The Rest of the Story

At college campuses around the world this week, Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) is taking place. The one thing you can count on from this movement is a whitewashing of the facts.

I heard from an IAW participant earlier this week that Israel “built walls around all of the water sources and controls the water flow to the West Bank.” He presented this as straight fact and used it to illustrate his claim that “Israel is trying to annihilate the Palestinian people over a prolonged period.”

The facts of the water issue are, among many, that this is an issue that the two sides are working in tandem on, and while Israel does have walls around some (definitely not all) Palestinian water sources, they are often erected at the request of the Palestinian Authority, who also requests Israeli security assistance to protect said water sources for Hamas attacks. So while Israel has built walls around Palestinian water sources and guards them with soldiers and weapons, they do this not entirely for the reasons that the IAW people would like you to believe.

Sure to be front and center at IAW demonstrations, events, and literature is Israel’s Security Barrier. Like the water issue, sure not to be mentioned are the facts.

In 2002, it is estimated that 410 Israelis were killed in attacks emanating from the West Bank. In 2009, the figure was 5. Security experts and the Israeli military attribute the bulk of this decline to the success of the Barrier. This monumental reduction has given Israel the confidence to remove two-thirds of the West Bank security checkpoints, which has opened up freedom of movement and commerce, resulting in an estimated 7-8% economic growth over the past two years in the West Bank during a time of general worldwide recession. Further, in response to Palestinian complaints, Israel has begun moving parts of the Barrier, allowing Palestinians in effected areas to reclaim lost land and familial/local connections.

The reduction in violence created by the success of the Barrier has allowed Israel to take more risks than it has in the past to benefit the Palestinians. Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has, for the first time in his career, acknowledged the right of the Palestinians to their own nation. In so doing, he has emphasized economic development in the West Bank, such as the removal of travel checkpoints and easing of Israel-West Bank travel restrictions. From the Palestinian side, PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad have created a antiviolence tone. Fayyad, in particular, has latched onto the importance of economy-building, just as Netanyahu has embraced.

Fayyad’s embrace is nothing short of a fundamental shift in the Palestinian nationalist movement. His predecessor, Yasser Arafat, built the Palestinian narrative on revolutionary tenets of violent resistance and victimhood. Fayyad has instead decided to inspire a sense of individual and group empowerment and independence as practiced peacefully by most of the world.

Here are some specific examples of benefits derived by the Palestinians from the Barrier:
-Approximately 2,000 new businesses in the West Bank registered with the Palestinian Authority since 2008, including a second mobile phone service provider that is expected to inject $700 million into the West Bank economy and generate $354 million in revenue for the Palestinian Authority
-In Bethlehem, the rise in tourism has led to 6,000 new jobs

The IAW movement, along with its various cohorts, has been and will be preaching that Israel is trying to strangle the Palestinians with its Security Barrier. The notorious “10 word answer” is a concept that in 10 words you can articulate an argument more persuasively than you can in 100 because, in having to keep it simple and to the point, you find the 10 most powerful words. The Security Barrier is not an issue that lends itself to the 10 word answer. So far I have used 645 words to make the case for the Barrier, and in doing so have painted a more complete picture. If you should run into someone participating in IAW, and they give you the 10 word statement, as them for the next 650 words.
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Purim Party Bus Might Have Become the First Annual

After an epic night of shenanigans, tomfoolery, Megillah mashups, Hamantashen, Temples, costumes, and drinks (oh my!) the results are in, the Purim Party Crawl was a success.

The bus, which made stops at Central Reform, Shaare Emeth, B'nai Amoonah, Bais Abe, Sub Zero and the Next Dor house, ferried more than 25 young adults in elementary school style... that is if your elementary school allowed beer on the bus.

The Party Crawl didn't just get everyone shikkured, in addition to seeing a few of the area's Synagogues and meeting members at each, the event also gathered some much needed toiletries for Jewish Family & Children's Services.

