Searching for Myself at Jerusalem’s Hippie Yeshiva

I didn’t fit in among the scruffy rock musicians and young women in shawls and drapey skirts, but my Shavuot visit changed me

By Ruchama King Feuerman for Tablet Magazine

I was finishing up my first year of college at Bar-Ilan University when an old classmate invited me to spend Shavuot with her at the Diaspora Yeshiva on Mount Zion.

What’s she doing there, of all places? I wondered, surprised to learn that she’d become a full-time student at the yeshiva.

Lots of my friends from high school had signed on for a year of rigorous Torah study at one of the Jerusalem seminaries that were starting to become de rigueur for frum girls after graduation. I was all set to go myself, especially as my little detour at Bar-Ilan was winding down; it was the end of the semester, and my yeshiva beckoned. But my intended yeshiva was what I considered “normal”: It attracted girls of the same age with a fairly strong background in Jewish studies—girls from middle-class, religious homes. We were coming to enrich and to build upon the Judaism we had already encountered in our earlier years. We weren’t looking to be transformed.

This Diaspora Yeshiva, known to outsiders as the hippie yeshiva, was altogether different. It carried a countercultural cachet, an air of the illicit. The men’s division had a band with scruffy-bearded newly religious musicians singing Hebrew lyrics set to wild rock music, way before this became accepted everywhere. The women students—whether teenagers or in their thirties—dressed in scraps of hippie-like cast offs, shawls, and long drapey skirts. The students, most of whom came with little knowledge of Judaism, and even less Torah observance, seemed bent on totally remaking their lives. Many marriages happened between the men’s and women’s divisions, and those couples lived in near poverty in Mount Zion’s caves. Sure, the students at the Diaspora Yeshiva made great music, but was that reason enough for my old classmate to have joined up there?

You never knew who might show up at the Diaspora Yeshiva. My friend told me how Tony Curtis popped in one day with his agent, and so did the drummer for Led Zeppelin—a lost soul if ever there was one; sometimes it was people who were less famous but no less unexpected, like the woman who’d just emerged from many years at an ashram, or a Hasid from Williamsburg, or a Harvard-educated scientist. But one type of person rarely ventured there: suburban Modern Orthodox girls like me.

Continue reading.


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

Defining ‘Pro-Israel’

by Solomon Tarlin for newvoices.com

“It is the epitome of intellectual dishonesty to use a well-established term to define a group (pro-Israel) when that group and its members such as yourself admit that the meaning of the well-established term does not in fact apply.” This was one of the many responses I received after my op-ed last month, “Hillel Student Board Votes to Reject J Street U at Boston University”. While most responses were positive and supportive, telling me and J Street to keep up the good work, the negative feedback, and this one in particular, taking issue with our description as a “pro-Israel organization,” illuminated for me the value of our work at J Street U.

In fairness, if being “pro-Israel” means refusing to criticize the country’s policies, taking an incomplete view of the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and ignoring that the occupation threatens the very existence of Israel’s character as a Jewish homeland and democratic state, then the commenter may have a point. However, this is an unnecessarily limiting definition of the term. When I call myself pro-Israel, I mean that I care about Israel’s future, that I proudly support the existence of a secure homeland of the Jewish people, and that my love for Israel has caused me to spend countless hours working to ensure that Israel continues to be a place I can love and support. There is therefore no intellectual dishonesty in declaring this position pro-Israel; in fact, I ask all who care about Israel to have the same honest conversation about the existential challenges facing Israel today.

If I thought this commenter had an isolated viewpoint, I would ignore it; however, it is clear that these concerns reflect the current stance of a significant portion of the Jewish community today. This portion includes Boston University Hillel, whose guidelines around Israel programming are more stringent than those of Hillel International, and exclude a sizable portion of the pro-Israel community, including, for now, J Street U BU. In March, we invited Lara Friedman, Director of Policy at Americans for Peace Now, to speak about the status of negotiations. Our conversation centered around an attempt to protect Israel’s character and long-term security. We spoke about the status of negotiations, gave the American, Israeli, and Palestinian takes on the prospects of an agreement, and discussed what the future of the region would look like without a two-state solution. It was a thoughtful event, from which all attendees learned and challenged their beliefs.

