Slow and steady wins the state….

By David A.M. Wilensky January 19, 2011

I’m starting to wonder if the State of Palestine will just slowly fade into real existence. This week, the PLO mission in DC raised its flag for the first time and Russia reaffirmed a 1988 Soviet recognition of Palestine. The latter is a far more important step than the recent spate of South American recognitions…

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The Reading List: The Jewish Jordan comes to Cleveland

By Ben Sales January 18, 2011

Remember Tamir Goodman, the Orthodox high school basketball phenom? Now he’s in Beachwood, a Jewish suburb of Cleveland. [Cleveland Jewish News] Are you liberal? Do you love Israel? Things are looking up! [Ha’aretz A Special Place in Hell] Jews love to save money, so here’s a list of places where you can get discounts with your student…

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Conquering Masada

By jcohen January 18, 2011

At five o’clock in the morning arose crabby, sleep-deprived teenagers. Hair dream-tousled and expressions vacant, the group made its way to the table with instant coffee and little slices of cake. Dressed to hike, but clearly not ready to, they slumped in the plastic chairs at the pre-hike rendezvous point, grasping at  last moments of…

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All the Goyim Say…

By mmoncaster January 17, 2011

…Pretty fly for a Rabbi: In keeping with the Arts and Culture theme of my recent posts, I decided to peruse through the various fan-made videos on Youtube of this lyric. (And yes, I sincerely believe that outlandish Youtube videos do count as culture, especially in the blogosphere.) So without further ado, here are my…

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Jewish Identity, Then and Now

By Carly Silver January 14, 2011

I recently came across  Pilate’s Wife, a novel by Antoinette May about the wife of Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea who allegedly prosecuted Jesus. As a religion major fascinated by ancient history, I started researching this figure and what I found made me wonder about the Judaism of today vs. the days of yore,…

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Drunk-Sitting

By jcohen January 11, 2011

I know that this isn’t typical blog style, submitting poetry where a story ought to be, but after a long weekend of “drunk-sitting,” I feel that this poem best encompasses my experience. Let the record show that I do not disapprove of social drinking. However, it was unsettling to watch some of the brightest young minds…

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A Jewish Gem in the Old South

By mmoncaster January 10, 2011

When I took a trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina, to visit my grandma, I hardly expected to garner any blog material. But as luck would have it, I found some interesting subject matter about 45 minutes south of Hilton Head: Savannah sits on the South Carolina-Georgia border, a charming town that is full of…

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Really Real

By Carly Silver January 7, 2011

Jews and hip-hop have a long history. Jews, comedy, and hip-hop, however, are a newer trio on the global stage. Eric and Jeff Rosenthal, also known as It’s the Real, are pioneering the art. Their comedy plays mainly to hip-hop fans — like making fun of long-lost Houston rapper Mike Jones — but the Rosenthals…

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What Your Campus Hillel Is Missing

By jmerkin January 6, 2011

A calendar featuring the hunkiest Jewish guys on your campus! Cornell’s Hillel has published a calendar of the “Nice Jewish Greek Men of Cornell” for 2011. Maybe this will be the catalyst that changes Hillels’ reputation nationwide from serving as a breeding ground for nerdy Jewish boys to becoming at least a GPS for where…

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Bonded by Faith

By akinman January 5, 2011

What happens when you put a student from Yale, a snowboard instructor from Colorado and a journalist together in the same room? It sounds like the beginning to a joke. Instead, it’s the beginning to a night to remember. In December, I wrote about a Jew Crew reunion I was putting together with my friends…

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The Kotel

By jcohen January 4, 2011

In Judaism, when we pray, we always turn our bodies so that we face Jerusalem. The reason for this is that within the walls of her old city resides The Kotel. The Kotel, more commonly known as the Western or Wailing Wall, is the last remaining wall of the destroyed temple in Jerusalem. Its oldest…

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Sixteenth Century Nose Job? Any Takers?

By David A.M. Wilensky January 4, 2011

God bless io9, my favorite sci-fi blog. In addition to sci-fi, the blog hosts regular features &#8212 like Mad Science &#8212 that focus on real life things… such as 16th century nose jobs. The post notes that it was multi-week process that involved grafting your whole arm onto your face and so forth. Apparently, it…

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Two Israeli Films Show Hardships of War

By mmoncaster January 3, 2011

Israeli cinema has grown in stature on the international stage in recent years. Israeli-made films received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Over winter break, I watched two of these films, which both dealt with a challenging subject: war. If you are looking for an action-packed…

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A Paperback That Can Stop Bullets?

By David A.M. Wilensky January 3, 2011

I wrote last week about how much I didn’t like the new “masterpiece” of Jewish fiction, “Witz.” As it turns out, the book is so ridiculously long that it can stop bullets (via The Scroll):

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The Reading List: Take that, Haredim.

By Ben Sales December 30, 2010

The Masorti (Conservative) movement in Israel stands up for its values and goes on the offensive against government subsidies for yeshiva students. [Jewschool] Stream the Western Wall live on your iPhone! [WaPo] Cholent is so tasty. [Forward Jew and the Carrot] The pros and cons of finishing college a semester early. [Her Campus] The Chinese…

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