American Jewish University launches Institute for Jewish Creativity

by Evan Henerson for Jewish Journal

What do you get when you bring 23 Jewish artists to a bucolic, 3,000-acre campus in Simi Valley and keep them together for three days with no cellphone service? You get shared visions, simpatico new friendships, connections and boundless creativity.

Those are just some of the results from the recent L.A. artist retreat titled “Reciprocity,” which took place in mid-November and signaled the public launch of the Institute for Jewish Creativity (IJC) at American Jewish University (AJU). The IJC looks to integrate Jewish artists into the broader Jewish community, spark cultural programming for Jewish audiences of all ages and spur artistic contributions that benefit Jewish culture.

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

What Jewish college students can learn from their hometown congregations

By Ethan Sobel  for The Jewish Advocate

Antiquated, stuffy, boring, archaic and tranquil. Those might be the terms millennial Jewish college students would use to describe the synagogues where they grew up. Whether coming from a Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Renewal, Orthodox or other background, it rarely seems “cool” to reminisce about going to Sunday Hebrew classes, attending Shabbat services or joining the local Jewish youth group as the highlight of your Jewish upbringing. At Hillels across the country, the chatter focuses on politics, romantic prospects or the in-crowd. But what if the 18-21 year olds were wrong – what if their childhood Jewish experiences did add value to their lives, offering lessons that they will never embrace or even understand?

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

Singling Out Israel is Singling Out Every Jew

Nurit Greenger  for The Times of Israel
In Germany, in the 1930s’ is started with crating an image of an evil Jews, it ended with 6 million Jews murdered.

Today, one can say with confidence that the fastest growing “religion” after “Leftism-Progressive-Liberalism” is the spread of anti-Israel hatred, a guise for anti-Semitism. And the nucleus of this movement is the North American university campus, acting as a leading incubator for this dehumanization fashion.

Antisemitism on Campus

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

What Judaism will actually look like 50 years from now

by Amram Altzman for newvoices.com

I don’t often like to think about the future. Instead, I like to study my past (hence my Jewish History major) and understand my present (hence my sociology major).

But when Commentary released its symposium wherein seventy professional Jews — academics, philosophers, researchers, and the like — were asked about what Judaism will look like in 2065, the answer was a resounding and ambivalent shrug. Some, to be sure, were more negative than others, claiming that Judaism and Jewish culture outside of Israel and those who cling to it will no longer exist, as Elliott Abrams surmised in the opening remarks of the symposium. Others, fearing the continued ascendancy of the Islamic State and the rise of anti-Semitism, see the future of Jews as downright bleak at best and utterly destroyed at worst.

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

What we can learn from the RCA and the URJ

by Amram Altzman for newvoices.com    

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 in the Reform movement. It would be too much to pass up the irony of these two events happening in the same week.

As much as I want to focus solely on the progress marked by the URJ resolution and the fact that a Jewish religious organization can vote resoundingly — without one “no” to be heard — and affirmatively when asked if they should take more active steps to include transgender individuals in their communities, I’m tempered by the statements of the RCA.

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

Finding Judaism in my passion for environmental activism

By Jonah Watt for The Bowdoin Orient

Every Sunday morning for 10 years, I sat in my Hebrew school classroom, passing around a small tin tzedakah box and emptying my pockets full of loose change into it. At the end of the year, we dumped out the contents and counted the money inside. In an exercise of early childhood democracy, we would vote as a class where to donate the tzedakah, and then our teacher would send a check to the animal shelter or local food pantry of our choosing.

Continue reading.


Follow us on   

How College Can Put the Jewish in Children of Intermarriage

Leonard Saxe Fern Chertok and Theodore Sasson for The Jewish Daily Forward   

The late great baseball player and philosopher Yogi Berra once quipped, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” Our new study, “Millennial Children of Intermarriage: Touchpoints and Trajectories of Jewish Engagement,” attests to Berra’s wisdom. Despite decades of worry that American “children of intermarriage” would be lost to the community, a large-scale study of young adult applicants to Birthright Israel found that the story is more complicated, and more hopeful.

