Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
I listen to NPR’s Planet Money podcast to understand basic news about the economy because it puts things simply. And because I don’t know my head from my ass when it comes to economics. But sometimes they take hard economics and deploy it as a way of looking at something in the news in a…
Our own Gabe Schivone, who wrote the interview series Other Voices last semester, has moved on to his very own Huffington Post column. His first piece is up: Any free society–from Margaret Thatcher’s Apartheid-era Britain to Obama’s currently anti-immigrant America–cannot expect to adequately deal with the sort of violence that prompted the Tucson shootings while refusing to…
In September, an Orthodox student at Barnard claimed that a faculty advisor, Professor Rachel McDermott, steered her away from a class taught by an allegedly anti-Israel professor. As a result, the Institute for Jewish & Community Research filed a complaint with the New York Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. The Forward reported last week that the…
We’re looking for students to contribute regularly to our blog this semester and beyond! If you’re interested, please email me, New Voices Web Editor Harpo Jaeger, at harpo@newvoices.org, with the following material: Your name Your school Your graduation year A sample of your previous writing An example of the type of content you’d like to write for…
Yep. You heard correctly. Former Pennsylvania Senator and current presidential candidate Rick Santorum was a brother in Tau Epsilon Phi, a historically Jewish fraternity. Before Santorum graduated in 1980, he joined the Epsilon Phi chapter of TEP at Pennsylvania State. The chapter is now dormant. Don’t worry, the super-Catholic candidate for the White House didn’t compromise his…
Republican contenders for the White House faced off not once, but twice, in New Hampshire this weekend in an effort to sway voters, a last ditch plea before tomorrow’s primary. Ssounds like a reality series gone awry. Don’t worry, it was definitely not nearly as exciting as ABC’s “Wipeout,” which preceded Saturday night’s debate. Six remaining candidates…
Republicans wrapped up the Iowa caucuses last night (after this commute-weary journalist fell asleep watching CNN) and have chosen former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney as their champion of conservatism … by eight votes. Yes. Eight. Shmoneh. Ocho. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was one Bachmann-sized family away from winning in Iowa. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama…
A few nights ago I took a cab from Rothchild Boulevard in downtown Tel Aviv back to my apartment in Jaffa. It was 1 a.m. – early by Tel Aviv standards – and I was coming from my favorite little gay bar. My friend found a cab back to his place, and I found a…
Recently, I took part in the World LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) Youth Leaders Summit in Tel Aviv. Wahoo! Yes, my friends, the very same controversial and not-so-controversial summit you just may have read about on the news and/or Facebook. The event was hosted by IGY (Israel Gay Youth). There were over forty participants…
While reporting on the Union for Reform Judaism Biennial near Washington, D.C. a while back, I had the opportunity to sit down with Wayne Firestone, the president of the Hillel Foundation. After giving a speech to a crowded ballroom filled with 5,000+ people (embedded above), Firestone and I chatted about the future of Hillel and…
Evelyn Handler, who served as the fifth president of Brandeis University, was killed Dec. 23 when she was struck by a car while crossing the street in Bedford, N.H. Handler served as president from 1983 to 1991 as the first and only women to ever hold the position. She was 78 years old. As a…
Matisyahu’s Twitter bomb is making the rounds. He shaved. He announced it with a photo and one of the most vaguely expressed personal statements he has ever issued. The argument now is over whether or not he dropped being a Hasid or being religious all together. The tweet is ambiguous – probably deliberately so. The…
New Voices (and the YU Beacon) has been included in a “Most Viral Student Media of 2011” list by Dan Reimold, official curator of all things important in the college media world. Any college journalist who isn’t following Reimold is doing it wrong. His blog, College Media Matters covers the most innovative corners of the…
With the landmark New York marriage equality legislation of 2011 several million Jews now live within a state that allows same-sex marriages – and the Conservative Movement has noticed. Only five years ago the Committee on Jewish Laws and Standards (CJLS) – the central authority on halakhah (Jewish law) for the Rabbinical Assembly – issued…