You can check out the pictures here and read the press release here
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Purim Party Crawl

Wow, Purim is upon us! No longer just the realm of little children dressing up and making noise, this year, there are actually options for Jewish young adults to live it up for the Jewish holiday affectionately known as 'pour-em'.

It just so happened that this past Sunday, over some freshly baked Hamantashen at Next Dor, a few of the 'tashen tasters wanted to know what was actually going down for Purim.

See, Purim happens to be the holiday on which it is considered an obligation to get obliterated, a commandment to get krunked, if you will. . . Shikkered is preferred.

Between Megillah readings at EVERY synagogue, YABA's young adult party at Bais Abe, JGrad's party at Subzero, and other opportunities, someone came up with the great idea to create a Purim 'Pub-Crawl-esque' Party Crawl.

Here we are, a day-and-a-half later, and the party bus has been procured, and the plans are being cemented. So here is the proposal: RSVP here, and become part of the first annual Pour-em Party Crawl with the Krewe De Jew. Mardi Gras beads optional, Mardi Gras spirit encouraged.

Learn more about Purim and drinking here
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One Night A Year, Getting Sloshed Is A Mitzvah

Q:You mean getting shikkered is a mitzvah?

A:Oh.. you didn't know that on Purim you are supposed to drink until you can't tell the difference between the protagonist (Mordechai)' and antagonist (Haman)'s names?

It's true, and we decided to take our training for this Mitzvah to the streets with Beer School. Yes, that's right. Beer School.

In our early preparations for Purim, we checked out Cicero's Beer School, a free event that goes down every Wednesday night at 5:30. Every week, a different brewer provides samples of their most interesting beers and talks about what the beer is and what makes it so special.

Yesterday, Founders Brewing Company poured some of their liquid bread, including a breakfast stout replete with notes of coffee and chocolate, and a viscous, almost think pour.

The room was packed, and I have to say, on an empty stomach, those big beers sure catch up to you quickly.

How are you getting geared up for the Tribe's big party day?

Are you joining us at Next Dor for Hamantaschen baking on Sunday at 3?

Are you getting down with Young Adults @ Bais Abe (YABA) Purim Party?

For 20's and 30's: Come celebrate Purim Saturday, February 27 at 9:00pm with YABA! The party at Bais Abe (6910 Delmar Blvd.) will include live music, delicious snacks, drinks, a costume contest, and other entertainment. $5 suggested donation. Check out www.baisabe.com.

Maybe a Mad-Men style Pour-Em party is more your cup of scotch, if so, Temple Israel is throwing down the same night, starting at 8 PM (email vsiegel@ti-stl.org for more info).

It doesn't matter how or where you decide to celebrate, but we urge you to be responsible and honor the ages old tradition to throw back a breakfast stout in honor of being saved by Queen Esther's beauty and brains.

And don't forget... Beer, its not just for breakfast anymore
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What's Up This Week?

Ok, so Mardi Gras slowed our ability to get you the updates, we apologize.

Without further ado (although further adieu would make more cajun sense), here is what's going on.

Tonight, start off your night right with Yoga at Next Dor before heading out to the Broadway Oyster Bar to celebrate Fat Tuesday with Gumbohead and the Funky Butt Brass Band.

Tomorrow, KWUR Week kicks off at Washington University with cheap shows. Shows go through the weekend and span musical genres, so click the above link to see what's happening, and when.

Thursday night, Galactic is in town and gettin down at the Pageant. The afterparty will be at Halo, and rumor is that Galactic will be sitting in with the Dogtown Allstars.

Then, it's already Friday. Not just any Friday either, but a 3rd Friday, that means a big free meal. You should probably put that on the agenda. As if that wasn't enough, The Pinstripes bring their magical musical experience to St. Louis with a show at the Library in Soulard.

Saturday night, YPD throws down with its annual open bar bash. A good fun time is practically guaranteed, but you might want to think about arranging for a cab or carpool.

If you have any energy left after YPD's shindig, or just want to extend the night, Lubriphonic will probably do the trick at the Gramophone.

Sunday, be sure to pick up your favorite filling for Hamantaschen making at Next Dor.