Not surprisingly, young adults raised by intermarried parents grow up with a more limited set of Jewish educational and social experiences. However, if these children of intermarriage become involved in Jewish experiences in college — through Birthright Israel, Jewish campus groups or courses — their Jewish identity and later engagement look in many respects very much like that of children of two Jewish parents.

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

On Urban Outfitters and Jewish masculinities

by Amram Altzman for newvoices.com

I like Jewish boys. A lot.

Which is why I was elated when Urban Outfitters released its 2016 Nice Jewish Guys calendar — and then I realized how conflicted I was. While I support the proliferation of the Nice Jewish Boy — and God only knows the world needs more of them — I also have many qualms with Urban Outfitters and some of their business ethics and clothing choices.

Part of why I’m so conflicted about the calendar is that I’m tired of seeing Jewish people presented as exotic and as just another classless calendar or article of clothing that Urban Outfitters sells for the sake of its own outrageousness — though much tamer, is the calendar really that different from the Kent State sweatshirt with fake blood stains, or any of their other merchandise which are questionable at best and utterly tasteless at worst? The Nice Jewish Guys calendar, just like everything Urban Outfitters seems to sell, is meant to draw attention through its absurdity and tokenizing of certain groups. The chain isn’t exactly known for appealing to sensible presentations of people and things (how could you ever call mittens with one panda bear mounting another, or socks with strippers on them, “sensible”?).

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

Who Will Be the Next President of Yeshiva University?

By Yair Rosenberg for Tablet Magazine   

Last month, Richard Joel announced that he would be stepping down as president of Yeshiva University. The departure will open a void at the heart of both an institution and a denomination—Modern Orthodoxy—that stand at a crossroads.

On the one hand, Y.U. is the flagship of Modern Orthodoxy. It is an institution that fuses high-level religious learning with secular instruction and consistently ranks in the top 50 universities named by U.S. News and World Report. On the other hand, the school has been beset by financial difficulties and management failures, and has come under increasing attack from a right that views it as too modern and a left that sees it as too conservative. A new president would need to restore donor confidence in the institution and infuse it with an ideological message that resonates more broadly in the Orthodox and wider Jewish world.

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

Sign at Yale Says Jews Should be 'Rounded Up,' Calls Campus a 'Jew Hole'

By Gregory Tomlin for The Christian Examiner

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut – In 2006, Yale University was the first school in North America to establish a center for the study of antisemitism, which makes the presence of anti-Semitic graffiti near the storied campus all the more unusual.

New Haven's local NBC affiliate has reported that a sign with anti-Semitic slogans was hung on a pole near, but not on the campus. The news station said a local psychiatrist, Dr. Gary Plotke, discovered the sign near Yale-New Haven Hospital. It read, "YALE IS A JEW HOLE – LET'S ROUND THEM UP!!!"

"I saw it for what it was: a patently offensive, anti-Semitic sign," Plotke told WVIT. "Obviously, I know about antisemitism, but I've never actually come face-to-face with a sign like that."

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

Judaism, identity, college admissions

By Sydney Tischler, St. Louis Jewish Light

For seniors in high school, right now can be a crazy time. With early decision deadlines looming, school work in full swing, and friendships and family relationships to maintain, fall of senior year is notoriously stressful. Jewish students have another layer of stress to deal with: It is easy to feel like a commodity or marginalized because of our religion.

Personally, a strong Jewish community has not been the top priority throughout my college search. However, the vast majority of conversations I have had about my top schools have involved my Jewish identity, though they have not been initiated by me. From chats about Hillel to pamphlets about scholarships specifically for Judaic Studies majors, I have had a hard time distinguishing flattery from microaggression. Most of these conversations have been with adults well-versed in the college process.

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

“Neighbors,” Soulmates And Israel

By Alan Zeitlin, Jewish Week Correspondent

Seth Rogen discusses new film, solves Mideast conflict.

