Monday, October 26, 2015

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."

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Monday, October 19, 2015

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.

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Monday, October 12, 2015

“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.

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Monday, October 5, 2015

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.”

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