Did you calendar have any St. Lou Jew in it? It does now. Bam.
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Moishe House Makes The New York Times

Everyone's favorite non-institutional organization for post-college Jews was just covered in the New York Times.

That's right, in a few short years, the organization has gone from a few houses on the West Coast supported by a single philanthropist to a national non profit with houses around the world.

Big shout outs to Rebecca Karp of MH Philly for being featured in the article.

The St. Louis Moishe House opened less than 2 years ago and has received quite a bit of local attention since.

Read the full articlehere. Read More......

The Pinstripes Return To St. Louis

The St. Lou Jew's Favorite Reggae/Soul/Ska band is coming back to St. Louis, and you should be there. The group, now on Rock Band , with their single, "Come On In", is creating quite a name for themselves. As Brian Baker, a reviewer for Cincinnati's Citybeat says, "If you’re not having fun at a Pinstripes show, brothers and sisters, check for a toe tag. Your autopsy may already be in progress."

The Pinstripes are a hard working band. They tour on weekends, record at night, and connect with fans all day. Not only does lead singer Mike Sarason hold down a job as editor for David's Voice, a Jewish web magazine that's sort of like a cross between The St. Lou Jew and Jewishinstlouis.org, he also writes and arranges a lot of the music, makes time for interviews and tour dates.

The group, which has been together more than 5 years now, comes back to St. Louis on Friday the 19th to showcase their amazing live show at The Library in Soulard for KDHX's annual show.

We hope to see you there. Read More......

Win Tickets To See Second City's Jewsical The Musical

That's right, The St. Lou Jew, with help from the St. Louis Jewish Community Center and Next Dor STL are giving you the opportunity to win tickets to see Second City when they come to town for the opening of the new JCC Arts & Education building. Read on to learn how to win.

Regular readers will remember our earlier piece on the opening of the new building, including the Second City performances. We are please to announce that the Lisa Liebshutz, the woman responsible for bringing SC to STL has generously provided The St. Lou Jew and Next Dor STL with three pairs of tickets to give you a chance to see one of the funniest and best known comedy troupes in the country.

Lisa Liebshutz sees the new Arts & Education building being able to provide something for everyone, whether it be through dance, music, art, or just a great place to throw a party. Liebshutz, who has been with the JCC for about five years as their Events Director, wanted to set the tone for the new building by bringing in something out of the ordinary. It just so happened that SC was performing Jewsical the Musical and when she stumbled on their website, she knew it would be perfect.

So how do you get your hands on the tickets? Stop by Next Dor during any event over the next couple weeks and fill out an information card so we know you dropped in. Every Monday for the next three weeks (2/15, 2/22, 3/1), we'll randomly select a name to receive the tickets. That means that if you have previously filled out a card, you are all set, but if you have come to the house and haven't filled out a card, drop back through. With free Yoga on Tuesdays, Shulchan Ivrit on Wednesdays and other upcoming events sprinkled around, it shouldn't be too hard to find a time that works.

If you can't make it to the house, you can always be old fashioned and buy the tickets here
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YPD Kickoff Event: The Red Carpet Event

Once a year comes the event known as 'The YPD Campaign Kickoff Event'. This stodgy name belies what is usually the biggest event of the year for young Yids in St. Louis. So while synagogues struggle to attract young adults and organizations face aging membership, why does this kickoff kick ass?

In two words: Open Bar. In a few more, this is the one night a year that post-college Jewish kids know their peers will be out in force. Everybody shows up. People you haven't seen since last year show up. And it's fun. Because for one night, everyone forgets that they hate driving somewhere new and meeting new people. They forget that the community is too small to let people loosen up too much. And for one night, it really works.

Last year, we met a lot of great people, many of whom are now good friends. This year, we hope there are still a few more people to meet.

The event takes place at Randall Gallery (999 N. 13th Street) next Saturday night, February 20th. For more details click here and to take the dive and register, click here.

If we haven't already, hope to meet you there. We'll be the ones hovering around the bar when we aren't on the dancefloor and avoiding the photographers.
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Tu B'shvat Seder At Next Dor.

