Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
If you’re not familiar with city nicknames, the title of this post may come as a bit of a surprise. But really, it’s just a fancy way of saying that we are going to the General Assembly (GA) in New Orleans, Louisiana. By “we”, I mean a contingent of 40 people from Pittsburgh’s Hillel, as…
The headline says it all: “Council of Jews welcomes Hitler exhibition” [Deutsche Welle] Speaking of anti-Semites, the Riverdale bombers are going to prison. [CNN] Speaking of New York Jews, here’s what GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino taught us about the ultra-Orthodox and elections. [Yeshiva World News] What’s driving the Palestinian economy? The kippah industry. [BBC] Should the…
Always behind the rest of the world, Israeli universities are finally in session. Everyone is back to school, back to “normal” college life. Everyone, it feels like, except me. When I would picture myself finishing college, I would imagine the great sense of accomplishment I would feel as my professor handed me my diploma at…
It was a festive weekend for Vancouver Hillel as the University of British Columbia hosted its Inaugural Grand Opening of the newly built Diamond Foundation Centre for Jewish Campus Life. It was a loaded all-day affair, officially starting at 10 in the morning and ending at 5 in the evening. Unfortunately, due to a high…
Crossposted to Jewschool and The Reform Shuckle. I have a friend, X. X college graduate. X wants to do a variety of Jewish learning and then go to a rabbinical school. X also has what basically amounts to no money. X also works for a Jewish non-profit that has a wealthy executive director. We were…
After the exposing of the Orthodox rabbi who asked the New Jersey Jewish Standard not to print any more same-sex wedding announcements, the paper is trying again to take the pulse of community religious leaders on the issue. [North Jersey] Meanwhile, biased fearmongering reigns at Boston University. [Jewish Exponent] Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef says that goyim…
Bailey Spagat is participating in Career Israel, one of Masa Israel‘s 180 programs.
Should I ever decide to make Vatican City my home (I covet their archives for my research), I understand that I may have to take an oath to a Catholic country. If I were allowed to live and work in Saudi Arabia, I might have to take an oath to an Islamic state. Neither of…
I feel lost in Ashkenazic culture. Outside of it, maybe? I’m not the only person who feels that way, I know I’m not—anyone who didn’t grow up with it, come from it, it’s a foreign land. Ashkenazic culture in the United States is like a Jewish default setting. You grow up outside the prescribed norm,…
I never knew before blogging for New Voices just how diverse the opinions expressed in the magazine were. Just take yesterday’s update email, entitled “Fight the Loyalty Oath,” in which no less than three different views by three different authors were expressed on a controversial bit of Israeli legislation. The opinions were: 1) The proposed…
Our fear-mongering friends at the Anti-Defamation League gave us two unfortunate treats yesterday. First, they gave an award and a platform to Rupert Murdoch, the man who is trying to transform the world of honest journalism into a world of demagoguery, pandering, sensationalism, fluff and–sometimes–lies. [ADL] Then they came out with a list of the…
As I said in the post I wrote about a half-hour ago, I support the right of American Jews to critique and comment on events in Israel. I do not, however, support exaggerated, disrespectful and trivializing statements like this one, which appeared in a recent column by Julie Weiner in the Jewish Week: With the…
I plan to move to Israel sometime during the next two years because I’m tired of doing what I’m about to do: criticize Israeli policy while sitting in America. I support the right of every Jew to critique and analyze the actions of the Jewish state–regardless of where they live, but I feel the need…
Browsing New Voices today, I see that I am not the only one that is seriously concerned by the legislation that passed the Knesset on Sunday. Since BrandonSpringer delved into the issue already (and it’s worth a read), I will skirt the politics as much as I can, and will instead focus on a more…