Prayer is Punk
Prayer is a form of direct action. Taking time out of our days to bless the act of waking up and eating food interrupts expected behavior.
Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Article Archive
Revelation and Renovation: A Shavuot Zine
This zine was created by Rena Yehuda Newman, who is a 2019 fellow with New Voices and Judaism Unbound. It was originally published on Judaism Unbound’s website.
Torah and Tampax
An amorphous red glob has invaded my underwear. It collects in a pool, spreading across the polka dotted fabric with what my eleven-year-old brain declares a vengeance. I look down into the liquid substance that has turned my Wednesday underwear into an abysmal crime scene. From the upstairs bathroom, I call for backup in the…
Why I Say Shema as a Secular Jew
Throughout my university experience, I sat in the middle of a seesaw – spirituality on one end and skeptical materialism on the other. As I took my classes, the weight of skepticism seemed to get lighter and lighter, and the seesaw slowly shifted closer towards spirituality. But no matter how much I read, I could…
Why I choose to be queer — and why that’s inseparable from being Jewish
I am queer — and my decision to be queer is a conscious decision. There were times in my life when I wasn’t queer, but it’s been a process through which I have grown into my identity as someone who identifies not as gay, but primarily as queer. And, as I’ve grown into it, that…
What we can learn from the RCA and the URJ
On Oct. 30, mainstream Orthodox leaders in the Rabbinical Council of America confirmed once again that women who receive the same training and jobs as men still are not — and never will be — equal to men. Six days later, the Union for Reform Judaism passed a landmark resolution on the inclusion of transgender individuals…
Messy Jewish identities: A High Holidays meditation, part II
Two years ago, I wrote my first blog post for New Voices. I invited young Conservative Jews, unhappy with the current situation within their movement, to enter into conversation with me and the many other young Jews I know who grew up Modern Orthodox. We, too, were discontented with what we perceived as our movement’s…
Reanalyzing That Damn Survey Again…Again
“American [Jew]s are fleeing organized religion.” This was the big takeaway from the Pew Report in 2013 (I feel a not insignificant embarrassment that we are still quoting it) and another report released last week on the state of American religion in general, both of which found that many Americans are affiliating less and…
The Myth of the ‘Feminized’ Religion
I have written in the past about my experiences with gender, privilege, Jewish ritual, and the need to find new and creative ways to engage both men and women ritually. Women, I’ve argued, should be encouraged to try out more traditionally masculine rituals, and men should be encouraged to try out more feminine rituals. There…
The Flipside to De-gendering Ritual: Continuing the Conversation
Last week was New Voices’ #GenderWeek, and many of us (including yours truly) chose to write about the gendering of Jewish ritual, as well as the need to de-gender — or create a new paradigm for— ritual and gender performances. At the same time, however, part of what draws me to rituals seen as traditionally…
Two Egal Jews Talk About Gender and Ritual
Both Avigayil and I (Amram Altzman) have written extensively about the ways in which we have taken on Jewish rituals which, traditionally, fall outside of our traditional gender identities. This is a conversation we’ve been having, more specifically, about what it means to take on Jewish rituals and how that relates to our Jewish identities…
Take Back the Mikveh: The Need to Democratize Orthodox Judaism
This summer, I had the opportunity to do something that few other men my age do: immerse in the mikveh. Normally, my Jewish rituals are public: I don my kippah wherever I go, I generally pray every morning with my tallit and tefillin in the presence of at least ten other people, and I light…
Restore the Northwest Semitic Altar: On Using Archaeology in Jewish Practice
It happens frequently when I go to a new synagogue now. Someone gives a dvar Torah or a talk on the Torah portion, and uses a verse to talk about how different Jews were from all their surrounding peoples. Or there is a discussion of an Israel trip, in which the (justice-obstructing) magic of…
Torah Secrets for Avoiding Hangovers, Cheating Partners, and Jewfros
In this week’s Torah portion, Naso, we receive two new laws. First, is the law of Sotah, a process in which women accused of adultery are given a special water that will prove whether they are innocent or guilty, then the Nazirite, someone who has taken a special oath to not drink alcohol, cut…
Anorexia and Shabbat
Third grade lunch at Solomon Schechter Jewish Day School. All my friends are sitting around eating Cheetos and sharing sandwiches. Me, I’m staring at the clock waiting for the little and the big hand to both land on the twelve so that I can throw the untouched lunch my mother packed me into the trash…
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