Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Last week I read an article in the Jerusalem Post. The article was an opinion piece, and the writer was of the opinion that any attempts to promote aliyah among US Jews were futile, useless and a waste of time and money. There will be no mass aliyah from the US and Canada like there…
I love forgetting Christmas. In America, this was impossible. Come Thanksgiving I would lose myself in a rush of jingles, trees and presents, but when I went to Israel in the December of my senior year I noticed that everything seemed quieter: fewer songs blared through public speakers, the malls were less crowded and the…
Every six months, there’s one event that I look forward to immensely.  American comedian, Avi Liberman, brings in three American comics in order to do a series of shows whose proceeds go to charity. It’s a great way for English speakers to have a night out that is reminiscent of “the old country†while giving…
Last week I blogged about an opportunity to connect to the Jewish community outside of my school. This week I’m switching gears completely to write about a great opportunity I had right here on campus–hearing Yossi Klein Halevi speak. Halevi is a contributing editor of the New Republic and occasionally writes for the Los Angeles…
“In 100 years, the situation will be the same as it is now. Nothing will change.” So said a friend of mine on my final night in Jerusalem last summer. She rolled her eyes and sipped a beer. “What about the demographic issue?” I said. “Whatever. We’ll just import a million more Russians. Why do…
After a long hiatus from watching Israeli movies (my Netflix account doesn’t see much action while I’m away at school), I finally decided to get back to my roots a bit and watch Ushpizin with my brother and his friends. At first, the movie’s premise didn’t seem like anything extraordinary–a Jewish Orthodox couple in Jerusalem…
And so, it finally happened. The “esteemed” Human Rights Watch has finally declared Hamas’s actions during Operation Cast Lead as war crimes. The question is, why has it taken them four months to come to the same conclusion that I, a mere citizen was able to come to five months ago.  I am not singing my…
As a child a tale was told to me of the Halutzim, the pioneers who came from the diaspora to the land of Israel and cultivated the parched, barren earth into the beginnings of a fruitful nation. I did not doubt this tale, or the image drawn for me of the proud pioneers as they…
It’s hard to look. The Boston Globe’s photo blog, The Big Picture, advertises itself as “news stories in photographs.” The photojournalism is breathaking. The images are sharp and focused. They tell a story, and often, quite a moving one. But bear in mind that photojournalism is tricky, and it takes a few moments to discern…
Congratulations, Judaism! Reality TV has chosen you to teach the most spoiled, hostile, and disrespectful teenagers a lesson. According to a recent article in Haaretz, BBC’s “The World’s Strictest Parents” recently filmed an episode in the Orthodox-only Israeli village of Nof Ayalon to see whether two teenage high school dropouts, Jack Travers and Gemma Lyons,…
On a Hillel-sponsored trip to Israel three and a half years ago I sat in a crowd of 45 students listening to Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, speak about the challenges facing the PR operation of the Jewish State. After detailing strategy, obstacles and key issues Regev dismissed concerns, saying, “A Cadillac sells itself:…
Here we go again. In what the New York Times calls a historic shift, President Obama has called for the limiting of settlements in the West Bank. And so no one was surprised to hear loads of  criticism from the right, this one courtesy of the ever-ideological Caroline Glick. The truth is that this debate over…
Stupid racist Jewish college students on the streets of Jerusalem, from Max Blumenthal via Philip Weiss. The video blew me away. I don’t know what to make of it. In a recent editorial, I argued that our generations’ attitudes towards Israel are, for various historical reasons, more sensible than those of our parents’ generation. Who…
Our post last week on Rabbi Manis Friedman’s statement to Moment magazine calling for the murder of Palestinian civilians seems to have generated a bunch of attention. The JTA and Failed Messiah linked to us on Monday, and tonight both the Forward and the JTA have features on Friedman’s comments, as does the Pioneer Press…