YDA Jewish Caucus

Exhibit is meant to counter stereotypes of Jewish moms

(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.

Read more at http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/state/15000097.htm

Hasidic Rapper Strives To Stay Atop the Charts

(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.

Read more at http://www.forward.com/articles/7459

Jewish networking site offers youths a chance to b-linked

(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.

Read more at http://theedge.bostonherald.com/teenNews/view.bg?articleid=123509

Study finds why Jewish mothers are so important

(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.

Read more at http://today.reuters.co.uk/News/NewsArticle.aspx?