If you missed the Seder this weekend, read on for how it went down.

JewishinStlouis just published this press release:

Tu B’shvat Seder at Next Dor
Program brings Jewish environmentalism, tradition to young adults.

On Saturday, January 30th a group of Jewish young adults got together at the Next Dor House to hold a Tu B’shvat Seder, a tradition dating back to 16th century Sfat. The event was planned by Molly Zeff, who read about the Next Dor House in the Jewish Light and connected with Next Dor Program Director Yoni Sarason. Zeff, who has been a part of many young Jewish communities around the East Coast and just returned to St. Louis, had the idea to connect Jewish environmentalism and wonder with Tu B’shvat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees.

Says Zeff:

"Having never been to a Next Dor event or met anyone from the community besides [Yoni Sarason], I had no idea what to expect when I led a Tu B’shvat seder there this past Saturday night that was focused on the interrelated themes of awe and stewardship within Judaism's texts on the environment. At Next Dor, I found a welcoming, easygoing bunch of Jewish twenty-somethings, and we ended up having a fun (and sometimes humorous) seder full of engaging discussions about topics such as what we need beyond action when it comes to Jewish environmental activism and what we care about changing with regards to "greening" St. Louis.

"I am thinking about moving back to St. Louis, and it was exciting to see that there is a venue through which young Jews can act on issues that are important to them, as well as a place where you can get to know people with similar interests. Next Dor is really fulfilling its vision of being a community built by and for young Jews -- as well as a place that is continuously open to the ideas of anyone who walks through its doors."

“Molly approached us with a great idea,” said Sarason.

“She put a lot of thought into the Seder and it was interesting and informational, as well as relaxed and enjoyable.”

Zeff invited participants to help her decorate the Next Dor dining room with pictures of natural landscapes and quotes, and to partake in the many different fruits, including traditional Israeli species like figs and dates, which she brought.

The Seder itself pulled from a wide variety of sources and provided the opportunity for participation and reflection.

The Next Dor house is specifically designed to support Jewish young adults with ideas for programs, events, or activities such as Zeff’s Tu Bishvat Seder. For more information, please visit www.nextdorstl.org or www.facebook.com/nextdorstl

You can see the original here.

Stay tuned for a podcast of part of the Seder!
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PechaKucha; Signs Of Life

Amongst our list of things to do this week was a little something called PechaKucha, in which people present ideas across 20 slides of 20 seconds each. Turns out, it's pretty damn cool.

It had the possibility to be totally weird. But the attraction of meeting interesting people and hearing new ideas was too much.

We showed up to the new space, the basement of a historic building right next to left bank books downtown. It was just 7, and the place was packed, a few hundred young adults, some in business attire, some more artsy and laid back, even a few past the 'target demographic'.

We heard from artists who had created non profits to help restore furniture and rehabilitate inmates, from entrepreneurs looking to light up bridges, broadcast films on the sides of buildings, and create blacksmith programs. We learned about a company that helps workers in the corporate world have fun with Montessori-like training methods, and heard from Miss Metrolink herself, Liz Kramer. WeAreSTL made an appearance to talk about their upcoming film festival (and will be holding a subsequent meeting at Next Dor). There was even a woman who started a jewelry business talking about her wares.

So what?

So we'll tell you what. . . There was an amazing energy in that room as young adults, all interesting in their own right, came to learn about the ideas and projects of others, and connect with each other. It just felt legit. Sure, the format has its drawbacks, as some slides seemed to last forever with little commentary, while others seemed to fly by without sufficient explanation, but the fact that so many people came together in order to promote innovation and progress in St. Louis (and not just promote, these people are actually doing something about it), was quite positive.

To see some of the slides and learn more about the event, check out the site here
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Upcoming Events!

PechaKucha Night A Tu Bishvat Seder, YPD Happy hour, an interesting new exhibit at the History Museum and so much more are going down, so let the St. Lou Jew be your guide for a good time.

