Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Netanyahu Looking Like a Wreck This has dragged out too long. Just shut down the settlement expansion. I have to admit, I am a Religious Zionist. Not all RZs support settlements, but most do . . . and but I do. The settlements actualize the imperative to settle the country. If the land is bought…
This reading list also counts for Friday. Can’t get enough Jewish a cappella? You’re in luck! Kol HaOlam, the first Jewish student a cappella competition, took place this past weekend, and some videos are here. [Gather the Jews] Speaking of Jewish a cappella, here’s the Pesach offering from the Fountainheads. Rebuttal, Maccabeats? And speaking of…
An amazing blog post by Dr. Sarina Chen at the Jerusalem Post encapsulates the central problem with how many people–and many college students–talk about Israel. Some, particularly those who have been on Birthright, see Israel as a spiritual wonderland where everything is perfect and the state is infallible. Others, conversely, view Israel solely through the lens of the…
Natalie Portman is engaged and pregnant. [People] American Football hits Israel, a step up from the storied Jerusalem yeshiva boys’ flag football league. [NYT] All the young Jews get together on Christmas Eve. [JIDaily] Seven YU high school students will get to take a class with a renowned Israeli author. [YNet] Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian…
Dear Mr. President, I want to thank you for your column in the New York Times today, on the anniversary of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination. Your exhortation to “take up the cause for which Yitzhak Rabin gave his life” is as pressing now as it was in 1995, and your grounded determination for peace…
As a law student, my required reading is painfully boring and rarely controversial. So I have to say I envy the Brooklyn College students who are being forced to read a book by someone Bruce Kesler calls a “radical pro-Palestinian professor,’” who at least will have something interesting to discuss. Forget disinheriting the college; I’d happily…
Before flying off to Israel a couple weeks ago, I went to hear journalist Peter Beinart speak. I asked him how young, liberal American Jews should engage the kind of “uncomfortable Zionism†he prescribed in his famous June article. “To connect to the people in Israel who share your values, you know?†Beinart replied. “To…
I last blogged about the controversy surrounding Pride Toronto’s decision to ban the group “Queers Against Israeli Apartheid” from marching in this year’s pride parade. Since then, the controversy has done anything but slow down. After the decision, QuAIA accused the city of censoring their freedom of speech, and organized resistance in an attempt to…
Today, the sixth incarnation of Israeli Apartheid Week gets underway. Â Aiming to amplify international calls for the BDS movement–that is, the boycott of Israeli goods, divestment from the Israeli economy and placement of sanctions on Israeli imports, respectively–organizers have planned various demonstrations in more than 40 international cities over the next 14 days. Â And though…
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…
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…