I was at Rutgers University when I got my first real exposure to Orthodox Judaism. Growing up in southern New Jersey, I never knew there were Jewish enclaves not too far from my childhood home. I most certainly had never had a group of Jewish friends my own age, much less Orthodox ones.
Being a religious Jew on campus is an isolating experience. Despite the ongoing learning programs, daily minyanim, kosher food and the 24/7 availability of the JLIC educator the challenges persist. If anything the plethora of philosophical, social and practical issues I confront have become progressively more difficult.
“Why on earth would you want to do that?” was a common response I got when I told my seminary friends my plans for college. I was going to the University of Maryland, and planned to live in the dorms.
When Rabbi Mordy Friedman met his wife, Limor, the two were spending the summer as counselors in a religious leadership-training program. The program would apparently set the tone for their future career choices: they are currently the Heshe & Harriet Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC) educators at the University of Pennsylvania,
Shouting, anti-religious slurs, evil glares and anti-Semitic rhetoric often get thrown my way as I walk through the halls during one of the countless anti-Israel demonstrations at York University. Am I a walking target?
A vibrant Orthodox campus community used to mean the availability of kosher food, a minyan that meets more than once a week and an occasional shiur. Lately, however, students have come to expect more: an eruv.
American Orthodoxy is in a financial crisis. Every crisis should inspire introspection, and as a community we should respond to this challenge by seeking the spiritual message behind it. At the same time, we must also confront the numerous, complex practical challenges that the economic crisis presents.
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In February 2009, the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits soared to an all-time high of nearly five million. Now for the good news. In response to the growing number of unemployed in our community, the Orthodox Union’s (OU) Job Board has stepped up its efforts.
It is not an exaggeration to state that the effects of the tuition crisis can sometimes be horrific. As a community, we must consider serious, viable solutions for this crisis.
With the economic crisis deepening, the Orthodox Union (OU) is offering a series of workshops on coping in today’s financially turbulent times...
Moe Feuerstein, a man with a vision of the role of religion in life—a legend in his time. The well-known Rashi in Bereishit, describing the impact of a righteous person upon the community in which he lives, fits Moe like a glove: “While the tzaddik is in the city, he is its glory, its splendor, its beauty.”
For a little more than two months in the twenty-square-mile area where most of the Catskills frum bungalow colonies are located, men from Modern Orthodox, Chassidic, Yeshivish and Sephardic backgrounds, who live in different neighborhoods, daven in different shuls and travel in different circles the rest of the year, become teammates or friendly opponents.
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