Starting from the most imminent event, Wednesday night, Jan. 27th, from 7pm-8:30pm, Science on Tap will be going down at the Schlafly Bottleworks, Crown Room, in Maplewood at 7260 Southwest Ave. and will feature Professor William Wallace who will speak on: Michelangelo: Artist, Aristocrat and Engineer.

Michelangelo is universally recognized as one of the greatest artists of all time. Professor Wallace, an internationally recognized expert on Michelangelo, will speak about the challenges and excitement of writing a modern biography of the famous Renaissance artist. Dr. Wallace offers a substantially new view of Michelangelo, who was not only a great sculptor, painter, architect, engineer and poet, but also an aristocrat who believed in the ancient and noble origins of his family. Much of his new biography is written from the words of Michelangelo and his contemporaries, giving insight into his ability to befriend and influence others--even saying "no" to popes and kings--as well as the culture and society of Renaissance Florence and Rome.

Carpools from the Next Dor house at 6:45 PM

If you'd rather be speaking Hebrew than learning about Michaelangelo, come check out Shulchan Ivrit at the Next Dor house around 7:30 for an informal way to listen to and speak the Mother Tongue of the Tribe.

Thursday night, St. Louis hosts its first PechaKucha night. What is PechaKucha? PechaKucha Nights are informal and fun gatherings where creative people get together and share their ideas, works, thoughts, holiday snaps - just about anything really, in the PechaKucha 20x20 format. (PechaKucha 20x20 is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images forward automatically and you talk along to the images.) For more backstory, hit up the site For more info about the STL PechaKucha night, go here

This Saturday, a Tu Bishvat Seder will be held at Next Dor. Tu Bishvat is like the Jewish Arbor day, and has taken on a lot of Jewish environmental associations. This will not be a seder in the traditional sense, so much as an opportunity to enjoy really good natural foods and discuss Jewish environmental values. To find out more and to RSVP, click here.

Next Wednesday, YPD (the Young Professionals Division of the Federation) is hosting a happy hour at Boogaloo, a great bar and restaurant in Webster Groves. If you haven't sat at the bar swings, you really should. RSVP here.

History Museum is hosting a new exhibit called Race: Are we all so different? The exhibit has been gaining accolades for its deconstruction of ideas of race and should be "the talk of the town" according to a Post-Dispatch article. For more info, click here.

Did we miss something?

Email us at thestloujew at gmail dot com.
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St. Louis Jewish Entrepreneurs: Jason Jacobs and Dipity Dough To GO

Imagine, it's getting late on a Saturday night and you feel an irresistible urge to eat cookies. Are you going to go mix up a batch? Go to the store and buy the instant dough? Now, thanks to Jason Jacobs and his start up, Dipity Dough To Go, you can just pick up the phone and have cookies delivered to you.

Jacobs, whose parents own Serendipity, an Ice Cream shop, had the idea to create fresh baked cookie delivery service similar to, "a pizza delivery place, however Dipity Dough To Go will deliver Serendipity Ice Cream, Milk, and Warm Cookies." The idea, while not new to students of Indiana University or Wisconsin University, marks a first for St. Louis, a city known to be unfriendly to late night snackers.



I have to admit, in a City like St. Louis, I wasn't sure what to think of DDTG. Would people respond to the convenience of cookies delivered to their doorstep, or would they just give up, eat raw tollhouse dough out of a tub, or worse, get their fourth meal on at Taco Bell?

So last night, with a team of intrepid explorers, we went to check out the secret baking facility where the magic happens. It was a pretty unassuming building, you might miss it (which we did), if not for Jacobs' excellent directions ("no, behind the soccer arena").

We were able to see the whole operation in the works, answering phone calls, baking cookies, packing them up for delivery, and the best part, we got to try some of the wares.

I must say, the cookies are rich enough that it is worth taking advantage of the free drink they are throwing in this opening weekend

Currently, Dipity Dough To Go delivers Thursday to Sunday 7pm to 1am but Jacobs says he has plans to adjust his hours based on demand. As a flyer points out, "the later you order, the later we bake."