Continue reading.

Love Israel? Follow our board    page.

UCLA Chancellor Slams Anti-Israel Pledge

Alex Margolin for HonestReporting

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block spoke out firmly against measures that would bar those elected to UCLA’s student government from taking part in trips sponsored by certain pro-Israel organizations.

Prior to the recent student council elections, various pro-Palestinian groups asked candidates to sign a pledge that they would not take educational trips to Israel sponsored by AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and Hasbara Fellowships.

“I am troubled that the pledge sought to delegitimize educational trips offered by some organizations but not others,” Block wrote in an email to students and faculty, Haaretz reported.

“I am troubled that the pledge can reasonably be seen as trying to eliminate selected viewpoints from the discussion,” he continued. “If we shut out perspectives, if we silence voices, if we allow innuendo to substitute for reasoned exchange of ideas, if we listen only to those who already share our assumptions, truth gets lost, our intellectual climate is impoverished and our community is diminished.”

Most of the candidates who won seats on the council did not sign the pledge. However, it created a stigma around the trips, giving the impression that the trips are unethical for students to take if they are in the student government.

Critics of the pledge, like Jonathon Tobin, claim that its purpose is not only to make it harder for pro-Israel candidates to join the council, thereby weakening opponents of divestment measures, but also to shame those students who would consider participating in pro-Israel trips.

Continue reading.

Showtime Buys Series About An Ultra-Orthodox Comedian

New comedy depicts an aspiring stand-up leaving his Brooklyn community

By Stephanie Butnick for Tablet Magazine
Showtime has nabbed a new comedy series about a Jewish comedian. But not just any Seinfeld or Samberg—this time it’s an ultra-Orthodox aspiring stand-up who steps outside his close-knit Williamsburg community to try and make it as a New York City comic.

Deadline reports that the Homeland network bought the development rights for Yank, a half-hour show from Sex and the City writers Elisa Zuritsky and Julie Rottenberg, which will follow a young man as he leaves his Hasidic enclave for Manhattan’s comedy clubs while still trying to remain part of the community.

“We’ve always been fascinated by the question of how our families’ expectations have and haven’t shaped our lives,” Rottenberg said. “We realized that this is the most extreme version of a family sending a very clear signal of exactly who you’re supposed to be. But what happens if you have your own plans?”

It will be interesting to see how the show depicts the ultra-Orthodox community of Williamsburg, and whether the writers go for easy caricatures (See: The Mindy Project) or present a more nuanced portrait. That the show’s writers come from Sex and the City, another show for which the city of New York served as its own important character, suggests the latter—which would make it a very interesting show.

Shavuot, the forgotten holiday

Unlike most Jewish holidays, Shavuot has no sad undertones. Could this be why 'the Torah’s birthday’ is generally overlooked?

By Yael Miller for Haaretz

I tutor students part time in a somewhat Jewish area outside of Washington, D.C. Most are pretty excited when they find out I’m Jewish, and I usually try to bond with them over their excitement by mentioning holidays or fun facts on Israel. Oftentimes, I’ll ask, “What holidays are coming up?” and see their faces light up when they answer.

This week, I asked several of my students, “What holiday is coming up?” and watched as a blank stare come over their faces. One postulated, “Yom Kippur?” another looked at me as if I were crazy and said, “Uh, Passover was last month, Yael.” Finally, one exclaimed after much thought: “Oh yeah! It’s the Torah’s birthday. It’s important, right?”

Shavuot has always puzzled me. It’s an important holiday, but honestly, for the vast majority of Jews out there, it isn’t celebrated, and if it is, it’s by eating cheesecake. Even the “Jew FAQ” website who lists a “Gentiles’ Guide to the Jewish Holidays” states that “this holiday is every bit as important as Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but most American Jews don't see it that way.”

