Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
The Global Citizen is a joint project of New Voices and the American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Throughout the year, a group of former AJWS volunteers will offer their take on global justice, Judaism and international development. Opinions expressed by Global Citizen bloggers do not necessarily represent AJWS. All too often, the victim and the…
Part of my volunteering in Israel consists of talking with junior high students. The idea is that when the students are talking to someone who exclusively talks English, unlike their teachers, they will improve their communication skills. The idea of sitting with students for an hour at a time, just talking, at first seemed like an…
This is the beginning of a creative writing piece inspired by an experience that New York City’s finest in religion offered. A Thousand Leagues from Hillel Or, A Moderately Fictional Version of How I Began a Search for the Hare Krishna, Avoided a Lecture on Duck Gender Rights, and Ended Up at Whole Foods “‘Hallelujah!’…
There is no Two-State Solution. The IDF physically forced my grandparents from their home and chased them down the street, said Anwar, an Israeli-Arab. A group of us, mostly Americans, were sitting in a friend’s dorm alongside a full moon when the topic came up. She was recounting the story about the Nakba, cataclysm in…
I hear this sentence a lot. It is in response to where I live in Israel. It is generally accompanied by a bewildered, or even a smug face. Most Israelis, including those from Modi’in have no clue that there is an 8-acre farm, along the outskirts of their town. It is not surprising. Modi’in has…
The first time I heard about Im Tirtzu I was in a kosher Florida pizzeria that was selling the organization’s shirts in exchange of a substantial donation. I asked the cashier what the group was all about. “Tzionut,” she said. Zionism. Bu what kind of Zionism? She didn’t give any specifics. Last week, I found…
J.D. Salinger, the renowned American author, passed away January 27, 2010. Like many other individuals, I am a big fan of A Catcher in the Rye, his most famous work. Salinger is a literary figure recognized for the sense of timelessness in his writing. Since I admire him so much as an author, upon seeing…
The Global Citizen is a joint project of New Voices and the American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Throughout the year, a group of former AJWS volunteers will offer their take on global justice, Judaism and international development. Opinions expressed by Global Citizen bloggers do not necessarily represent AJWS. Throughout the world, friends, a revolution is…
We don’t usually plug for events on the NV blog, but students in New York with progressive views on Israel should check out the launch of J Street’s local branch in NYC at the kickoff event this Thursday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. on 27th and 5th. The event will include a webcast of a…
Welcome everyone to my sparkly new MASA blog. To give you a better idea of where all this is coming from, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sam Melamed, I’m 22 years old, and I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison last May, having studied history and philosophy. Besides studying abroad in Cape…
A few weeks ago, I wrote about community, specifically the Jewish one amongst the colleges and universities in Pittsburgh. While the University of Pittsburgh’s community is flourishing (at least, that’s how it appears on the outside), the sense of community at Carnegie Mellon University is waning. As I talk to friends, both Jewish and goyim,…
Wednesday January 27th, 2010, marked the 65th year since the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet forces. Each year, leaders from around the world make their way to Germany in order to commemorate the day. This year, photo ops showed Bibi in Auschwitz and Shimon Peres giving a speech in the German parliament. People all over…
Challah seems to be the first food that runs out at the Shabbat dinners at Franklin & Marshall’s Hillel. While the rest of the meal is catered, the challah is handmade by students and faculty earlier in the day. Each table gets one plain challah and one sprinkled challah, both of which are braided. It…
I wish I lived in Idaho. It’s not often that I say that. I don’t think I ever have before. Not that there’s anything wrong with Idaho, but I’ve never been there and, thankfully, like where I live. But Boise now has something that New York City desperately needs: Rabbi Pickle. For those of you…
She was Natalie Portman before Natalie Portman was Natalie Portman, Isla Fisher before Isla Fisher was Jewish and definitely before she married Borat. She was the Jewish “it” girl of the mid-to-late ’90s, the time of my pubescence. She was the Semitic goddess, Alicia Silverstone. You know how a lot of guys secretly love “Mean…