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Six Word Passover Poetry
This activity can be done in the days or weeks leading up to Passover or during your seder with a group of any size. It’s appropriate for families, kids who can write, chavruta (pairs of study partners) or even individuals pondering the upcoming holiday.
The Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Amid the tumult of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was creating another movement. Led by Rev. Dr.
Food, Kids, and Shavuot: A Winning Combo for the Holiday
Shavuot celebrates the giving of Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. Here are several activities that can help young children connect the holiday of Shavuot with Torah.
How Jews Transformed The Comic Book Industry, Part III: The Bronze Age (1979 - )
Ever since the late 1970s, comics have turned more introspective and artistically ambitious. As in the Golden and Silver Ages, Jewish comics creators have been at the cutting edge, producing works that probe Jewish history, showcase Jewish characters, and comment on spiritual and social issues. These artists have ushered in what may be termed "the Bronze Age" of comics--not because it's less esteemed than the Golden or Silver Ages, but because it is free of rose-colored gloss and glitter, and reflects the realities of the world in which we live.
How Jews Transformed The Comic Book Industry, Part II: The Silver Age (1956-1978)
By the mid-'50s, the comic book industry was in a sorry state. Allegations that the genre was promoting juvenile delinquency and illiteracy had "done in" the popular and groundbreaking horror and crime comics, and superheroes were now bland incarnations of their former selves. Batman, once a shadowy figure of the night, was recast as a high-camp boy scout battling rainbow-colored monsters.
How the Jews Created the Comic Book Industry Part I: The Golden Age (1933-1955)
1933. FDR was inaugurated, Hitler became chancellor of Germany, television was patented, and an unemployed Jewish novelty salesman named Max Gaines (née Max Ginzberg) was pondering how on earth he would be able to feed his wife Jessie and their two young children, who were living with him at his mother's house in the Bronx. To lift his spirits, he began reading some Sunday funnies stored in his mother's attic. Suddenly the idea hit him: if he enjoyed reading old comic strips like "Joe Palooka," "Mutt and Jeff," and "Hairbreadth Harry," maybe the rest of America would, too!
From the Shadows into the Light
We sat down with Qian Julie Wang, a New York Times bestselling author and a civil rights litigator, to talk about her acclaimed new memoir Beautiful Country and her Jewish journey.
A Doorway to Heroism
Imagine a German Jew who was a decorated German soldier in World War I, a resister in Cologne at the start of Hitler’s reign of terror, and a Silver Star decorated U.S. Army soldier. Three heroic actions, at three different times, in three different places. This is the story of Richard Stern, whose photograph of his protest hangs in multiple German museums, showing a rare Jewish protest in Nazi Germany. He was my Great Uncle.
Past JewV'Nation Cohorts
Learn About the Four Completed Cohorts of the JewV'Nation Fellowship
Stories We Tell: The Wooden Sword
Once, there was a king who set out on a mission in his kingdom to learn about his reputation. He travelled from town to town and eventually met a happy old man and his wife. After asking them why they were so joyous, they replied, “God takes care of us.” The king was furious—it’s him who takes care of the people, not God! What the man and his wife do next teach everyone in the kingdom, including the king, what it means to be taken care of. Rabbi Mark Kaiserman, the rabbi at Reform Temple of Forest Hills retells the story. For a written version, see “The Wooden Sword” in The Jewish Story Finder by Sharon Barcan Elswit.
Audio file