For more information about how to support this young entrepreneur (by eating cookies), check out the website or call them tonight at 314-918-TOGO(8646) and tell them you heard about them from the St. Lou Jew. They might even hook you up!
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Maya Escobar On Display!

The St. Lou Jew's favorite Guatemalan-Jewish Artist, Maya Escobar is on display!

Frida Kahlo played with the identity that she wanted to project and the identity that was placed on her by others. Kahlo used her clothing, political affiliations, sexual escapades, and personal traumas, to create a character that informed her body of work. She inscribed her identity, painting her image over and over, constructing a mythology around her persona.



In el es frida kahlo artist Maya Escobar confronts the ambivalence she experiences as a result of her simultaneous obsession with Frida Kahlo and weariness towards her commodification. Viewed from a tiny pinhole, Escobar, dressed as Kahlo stands before a reproduction of one of her self portraits. With a mixture of rage, anxiety, and complete fear, she chants “el es Frida Kahlo, ella es Frida Kahlo, el es Frida Kahlo, yo soy, yo soy, yo soy Frida Kahlo,” he is Frida Kahlo, she is Frida Kahlo, I am, I am, I am Frida Kahlo. As Escobar yells, the painting behind her begins to fall. She violently tears down her braids and smudge off her makeup while continuing to yell “I am Frida Kahlo, I am Frida Kahlo, yo soy Frida Kahlo!”

el es frida kahlo will be on view at the Bruno David Gallery in St. Louis, MO from 1/22-3/6. Read More......

“Hops for Haiti”, held at Next Dor, Raises Over $620 for Haiti Earthquake Relief

Saturday night, January 16th, the place to be was Next Dor, the house dedicated to creating community for Jewish young adults, as over sixty people gathered to have a good time and raise money to help people in Haiti after last Tuesday’s devastating earthquake.

Organized by Roland Roth and Next Dor STL (now incorporated as a Missouri non-Profit), the “Hops for Haiti” program was conceived just 30 hours before as two young community leaders sat drinking hot chocolate at Scape Bistro in the Central West End. Both wanted to do something for those struggling in Haiti but didn’t know what to do. Roth’s father was born and raised in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, and knew that many family and friends were either missing or presumed dead.

It was suggested that an event could be hosted at Next Dor to raise money and awareness, and “Hops for Haiti” was born. “It is important that Next Dor promote social action and a sense of collective responsibility through accessible and fun communal events,” said Yoni Sarason, Program Director for Next Dor, “and judging by the response we received, it is important to our peers as well.”

Within 30 hours Schlafly Brewing Company had given two kegs at employee pricing, donations by Miller and Magic Hat Brewing Companies came in, cups and Sharpies had been purchased, a Facebook Event Page had been started, and the text message/email/cell phone machine had been activated.

Neither expected to raise over $620 in one night, much less with one day’s notice, but that’s exactly what happened.

Roth was surprised that so many people came not because they got the Facebook invite or because they were associated with Next Dor but rather that they “heard about it from somebody who heard about it from somebody else.”

“One lady came in and said she was there for the ‘Haiti Hop’ and I said ‘Close enough’”, Roth laughs. “That this devastation in Haiti could cause so many people to give to great charities in so many ways and in so many methods, including text messages, is very cool.”

Aware that the money is needed immediately, as fresh water and food is becoming scarcer and the outlook increasingly bleak by the day, Roth and Sarason agreed that 100% of the proceeds would be given to American Jewish World Service’s Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund.

AJWS created this fund to put particular focus “on aiding populations in the crisis zone that have not already been targeted for large-scale relief, such as poor and rural areas outside Port-au-Prince.” (www.ajws.org) AJWS's long-standing partnerships in the region have enabled them to send funding directly to their grantees in hard-hit areas on the ground who have the knowledge and capacity to spend the money effectively where it is most immediately needed.