Seth Rogen is known as a regular guy, but he hasn’t had a regular career. The 32-year-old actor, writer and director from Vancouver has starred in such films as “Knocked Up,” “Superbad,” and “Pineapple Express.” He joined pals Jonah Hill and James Franco in “This Is the End.” In his new film, “Neighbors,” he plays a married man who has to deal with the antics of a fraternity that moved in next door. In a phone interview, Rogen spoke about his bar-mitzvah attire, his one experience with anti-Semitism, and a circumstance in which he might actually save Justin Bieber’s life.

In your new film, you have to deal with being hassled by a fraternity. If you had been in a frat, how would you have hazed people?
I wouldn’t have. I don’t have that in me. It’s horribly cruel.

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

College students thrust into campus spotlight as Israel advocates

Ed Wittenberg, Jewish Cleveland News

Becky Sebo and Daniel Pearlman seemed to be on parallel paths as advocates for Israel while growing up in different suburbs on Cleveland’s East Side.

Sebo, of Pepper Pike, and Pearlman, of Solon, spoke about how their experiences shaped them and the challenges they faced while defending Israel on their college campuses at the launch event for the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s 2016 Campaign for Jewish Needs Sept. 10 at the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood.

Sebo, 23, graduated from Ohio University in Athens in the spring. Active in BBYO as a teenager, she said she discovered Israel as a sophomore at Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights.

“I was accepted into Cleveland’s Ambassadors for Unity program, and a spark was ignited in me,” she said. “That year I participated in a cultural exchange with an Israeli teen living in our sister city, Beit She’an, and then made my first journey to Israel. I was hooked.”

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

New York-area college students invited to submit ideas for Israel advocacy, fighting anti-Semitism

The World Jewish Congress Jewish Diplomatic Corps (JDCorps) and the Consulate General of Israel in New York announced Campus Pitch, a program inviting college students to pitch creative new approaches to advocating for Israel, fighting anti-Semitism, and building stronger interfaith relations on New York and tri-state campuses.

“We are excited to announce an opportunity for students to pitch innovative ideas about broadening the conversation on Israel and forming new partnerships on campus,” said Ido Aharoni, consul-general of Israel in New York. “The initiative is a platform to inspire out-of-the-box thinking across the tri-state area this academic year.”

Continue reading.

The High Holidays are upon us, check out our High Holidays Spotlight Kit

Students: Yom Kippur a balance of challenges, traditions

Shayna Posses, USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent

Though considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, many colleges do not give students Yom Kippur off, instead excusing individuals who choose to opt out of classes.

As Samantha Klasfeld and her friends sat down to break their Yom Kippur fast freshman year, commotion erupted in the crowded restaurant.

Students spotted actor Bill Murray entering the dining room and engulfed him in a sea of camera flashes.

Klasfeld's table wasn't interested.

"Everyone was running to take pictures with him, and we were stuffing our faces," the 21-year-old Cornell University senior said. "We were more excited about food than a celebrity."

For Jewish college students like Klasfeld, celebrating Yom Kippur at school can be difficult. The Day of Atonement requires observers to abstain from food and drinks for 25 hours while praying for forgiveness for the year's sins.

Though considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, many colleges do not give the day off, instead excusing individuals who choose to opt out of classes. This year, the holiday runs from Friday evening to Saturday evening, a welcome break for typically conflicted students.

Continue reading.

Check out Jvillage’s High Holiday+    page.

The High Holidays are upon us, check out our High Holidays Spotlight Kit

  

101 College Grants You've Never Heard of

collegescholarships.org

 You May Be Leaving Thousands On the Table

Most college-bound students are looking for ways to supplement their education fund. It’s nearly impossible to pay for a college education without some form of financial aid. Loans, both federal and private, help thousands of students every year finance their education, but that money needs to be repaid – and with interest.

