Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
New Voices has just confirmed that the planned J Street U Birthright trip has been canceled. On Jan. 25, J Street U, the campus arm of J Street — the pro-Israel, pro-peace lobby in Washington, announced that it would be leading a Birthright trip called “Explore Israel: Progressive Zionism and Social Justice” this summer. The…
Shyne received some much deserved love from the New York Times a while back. And at this point, I would guess that virtually everyone knows Matisyahu. But not everyone knows of Y-Love. A convert to Orthodox Judaism, Y-Love first gained an interest in the faith after seeing a commercial for a Jewish festival on television…
Are you a senior in college? Are you looking for a Jewish job? If so, we want to hear about you! New Voices is partnering with the Jewish Daily Forward to report on Jewish students looking for work in the Jewish world. If you or a college student you know wants a job with a…
What if Helen of Troy was Jewish? Is it possible that Greek myth’s most legendary beauty was an MOT? That proposition is a bit far-fetched, but ancient sources record that the Spartans and Jews may have been related. Is that tale even true, though, or is it a product of later political impositions? According to…
Yesterday, we published a story about the final semester of Yiddish classes at the University of Maryland, College Park, and about the general decline of Jewish communal interest in academic study of Yiddish. We have just confirmed with Director Hayim Lapin, however, that the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies there recently secured $120,000 in funding…
Today is International Holocaust day, but I wonder what is the point of such a day? I suppose it’s appropriate to have a set date for the world to remember the Holocaust. Instituted by the UN in 2007, its purpose was to remember “the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of one third of the…
No. 114 W.26th St. is a ladies [sic.] boarding house, kept by Mrs. Moultrie. It has five lady boarders. The above quote is an excerpt from “A Gentleman’s Directory,” which the New York Times calls “A Vest Pocket Guide to Brothels in 19th-Century New York for Gentlemen on the Go.” The book purports to “point…
Earlier this week, Yossi Chajes, author and senior lecturer in the Department of Jewish History at the University of Haifa, was asked to lead a mini series at the University of Florida’s Hillel called “The Kabbalah Unveiled: A Mini Course on Jewish Mysticism.” Not your typical Hillel crowd, the audience was mostly comprised of older…
Here’s yet another sign that the self-proclaimed “pro-Israel, pro-peace” group — despite claims that it’s a terrorist-funded, anti-Israel, Hamas-loving shill — might actually be pro-Israel: It’s sponsoring a Birthright trip. OMFG!!!! We’ll post some thoughtful analysis of this announcement soon, but in the meantime here’s an excerpt from the press release and some quick thoughts…
Over the last two weeks Knox has become an incubator for what we jokingly call “The Knox Plague.” Everywhere you turn, noses are red and stares are vacant — the indicators of a supremely nasty cold. Despite my constant consumption of vitamin C, I joined the ranks of wheezing classmates, making for a particularly nasty…
In a literal sense, no. Karl Marx, philosopher and socialist-extraordinaire, most likely refuted Jewish eschatology — if he was even aware of it at all. In his public writings, Marx seemed more concerned about the role of Jewish people in the capitalist system than with their religious doctrine. And it is these writings that have…
For some of you, this news may be a bit stale, but, to me, it’s fresh and I’m ready to get to the core of this mystery. When I found out that CNN reporter Rick Sanchez got fired for saying Stewart was a “bigot” and Jews ran the media, I naturally wanted to spring to…
Or maybe that’s overstating things a little. However, in the last three months, there has been multiple coverage of frum attire catching on: Today in Jewcy, Merisa Fink writes about Urban Outfitters (the once hipster now mainstream clothing company) selling tichels, headscarf style worn by many married frum Jewish women, especially popular in Israel. The…
JTA posted an 88-word article about the first gay Jewish wedding in the Netherlands. We know when and where it took place. We know that the Council of Rabbis of the Dutch Union of Progressive Synagogues authorized the ceremony. We know that gay marriage was legalized in the Netherlands in 2001. We do not know…
At Limmud NY every year, there are some panels that really just serve as an excuse for some smart people to talk to each other, rendering the supposed topic of the panel irrelevant. The “‘Just’ Giving” panel was not one of those. It was a panel with some smart, interesting people, but the topic was stayed…