All money in this fund will:

Support search and rescue efforts by community volunteers
Provide food and shelter for survivors
Provide emergency health services and education to help reduce the second wave of casualties due to wounds, contamination from corpses and human waste
Clear roadways to facilitate rescue and distribution of emergency supplies
Provide emergency psychosocial support to survivors
Fund humanitarian aid being sent from the Haitian-Dominican community in the Dominican Republic that includes two mobile clinics, medical supplies, donations and volunteers
Support longer-term recovery (in the months following the earthquake) including rebuilding of community centers, clinics and schools; replanting of crops and farms to reestablish the local food supply and provide a source of income; and support to community-based organizations’ efforts to rebuild civil society.
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Chase Community Giving Challenge, Help the Friendship Circle

Want to help an important cause without having to spend any money? The Chase Community Giving Challenge is making it easy.

The first round of the contest started with 500,000 charities trying to get the most votes, and now, in the second round the top 100 charities are competing for the most votes in order to win $1 million. The only Jewish organization left in the contest is the Friendship Circle.

Through the Friendship Circle, teen volunteers pair up with children and teens with special needs for fun, life-skill-building activities at its LifeTown Building. The Friendship Circle also provides support for families of children with special needs and raises awareness and acceptance within the community. The organization was started by Chabad Lubavitch of Michigan in 1994 and has since grown to include 80 locations and over 11,000 weekly volunteers worldwide.

The contest runs though next Friday the 22nd. Each person on Facebook can only vote once per charity, and it only takes a few seconds. The easiest way is to vote is to go to votefc.com and then follow the links from there.
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Second City In St. Louis!

Second City, the famous comedy act from Chicago, with so many famous alumni it has its own Wikipedia page, will be performing in St. Louis. You should probably be there.

The troupe is performing a show called Jewsical the Musical at the opening of the new JCC arts and education building.

Last night John Karney of KMOX had Knute Horwitz (Jewsical cast member) on his show. The interview is online here

Tickets are $25, which is a whole lot cheaper than trekking up to Chicago to see them.

For more information, check out the facebook page Read More......

Crazy Next Dor Press!

This week has been huge in the press department for Next Dor. Two local papers have published stories, and the community feedback has been incredibly positive!

Shortly after Jewish In St. Louis published their piece about us a few weeks ago, we spoke with a writer for the Jewish Light. That story appears in the most recent copy of the Light (see below for the story)

Shortly thereafter, we were contacted by a writer from the Saint Louis Beacon who had heard about the project through the Light and wanted to know more. You can read his story here

Here is the story from the Light:

Next Dor STL in the Saint Louis Jewish Light
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What Is At The Center Of Judaism Today?

I remember having a conversation about six months ago with a friend who had become religious. He asked me what was at the center of everything we are doing in our Jewish community organizing, in our blogging, and our actions.

It isn't an easy question to answer. Why are we trying to bring people together? To promote a certain culture, belief system, and lifestyle? What is at the core?

For him, the answer was simple. Literally, it was one word, "Torah". Seriously, he said that ultimately, everything that we as Jews do, has to revolve around the Torah. I bring it up now after a conversation I had yesterday with the Rabbi of the Traditional Congregation.

Tuesday, Next Dor hosted a meeting of the Rabbinical Association of St. Louis, to which most if not all congregational Rabbis, plus a few organizational (JCC) and chaplain Rabbis belong.

It was an opportunity to showcase the progress made on the house and to show the reality of what Next Dor STL is doing. I had the opportunity to present and also was able to speak one-on-one with a few of the Rabbis after their meeting.

This particular Rabbi posed an interesting challenge to our model, explaining that it is not enough to 'just have Jewish people doing things together'. He asked, more directly, where is the 'Jewish' part of it.

This isn't the first time the question has been posed, and it is an interesting question, which puts a certain marker upon the interrogator. You see, Judaism is a religion, but Jews are far more than practitioners or believers of this religion. We have grown from a small tribe into various ethnic and cultural offshoots, with varying degrees of traditions, rituals, and beliefs.

To illustrate this Rabbi's perspective a bit better, when I told him that our board, having held a meeting on a Saturday night, spontaneously decided to have Havdalah, he responded that while he found it a positive that we 'chose' to hold the ritual, for him it is not a matter of wanting, but of being commanded.

