Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
On July 4th Toronto will hold its 30th annual Pride Parade. Approximately 500,000- 1 million people attend the event to celebrate the city’s proud gay community. But this year is not without its controversy; one that is forcing the entire city into debate. The other day Pride Toronto declared that “Queers against Israeli Apartheid” cannot…
As I strolled through the streets of Morningside Heights, the humid air nearly suffocating me, one thing I noticed was the emptiness. Empty of students, empty of professors, empty of Jews. Where were all my comrades in religion? Home for the summer, undoubtedly, but this presented a sharp contrast to Barnard and Columbia during the…
Didn’t see this one coming. Though it was never in any real doubt, we now have official evidence that Israel at one point possessed nuclear weapons, thanks to researcher and author Sasha Polakow-Suransky. Â And given the country’s continued ambiguity regarding its nuclear arsenal, its refusal to enter into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, its hawkish leadership,…
Crossposted from J Street U. Welcome to seventh grade Hebrew School class: the unit is Israel awareness. The teacher stands at the front of the room, and stresses the purity of Israel’s cause, the danger of our enemies – Nazis and Palestinians alike – and the need to support Israel unquestioningly. We are young, and…
Crossposted to The Reform Shuckle In September, I announced that I was officially a Reform Jew with no movement. I eventually worked on some definitions, to make this all a bit clearer. The impetus for this was the shortsighted decision of the Union for Reform Judaism to end all funding for college programming, killing Kesher. A new…
For the first time since Angela Merkel made that weird facial expression when George Bush tried to give her a massage, I can say: the Germans did something right. Recently, the German village of Oberammergau has revised its traditional “Passion Play,†a rite of passage that has gone on since 1633, to emphasize the historical…
Let me first thank Evan Krasner for responding to my critique of his original post.  I appreciate his choice to continue the conversation beyond a simple point-counterpoint, and I’ve learned a lot already. Evan clarifies something regarding the debate at his school that I actually didn’t understand, which I’m grateful for. The debate’s original format…
Drawing swastikas. Committing arson. Rioting en masse. Just another day in the Palestinian Territories, na’chon? Sadly, no. Â In fact, we can’t blame these latest developments on terrorists, at least not in the traditional Arab sense of the word. Â Nor can we pinpoint these heinous acts to Gaza or the West Bank or even East Jerusalem….
Monday, I got a call from the Jewish Agency. They said, “Good news, you’ve been approved to make Aliyah!” And so that was it. Perhaps it was a decision I’d already made, but there was my stamp of approval, my final confirmation. I remembered a converation I had had with someone just the other day. Upon…
Israel was founded on an idealistic community structure. From the seeds of socialism, Jews from predominantly Russia and Poland sought a re-creation of the Jewish identity as strong pioneers on kibbutzes. Kibbutzes were places where sabras were fostered and women found equality as their physical labor gained value. But after the 1973 War, the kibbutzes…
All Jews know the Temple Mount is sacred. Those who have been lucky enough to visit what remains in Jerusalem have prayed at the Wailing Wall, stuffed little messages into its crevices, and reveled in the holy atmosphere surrounding the ancient Jewish center of worship. For centuries, Jews have wanted to reclaim the Temple Mount,…
And we’re off! Â The proximity talks have officially begun. That’s right: the discussions-before-the-discussions are underway. Â The Palestinian Authority, after receiving assurances from the U.S. and Israel, has finally agreed to sit down to the American-brokered indirect negotiations. Â Special envoy George Mitchell’s shuttling back and forth between the two parties now, and all onlookers agree that….ummm……errrrr……..well,…