Campus Recap

By jmerkin November 15, 2010

• Yesterday, Ga’reen, Carnegie Mellon and Pitt’s Jewish Environmental Group hosted a global telecast of “With Earth and Each Other” from the Arava Institute. (General Pittsburgh) • J Street U will be holding a demonstration against the Hebron Aid Flotilla’s annual fundraiser, at 6 PM tomorrow at Chelsea piers. The organization believes that this will…

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What Hits the NYTimes Homepage

By ckessler November 15, 2010

In my endless effort to procrastinate on Sunday afternoon–with the rain not helping, with my to-do list getting longer–I end up in a familar place: The New York Times homepage. Now, I could sing an ode or shout a rant to the Gray Lady, depending on the day, but I won’t go into that here. What…

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The Reading List: Did StandWithUs physically attack JVP?

By Ben Sales November 15, 2010

Several Jewish Voice for Peace accounts claim that members of the Israel advocacy group StandWithUs physically assaulted members of JVP with pepper spray at the South Berkeley Senior Center in the Bay Area. [JVP] In a less violent expression of anger, a Cornell professor erupts at a class — because of a yawn. [IvyGate] A…

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Strong in Sderot

By bspagat November 15, 2010

Bailey Spagat is participating in Career Israel, one of Masa Israel’s 180 programs.

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Buy Me an E-Reader, I’ll Figure Out the Halacha Later

By jagross November 14, 2010

The fact that I am shomer shabbat has been the major obstacle to my buying a kindle or nook. However, that all changed recently. My sister, Adina, is applying to a few business schools (Shout out!). Because she works in the corporate world, she is the go-to sibling to check cover letters and résumés. But…

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Is Israel a Rogue State?

By agood November 12, 2010

On October 21, the Cambridge Union Society held a debate on the motion that “Israel is a rogue state.”  According to the Balfour Street blog, “the proposition was defeated, but the event proceeded with an unusual twist.  It seems one of the members of the side in favor of the proposition, a student who was…

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Homosexuality in the Orthodox Community

By jmerkin November 12, 2010

The Orthodox community’s response to homosexuality is an increasingly talked about issue A new piece in the conversation is a new video that came out a few days ago.  What do you think?

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Anti-Semitism and the Gospel of Glenn

By bspringer November 11, 2010

Uproar abounds (again) as Glenn Beck says something sensational and reckless. Everybody and their bubbe are condemning Beck today, with the appropriate amount of moral indignation and outrage. Could it be true?! Is Glenn Beck an … (whispers) anti-Semite? Let’s be clear. Glenn Beck is not a journalist. Glenn Beck is not a professor or…

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The Reading List: Party like a Jew

By Ben Sales November 11, 2010

What should Jewish students who visit Brussels do? Apparently, they should celebrate Shabbat, tour the city and then get down.  [JPost] The kollel stipend protests continue… [JPost] While at Arizona State University, students protest IDF soldiers. [Mondoweiss] And at the University of South Carolina, the administration plans to revise the school’s discrimination policy, which could affect…

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Morals Over Politics

By bbarer November 11, 2010

After another busy few days at Pardes I have had time to review the news from the week that has past, and I am pleasantly surprised to note the tone that the prime minister of my country, Stephen Harper, took in his speech to the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (see Canada’s national paper,…

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What We Talk About When We Talk About the GA

By ckessler November 11, 2010

Clearly, I like to riff on the wisdom of Raymond Carver in my blog posts–but so what? I like repetition. And repetition is just one of the million things I want to talk about after having just gotten back from the General Assembly (of the Jewish Federations of North America) less than 24 hours ago….

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The Reading List: If you marry me, I’ll give you this silicone chip

By Ben Sales November 10, 2010

It may get the Guinness World Record for “smallest wedding proposal ever:” a computer chip plated in gold. [Forward Shmooze] The University of California cannot censor the anti-Semitic statements of Muslim groups, says the UC’s president. [JJ] The GA hosts a student journalism conference aimed at making said students Israel advocates. A telling quote: “I will…

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I’m gonna G-word on Shabbat

By David A.M. Wilensky November 10, 2010

In Spirituality House here at Drew University, all forms of the word graduate are considered bad words. We don’t talk about graduating. So the four seniors in the house–myself included–will G-word in May. At Drew, the only non-Jewish head of a school is the dean of the Methodist seminary on campus. Drew has a Jewish…

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A Divine Purpose

By akinman November 10, 2010

With every beginning comes an end. Sound like an introduction to Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities?” Well, not quite. On Oct. 27, I wrote a blog post about the possibility of science eventually disproving religion entirely. Yesterday, scientists came a step closer to proving one of the most highly controversial subjects: The Big…

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Is Michelle Obama the Newest Incarnation of a Shomer Negiah College Student?

By jmerkin November 9, 2010

Michelle Obama and the first family have a long history of handshake snafus. Most recently, the first lady shook hands with Tifatul Sembiring, a conservative Muslim and Indonesia’s information minister. One would assume that the shaking of hands between dignitaries is a no-brainer. “MObama, meet Mr. Sembiring.” “How do you do?”, as hands reach for…

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