Before considering any form of education loan, students need to investigate possible grants for which they may be qualified. Grant money for college never has to be repaid, and there are a wide array of grant programs designed to benefit every kind of student, and every course of study. Thousands of organizations, both public and private, have grant money to award to students who are struggling to cover the costs of their college tuition.

Proper Research Will Lead You to the Grants You Need

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

Salem on the Thames

Richard Landes for The American Interest

At Connecticut College, the outrage machine claims another victim.

Academics like to think of themselves as autonomous thinkers, and academia—meaning literally the protected realm of free speech—gives professors not only the right to speak their minds but also, via the institution of tenure, protection against losing their livelihoods by displeasing those more powerful than themselves. The fact that civil polities treasure safe spaces for free speech attests to their progressive bona fides. Especially in our times, when new social networks can turn ominously feral, one would hope that academics and their institutions, especially small, face-to-face college communities, could return that investment and resist anonymous, predatory, crowd behavior.

Yet mob rule is precisely what happened this past semester at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut, along the Thames River. Over the course of the past spring semester, philosophy professor Andrew Pessin was driven from campus based on a malevolent reading of a Facebook post in which he depicted “the situation” in Gaza as one in which the Israelis had confined a “rabid pit bull” to a cage, while animal rights activists protested for the poor beast’s release. Although Pessin didn’t specify in the text, he and a commenter did make clear that this metaphor referred to Hamas terrorists, not to the population generally.

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

Dealing with the Anti-Israel Movement on Campus: Advice to Students and Their Parents

North American college campuses are often the setting for bitter disputes over Middle East politics, often driven by the global anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. In this video, Washington Institute Executive Director Robert Satloff offers practical advice on how to address anti-Israel activism on campus and engage constructively on the politics of the Middle East. He recommends specific ways for students to learn whether their professors endorse the BDS agenda and how to promote constructive dialogue. An historian who is a longstanding observer of the academic world in the U.S. and abroad – and the parent of a college freshman -- Dr. Satloff offers useful ideas and helpful resources for parents and students looking for help in combatting anti-Israel activity on campus.

Chai Ceremony

A Jewish way of sending young people off to college

By Rabbi Julie H. Danan for MyJewishLearning.com

The following ceremony is an adaptation of havdalah, the ritual for ending Shabbat. which includes blessings over wine, fragrant spice, a multi-flamed candle, and one known as Hamavdil explicitly commemorating the shift from Sabbath to weekday. Reprinted with permission from Ohalah.org.
Background

The “chai ceremony” is an innovative ritual celebrating the life passage at age 18. Chai means “life,” and the young adults, having finished high school, are embarking on a new chapter in their lives.

Chai equals 18 in gematria (Hebrew numerology), and most young adults in our culture make this transition at about age 18. The chai ceremony is centered around havdalah, the traditional ritual separating Shabbat from the days of the week. It is also a time of separation, as our young adults go to college. (Even if they continue to live at home, the nature of the relationship will change.)

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

Acapella Underdogs Score Big Hit

The 'other' Yeshiva University acapella group gains success with new YouTube video.

Carly Stern for The Jewish Week

Swarms of crowds hurriedly shuffle amidst the bright lights of Times Square. Energetic young children bounce up and down and wave their hands rapidly as if answering an urgent question in class. And, in between it all, a group of 11 college-age, kippa-clad young men in crisp white shirts and matching pink ties belt out a rendition of the Gad Elbaz hit, “Hashem Melech.”

This isn’t any average street performance. It is the setting of the hit music video by the Yeshiva University-associated a capella group, the “Ystuds,” that has generated over 90,000 YouTube views in less than a month.    

“Our friends and families are really excited about it,” said second-year group member Jonathan Green, who joined after transferring to YU from the University of Toronto.  “They sometimes are more on top of the view count than I am.”

Continue reading.


