The recent, controversial Undergraduate Student Association Council vote to divest from American companies that profit from alleged human rights violations in Israel’s West Bank raised tensions among undergraduates. It also inspired a great deal of Ha’Am coverage. While many undergrads…
Bearing witness with the last generation
In this day and age, the vast amount of information available at our fingertips leaves no excuse for anyone to be unaware of the Holocaust’s atrocities. There is a myriad of films, books, and museums depicting the horrors that Jews…
The Pro-Israel response to BDS: appropriate, or not enough?
Did the pro-Israel and anti-BDS communities do all they could to mobilize support against the divestment bill?
Jewish and pro-Israel UCLA students reject USAC
On Tuesday night, Nov. 18, the UCLA Undergraduate Student Association Council held a public meeting to discuss, and ultimately pass, a symbolic resolution calling for UCLA to divest from companies that do business with Israel. In order to not grant…
Bringing down the ignorance
As a new student, the ongoing tradition of Students for Justice in Palestine’s mock Apartheid Wall installment on campus this Tuesday was my first experience with the organization’s activism. The Wall stated a number of non-contextualized facts regarding the Israel-Palestine…
The Bruins’ lone soldier
Traveling far and wide from every corner of the world, Israeli “lone soldiers” risk their lives every day to protect a 10,782 square mile territory for their people; a territory less than 1/16th the size of California. Such a decision…
Matisyahu in concert: music and religion on trial
Matisyahu, also known as Matthew Miller, is a Jewish reggae artist who has reached international acclaim — but maybe you already knew that. Maybe you also knew that Matisyahu began his musical career as an Orthodox Jew of Chabad-Lubavitch affiliation,…
Running it into the ground: moderate musings on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict
It is natural that in times of war the voices of moderation are stifled. A threat to the health of the community awakens a deep internal defensive stance while the scrutiny of one’s peers only reinforces this attitude. For over…
The Shabbos Project 2014: an ambitious shot at Jewish unity and observance
Sabbath, Shabbat, Shabbos, and the less-common Shabbath and Shabbas (an attempt to reconcile Eastern European consonant pronunciation with North African and Middle Eastern vowel vocalization) are all examples of the futility of attempts to standardize the transliterated pronunciation of a…
Inside the mind of Kerry Chaplin, rabbinic intern at Hillel
There are many rabbis at UCLA. The Jewish Awareness Movement has two, Chabad has one, and Hillel has three full-time rabbis and one rabbinic intern. Each of these people brings his or her unique perspectives to prayer services, learning groups,…