I spent this past weekend with 175 Jewish high school students from the New York region of USY. The educational theme of the conference focused on the upcoming presidential election and how do decide which candidate represents our values.
In one activity, we asked the kids to look at the position papers of Clinton, Obama, and […]

-A majority of Israeli public feels religious and secular Jews ought to live in separate neighborhoods. (Ynet)
-A new poll looks at Arab and Jewish attitudes toward integration, with about half the Israeli Jewish public objecting to Arabs’ living in Jewish neighborhoods. (Haaretz)
-A new report asserts that Israeli Jews are becoming more racist toward Israeli Arabs. […]

As our homepage article addresses, many Jews from Iran left the country after the 1979 revolution. Those that came to America are just now being mobilized to take part in politics with the help of 30 Years After, a new not-for-profit organization created by young Iranian American Jews to encourage political involvement. The Forward takes […]

Is it possible that the collapse of Bear Stearns is comparable to the destruction of the Second Temple? That might be the kind of question that James Cayne, the chairman of Bear, is asking himself.
Bear’s precipitous fall hurt a lot of people, but there are few who are feeling the sting like Cayne, who just […]

This year marks the 125th anniversary of Franz Kafka’s birth. Which is, of course, totally meaningless — unless you’re looking for a good marketing hook.
Apparently, Penguin Classics was. Last month, they commemorated this anniversary by publishing a new edition of Kafka’s Metamorphosis and Other Stories, translated by Michael Hofmann.
I commemorated this event by writing […]

I came across this post from Izzy Grinspan over at Jewcy on the same day that my beloved Tagalong Girl Scout cookies showed up at my door.
Grinspan takes this quote from the Wall Street Journal on the decline of Girl Scouts:
Laurel Richie will be in charge of modernizing the image of the Girl Scouts, which […]

-Photojournalist Zion Ozeri believes in using photography to teach Jewish values. (NJ Jewish Standard)
-The Center for Online Jewish studies has prepared 25 chapter curriculum and education resource guides, on topics as diverse as Music after the Holocaust, Jewish Lobbying, Jews and Migration, Influencing Culture, The Sense of Belonging, Judaism Americanized, and Prayer and Politics. (COJS)
-Baltimore’s […]

UPDATE: It turns out this story has some major falsehoods attached to it. The FBI has since denied any involvement in this story. Click here for a full update.
“Who is a Jew?” is a question debated at the highest levels of the denominational hierarchy and the Israeli government. But on the community, short-term level, the […]

Israel is known for its technological innovations. In the fields of computers, medicine, and agriculture, the country has produced products that have revolutionized certain industries.
But does this count?

Everyone remembers ICQ, the first widely-used instant messaging application that’s all but dead in most of the world now. The Israeli software company that developed the suite before […]

-A new documentary focuses on American Jews who visit Israel, “the type of American Jew for whom support of Israel is not a foregone conclusion.” (The Jerusalem Post)
-A look at the very small but growing number of Reform Jews making aliyah. (Haaretz)
-A look at Liran Avisar Gazit, a former commander in the Israel Defense Force […]