The Reading List: Michigan State Goes Kosher

By Ben Sales October 25, 2010

There’s a large Middle Eastern population in Michigan, but there’s never been a kosher Middle Eastern restaurant &#8212 until now. Woody’s Oasis, an eatery near Michigan State University, is getting the hekhsher, according to an email from Kosher Michigan. In other campus news, the Israeli team wins the debate over whether Israel is a “rogue…

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IDF Tells Soldiers Not to Post Embarrassing Photos on Facebook, Thanks Mom

By jagross October 25, 2010

I am paranoid. The more I understand about law, the government, advertisers and the Internet the more freaked out I become. I believe that anything sent via text, posted on the Web or said on a cell phone conversation is being recorded by someone. A corporation, the government, the police, I don’t know who but…

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Bagels Uncovered

By Carly Silver October 22, 2010

New York City has a lot to recommend it: shopping, people, sites. But one of the factors that I take for granted is the Jewish baking. Sally Minier was the food manager for Lehman Brothers before the financial collapse. Now, she runs the bakery Sweetsally’s. Using family recipes and cooking equipment inherited from her grandmother,…

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A Reasoned Religion

By yschwartz October 22, 2010

Looking at the picture of Hermann Cohen on the cover of his opus Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism, it is a bit difficult to believe that he was a rock star. Not in the sense that he wrote brave contemporary music that spoke to the minds of the people, garnering an…

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The Reading List: The beginning of the end for Netanyahu’s government?

By Ben Sales October 22, 2010

The coalition can’t hold, says Reven Rivlin and other Israeli political figures. The new question: how long until the next elections? [+972] Meanwhile, as that coalition refuses to renew the settlement freeze, Jewish building accelerates in the West Bank. [NYT] And on the peacenik side, Roger Cohen lists ten keys to the peace process that…

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Reclaiming Zionism

By hdilman October 21, 2010

Last night, on the eve of the 15th anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin’s murder, more than 1000 people gathered at Kikar Zion, in the heart of Jerusalem. The rally wasn’t a Rabin memorial but its date is significant and even metaphorical.  While Rabin’s legacy looms larger than any of his actions- the moral from it is…

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Does Max Blumenthal know who he’s talking to?

By Ben Sales October 21, 2010

Anyone who wants to make an intelligent contribution to the discourse on the proposed Israeli loyalty oath should know that drunk 18-year old Americans are not a representative sample of Israeli or Jewish society. Jenny Merkin knows that. I’m pretty sure Brandon Springer knows that too. I’m not sure that Max Blumenthal knows that. In…

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Land, Birthrights, and Ownership

By bbarer October 21, 2010

My post-secondary education has consisted of a couple years of this and that, followed by two years of almost exclusive (Western analytic) philosophy. Just speaking for myself, I have learned to ask pertinent questions, but articulating answers of a similar quality has not been part of my education. This is because philosophy teaches you how…

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The Reading List: Gilad Shalit for Marwan Barghouti?

By Ben Sales October 21, 2010

The rumors may be true: The iconic Israeli and Palestinian prisoners may be exchanged for each other. [Forward- JJ Goldberg] Bill Clinton wants Shalit free — and so does the American Task Force on Palestine. [JTA] Back in America, Jews love immigrants, right? Not so fast. [JW] Apparently Harvard is back to rejecting Jews… kind…

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Israel, the Oath and the New Jewish Youth

By bspringer October 21, 2010

Yesterday, Jenny Merkin posted Max Blumenthal’s recent video of mostly young Jewish internationals in Jerusalem swearing allegiance to the State of Israel via a loyalty oath crafted by Blumenthal in the spirit of the Führereid, you know that oath the Nazi Wehrmacht swore to ze Führer. Astonishingly, most of Blumenthal’s subjects proudly swore the oath…

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Loyalty Oath Controversy, cont’d.

By jmerkin October 20, 2010

I think that what Mr. Blumenthal does here is pretty disingenuous and purposefully damning. What do you think? Check it out here: For more fun with American youth in Jerusalem and Israeli politics, click here.

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The Reading List: Pigskin, but No Pigs

By Ben Sales October 20, 2010

Every Jewish high school that I’ve heard of has a basketball team, but only a few have football teams. Friday night lights? Think again. [JTA] Here’s a novel approach to fighting illegal prostitution: what would happen if the women were sold in a storefront? A mall in Tel Aviv tries it out. [JPost] As Israel…

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Building the Bridge

By akinman October 20, 2010

Like the bell on Wall Street blaring off to the start of a chaotic day, my e-mail inbox hits the ground running at the sound of my alarm. Aside from the numerous Facebook notifications about who-said-what-to-who, I make sure to open UF Hillel’s weekly newsletter. Communication in the 21 Century. Filled with the inside scoop…

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‘What Are You Doing…’ Stuff It!

By David A.M. Wilensky October 19, 2010

That was the headline on my column, “On The Path,” a couple of weeks ago. OTP appears every Friday in our weekly Acorn, the student newspaper of Drew University, of which I’m a former editor in chief. That week, I wrote about the horrid question people never stop asking college seniors. It’s not really about anything…

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God’s voice

By jcohen October 19, 2010

Shemah Yisrael Adonai Elohanu, Adonai Echad. Even when I was little, these words were more than a string of syllables; they were sacred and special.  I would close my eyes whenever they were uttered and listen carefully for the deep, booming voice of God. (Being a Lion King fanatic, I imagined that God had a…

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