A gentle nudge in the back, a graceful shuffle forward past the competing person to the right — exciting muttering and the loud patter of feet eagerly moving toward two open doors filled the entrance to Korn Convocation Hall in…
Israel at the Oscars
The 85th annual Academy Award celebration boasted some of Hollywood’s premier talent. While most viewers were closely attuned to the celebrity sightings, spectacular gowns, provocative host, show-stopping performances, and the major awards themselves, some of us with strong Jewish and…
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions: a movement fueled by hate
In general, people who are misinformed about the facts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict tend to assume that peace is entirely in the hands of the Israelis, and that Israel is maliciously preventing a peaceful agreement by refusing to surrender a…
The SodaStream controversy: should we boycott settlements?
Israel has long prided itself on being an environmentally conscious, technologically advanced nation. SodaStream is therefore exactly the kind of product Israel wants to promote: a machine which carbonates tap water, relegating fizzy drinks in a can as unnecessarily expensive…
New York City seeks parental consent on brit milah’s practice of oral-genital suction
Eight days after every male Jew is born, a part of his flesh is cut off and buried in the earth as a reminder of the covenant Abraham made with G-d and as a sign that the man will help…
Gershon Baskin speaks about Gilad Shalit release
When the news broke that kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit had been released, we celebrated, all of us. My friends and I called and e-mailed home, exclaiming at the news, and joined in the bittersweet jubilation from our Jerusalem apartments,…
Very superstitious: Sephardic practice driven by tradition or faith?
To the puzzlement of my roommates, I have a peculiar habit of scouring our apartment and obsessively closing every single one of our closets before going to bed. It is like an inexplicable intuition that itches and nags at me…
“Srugim:” Modern Orthodox Israeli singles on TV
Last year, when I studied abroad at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, I became aware of the then-popular Israeli television drama, “Srugim” (Hebrew for the knitted kippot or head coverings, normatively worn by Modern Orthodox men), which premiered in June…
How Israel can change a Jew’s life
America is a melting pot of cultures, and it is undeniable that the distinctions setting apart each culture are slowly deteriorating. According to the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus, Jews make up approximately 10% of the UCLA population. Surrounded by…
Is new Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel anti-Israel?
By now, thousands of articles have been written about newly-nominated Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Many of them thrust one of two extremes at the reader: either that Chuck Hagel is a rabid anti-Semite and Israel-hater, or that Chuck Hagel is…