You’d think that for a holiday that considers macaroni and cheese as appropriate festive food, that Americans would be obsessed with Shavuot (myself included). It’s a happy holiday, celebrating the gift of the Torah to the Jewish people, unlike the somber holidays like Yom Kippur. So why don’t we celebrate it more?

Part of me thinks that Shavuot is a victim of its timing. Coming after Passover, a holiday that literally takes over the kitchens of most Jewish people for about a week, I think most secular folk just feel, well, tired. After thoroughly cleaning our kitchens and suffering from the havoc that matza reigns on our digestive system, the thought of creating a full-dairy meal induces a figurative stomachache (or a very real one for those who are lactose-intolerant).

Continue reading.

For more Shavuot ideas, check out our    page.

Kiyaaa! – Joaquin Phoenix and girlfriend attend Jewish-Muslim karate workshop

by Jared Sichel for JewishJournal.com

About a dozen Jewish and Muslim high school students participating in a martial arts workshop in Los Angeles got a pleasant surprise Sunday – Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominated actor Joaquin Phoenix showed up to watch with his girlfriend and renowned DJ, Allie Teilz.

Only two days earlier, Deadline.com reported that Phoenix will be starring in Woody Allen’s newest film, details of which are being kept under wraps. According to Variety.com, actress Emma Stone will star alongside Phoenix. Shooting is expected to begin in July.

Although Phoenix politely declined an interview, he and Teilz stayed for the duration of the workshop, over two hours, and he even walked around handing out bottled water to the small group of participants and observers, introducing himself and chatting with the people sitting next to him and Teilz.

In recent months, the Daily Mail has chronicled Phoenix’s karate habit, snapping photos of him leaving practice adorned in traditional martial arts garb. Sunday, he was dressed down, sporting a black hat, white shirt, and black jeans. The event was held at the Traditional Karate Academy on West Pico Boulevard, which doubles as “The Happy Minyan” synagogue on Shabbat and holidays.

The idea of bringing together Jewish and Muslim students around karate was endorsed by the United Nations Sport for Development and Peace, which aims to bridge cultural, religious, and ethnic groups through sports. UN official and conflict resolution veteran Gay Rosenblum-Kumaropened even kicked off the event via Skype, thanking the students for participating in the workshop.

The River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding supported the workshop as well.

Continue reading.

My Shabbat Dinner with Muslims

by Audra Gamble for newvoices.org

My grandmother tells this story about how a relative of hers who lived in Israel asked her, quite intensely, whether she was an American or a Jew. She didn’t know what to say; why couldn’t she be both?

For many American Jews, including me, this question is ridiculous. I have no problems with the intersecting parts of my identity. I can identify as Jewish, as American, as a college student, as a Cleveland Indians fan, and a whole host of other things without any problem.

But for those who fight for their identities and the validation of them, it is not so easy. When your life is full of uncertainty and fear, it makes sense to desperately cling to the identifying factor that you are fighting for. That thing begins to define every aspect of you.

So, the question posed to my grandmother by a man who lived in a place rife with conflict was not so preposterous for him.

It is impossible for Jews anywhere in the world to ignore events in Israel, and it is foolish to turn a blind eye on the violence – from both sides – of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is a deep and rich history of conflict, and thus hatred, between Muslims and Jews.

But that hatred is not inherent. Each and every Muslim and Jew has the ability to love rather than hate. Each and every Muslim and Jew has the ability to hug rather than hit. Each and every Muslim and Jew has the ability to chat and laugh rather than yell and fume.

And the decision to love and laugh is exactly what happened at Grand Valley State University. On March 14, the GVSU Hillel hosted its second annual Shabbat dinner welcoming the Muslim Student Association (MSA) in honor of Avi Schaefer, a young advocate for peace between Israel and Palestine who was killed by a drunk driver in 2010. Though West Michigan might not be known for its religious diversity, the GVSU students decided to put aside any differences, perceived or real, for an evening to come together for conversation and a meal.

The evening began like any other Shabbat dinner, with Shabbat prayers recited by those who knew them. We all shared some grape juice and challah, and then we grabbed plates of Mediterranean food and sat down at the same table.

Continue reading.