JVOICES

One of the things that I love about new media is that sometimes you still get to see at least part of events you weren’t able to make it to in person.
With that, I saw today that the Applied Research Center has posted some videos and summaries from their latest conference, “Facing Race”. The [...]

for poetry month (why april, by the way? ‘the cruelest month’? ‘with his shoures soote’? please.), here’s the text of a talk by irena klepfisz - a fantastic poet in yiddish, english, and both at once, as well as an insightful essayist and deeply committed radical - from a 2006 conference at barnard college called “Jewish Women Changing America: Cross-Generational Conversations”. at the bottom is a poem from one of klepfisz’s books. a complete transcript of the “Changing Culture” panel that klepfisz spoke on (and the rest of the conference) is available online here.

Jerusalem Open House has submitted applications for the 2007 Pride march this summer, and the first article appeared in Ha’aretz late last night. Read the article, and then read the comments, if you dare. **warning** The comments should not be read if you have high blood pressure, or may be pregnant, or have been diagnosed [...]

Microfinance has increasingly been in the news since this past fall, when Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
My friend Avi has been working on this for almost a year, and the first big event is coming up on Thursday March 29th at 6:00 pm in [...]

Parashat Terumah
The Gift of Safe Space
by Y. Gavriel A. Levi Ansara on Saturday February 24, 2007
6 Adar 5767
Exodus 25:1 - 27:19,Shabbat
Parashat Terumah opens with G-d speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai and commanding him in meticulous detail regarding the construction of the Mishkan, or “tabernacle,� the portable dwelling place of G-d’s presence that the Israelites [...]

Following on Tucker’s comment, this just in:
Marc Schneier, an Orthodox rabbi in New York, and hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons have joined forces to produce a short film to combat negative stereotypes of Muslims.
The film, which will be shot in the coming weeks under Schneier’s direction, will also feature the legendary Jewish hip-hop group the Beastie [...]

I have been an active member of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) for the past year. It’s been an incredibly fulfilling experience, and not only because it provided me with a Jewish community when I first moved to New York, but also because it gives me an opportunity to play a part [...]

Surprise! In the quest for a home for the George Dubya Presidential Library, the most likely candidate is reluctant to accept. Southern Methodist University, Laura Bush’s alma mater, is dealing with heavy opposition to building the library on campus from their own ministers.
“Methodists have a long history of social conscience, so questions about the [...]

CBST Rabbis’ Sharon Kleinbaum and Ayelet Cohen, leaders of the largest LGBT synagogue in the world, have offered one of the best concise responses I’ve seen thus far in noting the outcomes of the Committee on Jewish Laws and Standards decision this week. I say concise because while I agree with a lot of it, [...]

Sunday November 26. I fixate on the photo of Sean Bell with Nicole Paultre his about-to-be wife and their laughing baby. November 25, their wedding day. Police fired 50 bullets at the groom and two friends., Sean Bell is dead. Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman are hospitalized, seriously wounded.
They were unarmed.
What makes [...]