Follow us on   

Verbal abuse against Jewish students now ‘fact of life’ on US campuses

By Amanda Borschel-Dan for The Times of Israel     

Jewish students on campus are still feeling the aftermath of last summer’s Gaza War, according to a new Brandeis University report. Findings reveal that during the 2014-2015 academic year, one in four Jewish college students was blamed for Israel’s actions during the war, and nearly three quarters of students experienced anti-Semitic comments.

While physical harassment is still relatively rare, “verbal harassment is apparently a fact of life for a substantial portion of young Jewish students,” according to the report, “Antisemitism and the College Campus: Perceptions and Realities,” released at a special media event in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, the authors also found that preliminary surveys conducted immediately following the war indicated an increased level of connection to Israel throughout the school year.

Continue reading.

Love Israel? We do too. Follow our Israel board on    page.

In Case You Missed It: Obama Speaks on National Jewish American Heritage Month

National Jewish American Heritage Month: What It Means to Be Part of the Jewish American Community

By Tanya Somanader for WhiteHouse.gov Blog

Jewish American values are woven into the fabric of American life and have shaped the progress we’ve made as a country. That history has fundamentally shaped the President’s personal views and leadership. As he told The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg:

"To me, being pro-Israel and pro-Jewish is part and parcel with the values that I've been fighting for since I was politically conscious and started getting involved in politics. There’s a direct line between supporting the right of the Jewish people to have a homeland and to feel safe and free of discrimination and persecution, and the right of African Americans to vote and have equal protection under the law."

Today at 11:00 am ET, in honor of National Jewish American Heritage Month, President Obama will address the Adas Israel congregation in Washington, D.C., the first synagogue in the U.S. to be addressed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Watch his remarks live:

How academic efforts to boycott Israel harm our students

By Jill S. Schneiderman, Opinion for The Washington Post

In March 2014, I and my co-teacher stood with 27 Vassar College students at the sparkling Auja Spring in the parched West Bank of the Palestinian territories. We listened attentively as environmental educators from the Auja Eco Center and a Palestinian graduate student from Al-Quds University explained the Auja village’s dependency on this sole water source. Sadly, this learning experience almost didn’t happen. My colleague and I were nearly prevented from embarking on the trip by opposition from a surprising source: the faculty and students of our own academic institution.

I am a tenured geology professor at Vassar , an elite liberal-arts school . I research, teach and write about the complex and intimate connections between land and water resources and social justice. For the study trip I led to Israel and the Palestinian territories, I created a syllabus designed to explore difficult issues and engage diverse perspectives that was vetted by Vassar’s faculty and administration. I have successfully led numerous similar trips to locations such as the Appalachian Mountains and the Mojave Desert. My modest goals for such trips are to impart knowledge and share experiences with my students that can be realized only by traveling to the regions we are examining. In studying arid regions without seeing the situation with their own eyes, it is difficult for students from places where water is relatively abundant to think about solutions to the problems that occur when local residents must share a meager supply.

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

 
Jill S. Schneiderman is a professor of earth science at Vassar College.

New Group: Students Supporting Israel (SSI)

Students Supporting Israel (SSI) is a Pro-Israel international campus movement that supports the State of Israel.

Our mission is to be a clear and confident Pro-Israel voice on college campuses, and to support students in grassroots Pro-Israel advocacy.

Supporting Israel on Campus!

We provide students on college campuses and universities with the opportunity to support the position of Israel in the Middle East, and reassure students who opposed the demonization of the state of Israel on campus that they are not alone but a part of a larger, united movement.

Continue reading.

Love Israel? We do too. Follow our Israel board on    page.

AJU program helps young adults explore the many connections between nature and Jewish values

By Roberto Loiederman for Tribe Magazine

“Experiential learning depends on ‘wow’ moments,” said Aryeh Goldman, 26, coordinator of the Jewish Experiential and Nature Educators (JENE) Fellowship at American Jewish University (AJU). “That’s when, suddenly, you see nature in a new way.”

Some of these moments can be planned, like making fire by striking rocks or witnessing the miracle of plant growth. But, Goldman said, the experiences that stay with you the longest are often accidental, as when a recent group of Fellows had to deal with a dead peacock whose extravagant beauty they’d admired.

