel have been some of the most formative of my life. I was bat mitzvahed on Masada, worked in the winery of a kibbutz and made lifelong friends in the country. And yet, my relationship with Israel is complicated, like that of many progressive American Jews. I…
I was arrested on Tuesday. My crime was participating in an act of civil disobedience outside the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas in solidarity with Palestinians being killed in Gaza. I could have had it worse. When Palestinians peacefully protest for their own rights, which they continually and bravely do, they…
According to the Oxford dictionary, ghosting is defined as the practice of ending a personal relationship with someone by suddenly and without explanation withdrawing from all communication. (Yes, ghosting is now an official term in the dictionary – one of our generation’s many accomplishments alongside avocado toast and sushi burritos.) As a frequent user of…
Originally published in the OC Hillel blog. Around 18,000 pro-Israel people in one room singing Hatikvah together, admiring Israeli innovation, hearing empowering stories about Israel, and giving endless standing ovations for countless speakers. It is easy to get carried away in this incredibly pro-Israel environment. This was my fifth consecutive year attending the AIPAC Policy…
Last summer, I had the opportunity, along with 30 other British Jewish students, to visit the Palestinian Village of Umm al Kheir. It was a hard day. We walked around the village in the heat, seeing with our own eyes what it’s like living in a village where someone’s home could be demolished. The Bedouin…
A green text bubble flashed across my phone. “You should write about the Farrakhan, Women’s March, anti-Semitism, intersectionality thing.” I turned my screen dark. I’d been avoiding this. I know. I’m a Jewish feminist writer. I drink my morning coffee out of an Emma Goldman mug and my phone auto-predicts the term “intersectional feminism.” I…
This week, the Trump administration proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), including a plan that half of recipients benefits come in the form of a harvest box in the place of food stamps. The box would contain foods preselected for their economic benefit to U.S. farmers and nutritional value. Sounds good, right?…
Statistics show that one in five women on American college campuses will be the victim of sexual assault. That’s why I work every day to educate my campus on Title IX issues, as a student at Pace University and the executive director of PaceUEndRape. Having watched my friends experience helplessness after assaults and debate if…