Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
I’ve spent this summer interning at two very different locations. The first is the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, where, among other duties, I compiled a dense history of my father’s family. My other job is at Archaeology Magazine, writing articles for their website. To my surprise, as I dug deeper (pardon the archaeological…
Recently, Eden Abergil, an Israeli and former IDF soldier (discharged last year) posted some “controversial†photos of herself and Palestinians on her facebook page. In an album labeled, “IDF- the most beautiful time of my life,†Abergil, in IDF uniform, is posing with Palestinian prisoners while they are blindfolded and handcuffed. The comment under the…
I am about to tell you a dramatic tale about the internecine conflicts of the Jewish philanthropic world. Here are your characters: First, there’s the Jewish Federation–in this case the Houston branch–an umbrella Jewish fundraising organization in Israel and abroad that donates to the full gamut of Jewish causes locally, nationally, internationally and–of course–in Israel….
I grew up big-C Conservative in a small-l liberal household and got confused when I read in the New York Times on Saturday, May 30, 1998 that Barry Goldwater, leader of the conservative movement, had died. Because I was 12, and because the New York Times capitalizes most words in its headlines, I didn’t pick…
Crossposted to The Reform Shuckle I received an email today asking about siddurim for Hillels. I’ve anonymous-ized the email here: “I’ve followed your blog for a while–love it, by the way!–and read your post about Mishkan T’filah for Travelers. Right now, I’m working for the Hillel at the [University of XYZ], and this is one…
The new Reform Judaism Magazine just arrived and it’s got a big section called the Insider’s Guide to College Life. Let’s parse some of it! The first section, a Q&A with Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro, is about the economics of financing college. Their first question is, “Why is college tuition so expensive–up to $50,000…
As a follow-up to our link yesterday to the story of the Israeli solider posing on Facebook with prisoners, Breaking the Silence points out that photos like that are not only commonplace, but far from the worst they’ve seen. [Haaretz] Here’s a novel idea: Israel wants the US to sell weapons Arabs, because everyone in…
It’s a funny world we live in when reviews get reviewed by the creators of that which they review. Which is not a criticism of anyone. It’s just an observation. Yesterday, New Voices published three reviews of the revised edition of “Jewish U,” a book for Jews about to enter college about what to expect from…
For those of you who don’t know, a shanda for the goyim–a traditional Yiddish term–occurs when a Jew does something that shames us in the eyes of the world. On that note, here are some shandas. Enjoy: Not surprisingly, our first shanda comes from Facebook via Tumblr. In an album titled “Army- The Most Beautiful…
According to an official statement from the Harvard Management Company, the school has not divested from Israel. The changes in investment filing were procedural and do not reflect any ideological move whatsoever. Furthermore, Harvard still has holdings in Israel. Here is the statement from HMC’s spokesman: The Management Company’s most recent SEC filing details changes…
Nice try, Berkeley and Evergreen! Harvard may have beaten you to the task of divesting from Israel. Israeli business news site Globe reported in the above-linked article that Harvard University may have quietly scored the latest major victory for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement aimed at getting large institutions–including universities–to withdraw all economic activity…
On more of a college note than a Jewish note, the votes are in! Forbes has their annual report on college rankings available. My beloved Drew University came in at #91. [Forbes] The ossified Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations has issued a call for everyone to stick out their tongues and say nanny…
Ramadan Mubarak! Ramadan, the Muslim month of sunrise-sundown fasting, began earlier this week. I am always intrigued by the ways that non-Muslims interact with such a profound and seemingly extreme period of self-denial. So for this week’s Sunday Brunch edition of The Reading List, we’re looking at how Jews–and other non-Muslim Americans (I’m suddenly wishing…
The Kiddush Club, a euphemism for a group of (traditionally) elderly men who sneak out of Orthodox Shabbos services during the haftorah to eat herring and drink schnapps, has been a tradition of American observant communities for decades. But even in Orthodoxy, writes Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, some traditions need to end. [The Jewish Week] In…