YDA Jewish Caucus » Fun

Exhibit is meant to counter stereotypes of Jewish moms

ydajc — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 18:26:02 +0000

(San Jose Mercury News) Photographer Lloyd Wolf looked at the negative stereotypes of Jewish mothers in TV shows such as “Seinfeld” and books such as Philip Roth’s “Portnoy’s Complaint” and did not like what he saw.

“There was no positive material on Jewish mothers,” he said. “It didn’t correspond to reality.”

To remedy the problem, Wolf and writer Paula Wolfson decided to interview and photograph dozens of women across the country, “from very alternative to very orthodox types of people.” The project yielded portraits of real, capable women: midwife Alice Bailes, who calmly delivers a squealing infant; grandmother Sydell Laskowitz, posing at her bat mitzvah at age 101; doctor Rachel Eitches, proudly breast-feeding her twin daughters.

Hasidic Rapper Strives To Stay Atop the Charts

ydajc — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 21:23:37 +0000

(Forward) This may be hard for some people to believe, but there was a time when MTV did not feature a Lubavitch Hasid in regular rotation.

In just three short years, Matisyahu, also known as the Hasidic reggae superstar, has become a veritable phenomenon of Jewish and American pop culture.

Sharon Stone offers kisses for peace in Israel

ydajc — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 16:10:46 +0000

Sharon Stone is ready to do her part for Mideast peace: The steamy American actress said Wednesday she “would kiss just about anybody” to end the Israel-Arab conflict.

New Year for the Trees!

ydajc — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 22:14:01 +0000

Today marks the Jewish holiday Tu B’Shevat, the New Year for trees. The YDA Jewish Caucus wanted to share some information on this little known holiday and encourage everyone to celebrate by making sure they recycle and protect the environment:)

What is it?

On Tu B’Shevat we celebrate a New Year for the Trees, rejoicing in the fruit of the tree and the fruit of the vine, celebrating the gifts of the natural world. Tu B’Shevat marks the beginning of spring in Israel. Sustaining rains are at the peak of their power and the world responds, brimming with buds of fragrant life. To mark this moment, school children plant trees. In fact, in Israel today students boarded buses and were brought to Jewish National Fund tree forests to plant trees to celebrate Tu B’Shevat. When American young people visit Israel through the Taglit-Birthright program they have a similar opportunity. Often these trees have been provided by the contributions of Jewish students abroad through the offices of the Jewish National Fund. Many Jews will remember selling trees in Israel as a memorable part of their Hebrew School experience. If you would like more information on JNF or planting trees in Israel visit this website (http://www.jnf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=trees)

Israel & Trees

Israel is the only country in the world that will enter the 21st century with a net gain in numbers of trees. JNF has planted over 240 million saplings, providing belts of green covering more than 250,000 acres. JNF national forest development work balances population needs with limited forest ’supply.’ While the forests of Israel belong to the people, JNF ensures their environmental soundness while promoting optimal use.

Tu B’Shevat Seders
For Jews outside of Israel, Tu B’Shevat is a celebration of the renewal of vision and awareness, a celebration of connections and connectedness–to our own inner-selves, to the social world of human beings, and to the natural world.

Many In America celebrate the holiday with Tu B’Shevat Seders. The idea for the Tu B’Shevat seder originated in 17th Century Safed, by Jewish Kabbalists. Modeled by the well known Passover seder, the Tu B’Shevat seder included drinking four cups of wine with varying percentages of red and white wine, representing perhaps the shifting of yearly seasons. The seder also included readings on trees and fruit from a range of Jewish literature.The new form of celebration spread from Safed to Sephardi communities in Turkey, Italy and Greece, and later in Europe, Asia and North Africa. Modern adaptations of this centuries old practice have been created by Hillels, Jewish environmental groups and others involved in Jewish renewal.

Visit www.hillel.org, or www.jnf.org for more information on Tu B’Shevat. If you would like to know more about the Jewish Caucus working group please visit our website www.JewishCaucus.org

Jewish networking site offers youths a chance to b-linked

ydajc — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 17:01:00 +0000

(Boston Herald) There’s nothing like the Internet for quick connections. With a click of the mouse, it will bring you to thousands of other spiritually stressed-out teens faster than you can say “Shalom.”

BBYO (B’nai B’rith Youth Organization) has been touting survey results that show 68 percent of teens say religion is important to them, but 92 percent want a better connection with their faith. In response, BBYO has created b-linked.org, a Jewish MySpace for high-schoolers. Features include a personal profile, “shout outs” to friends, message boards and even help with the ruthless college search.

Study finds why Jewish mothers are so important

ydajc — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 03:42:15 +0000

(Reuters) Four Jewish mothers who lived 1,000 years ago in Europe are the ancestors of 40 percent of all Ashkenazi Jews alive today, an international team of researchers reported on Friday.

The genetic study of DNA paints a vivid picture of human evolution and survival, and correlates with the well-established written and oral histories of Jewish migrations, said Dr. Doron Behar of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, who worked on the study.