Twice a year, in the spring and fall, a few Fellows arrive at AJU’s Brandeis-Bardin Campus (BBC) in Simi Valley for a session that lasts three to four months. Although the number of Fellows is flexible, it generally ranges from two to five each session. (For information or to apply, visit confbbc.aju.edu.)

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

KIVUNIM - An Experiential Program of Study for College Students

Our Mission

KIVUNIM’s college-age program inspires its students to forge a lifelong relationship with Israel and the Jewish People through our travels across the world - gaining understanding of Jewish life and history together with that of the many cultures, religions and worldviews amongst whom the Jewish people grew in its 2000 year Diaspora. Our international travels build and deepen Jewish identity within the context of an emerging sense of “world-consciousness” both as Jews and as citizens of the world. We welcome students from all backgrounds in the belief that mutual understanding can only enhance the possibilities for greater peace and justice.

We are based in Jerusalem where we encounter Israel openly: appreciating its grand and historic achievements together with its unfulfilled goals and aspirations. We encourage a perception on the part of our students that there is work yet to be done and that they have a role to play in the fulfillment of the Zionist promise.

Continue reading.




Covenant Awards 2012 - Peter Geffen from The Covenant Foundation on Vimeo.

Tattoos: Hip. Cool. Artsy. Permanent. Kosher?

by Hillel News

Tattoos, once considered off-limits for Jews, are becoming increasingly popular, for some as a form of rebellion, while for others as a prideful marker of Jewish identity. Tattooing and body art are classic forms of religious expression among people of some faiths, yet have been historically viewed unfavorably by the Jewish tradition.

As more young hip Jews make the choice to emblazon inky Jewish stars, Hebrew lettering, and kabbalistic imagery across their skin, it begs us to ask the question: What does Jewish tradition actually have to say about tattoos?

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

More Inclusive Jewish Spaces Are Possible

Derek M. Kwait for newvoices.com

Everyone is awkward when they start college. Eventually, most students find a group they feel comfortable with, build a community, and the awkwardness goes away. For students with special needs, however, that awkwardness can become a social stigma with aftereffects that can last a lifetime.

People with special needs often report feeling invisible to others, even—if not especially—those who will ordinarily go out of their way to be inclusive.

To change this unacceptable status quo, two organizations have stepped forward to serve as models for the inclusion of Jewish young adults with special needs: the JCC of Manhattan with its Adaptations program and Hillel International with its American Sign Language Birthright trip, among others.

Adaptations builds and supports a community of independent young adults with disabilities by bringing together a wide-range of people, including those with autism, Asperger’s, O.C.D., anxiety, and depression, all of whom are at higher risks of loneliness and isolation.

Continue reading.

Follow us on   

The Problem Starts at the Top

Responsibility for American universities’ failure to confront anti-Semitism rests with administrators and faculty.

By Ruth Wisse for Mosaic

As an image for countering anti-Semitism, I once used to keep tacked over my desk the Polish proverb, “It’s lousy to swim upstream in a filthy river.” Happily, upstream swimmers who now overtake me seem better shielded from the pollution. I’m enormously grateful to Ben Cohen, Douglas Murray, and Bari Weiss for essays that make it feel as though we are within sight of the open sea.

Ben Cohen enlarges the historical context by reminding us that ours is not a new story. Hitler’s attempt to establish the Third Reich in 1930s Europe gained legitimacy when leaders in Western democracies excused the Nazi assault on democratic institutions as long as it aimed at Jews alone. Prominent among such leaders were presidents and faculty of American universities who extended a welcome to Nazi alumni and officials, and maintained cordial relations with anti-Semitic institutions. The universities’ appeal to academic decorum as a reason for tolerating German anti-Semites finds its equivalent in today’s invocation of “free speech” as the excuse for sanctioning Arab and Muslim anti-Israel incitement.

Continue reading.

Follow us on