Are a secular Jewish world view and a religious Jewish world view incompatible? Are they inconsistent? If nothing else, this exchange opens the doors to some interesting dialogue, would you show up if we hosted this Rabbi to discuss and debate his views?

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New Year, New Landscape

2009 aka 2000 and grind is out, taking with it the decade known in the UK as the 'naughties'. What is in is twenty-ten, the worst of the recession might be behind us, and this year, we make history.

It is pretty amazing to note just how far things have come in a year. Not much more than 12 months ago, we started talking about how to change the social landscape for Jewish young adults in St. Louis. With little more than half a year of Moishe House living under our belts, we set out to redefine our experience.

Now here we are with a house dedicated to Next Dor. There have been several stories written, some currently in the presses, and others in process of being written about our efforts and a growing base of interested peers who want to connect with the community we are building.

And that's just the beginning.

So now that our foundation is laid, how will you get the most from it? How are you going to become a part of defining your future and the direction of young Jewish culture for the city?

The doors are wide open at Next Dor
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So What Did Barry Rosenberg Have To Say?

Last Wednesday, Barry Rosenberg, the Executive Vice President of the St. Louis Jewish Federation, made some time to speak to a group of young adults at the Next Dor House. He spoke about his experiences in the Jewish communal world and answered some tough questions. So just what did he have to say?

Answering a question about duplications of effort, and over-saturation of the young adult world, Barry said that, while the city certainly has way too many synagogues, it probably still doesn't have enough options for young adults.

He spoke about St. Louis provincialism, and how there is greater awareness now that this isn't the easiest city to move to, or move back to. Barry attributes the 'closed' nature of St. Louis to the fact that you simply don't have as many people in St. Louis who aren't from here, which he looks at as a source of strength for many existing organizations, but a problem if you want to break in or create change.

Part of it, Barry admits, is just numbers. You just don't have the same numbers of young adults here in St. Louis and so, he says, more is better until we reach that critical mass.

The conversation took some interesting twists and turns, particularly when asked why competition is seen as a good thing in the for profit world, and a bad thing in the not for profit world.

Stay tuned for the full (edited) podcast of the discussion soon and to find out what is coming up at Next Dor, be sure to check out nextdorstl.org and facebook.com/nextdorstl
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Coastie's: Codeword for Jewish American Princesses?

For many of us who attended Midwestern Universities, there was a divide in culture (and often Socio-economic status) between students from the Midwest and students from the coast. A recent video out of the University of Wisconsin tackles the issue of 'Coastie's head on, and it specifically calls out Jewish girls spending their 'daddy's money'.

Props to Jewschool for bringing this to our attention.

Coastie is defined on Wikipedia as

a term used in Midwestern U.S. universities to denote students who come from outside of the region, mainly from the East or West coast. The term is also used to describe students from the suburbs of Chicago. The term is thought to have been coined in the early to mid 90s. Although the most general use of the term denotes only the origin of these students, there are often implicit or explicit associations that use of the term can evoke. One is that coasties do not pay their own tuition because they come from socioeconomically privileged families. Other associations include living in private residence halls and membership in a fraternity or a sorority. Additional associations are fashion-related and are therefore more ephemeral. The most recent coastie fashion consists of Ugg boots, The North Face jackets, plain black leggings, American Apparel v-neck t-shirts, Longchamp Bags, and over-sized sunglasses.

The term took on new life, however, when the following video starting making its rounds:



As you can clearly hear, the performers call special attention to Jewish honeys (attractive girls) spending daddy's money, as well as a clear Jewish American Princess line.

Now, I'm with Talib Kweli when he says

Now if they call you out your name and that's a different thing
Anything but Queen I'll go to war like a King

And normally I'd be willing to go to war for my Jewish honeys, except that... well... it kind of rings true. It's not that 'Coasties' can just be reduced to their material components, but there sure were a lot of girls (and guys) at Wash U who sported the attire described on the Wikipedia article.

Dearest 'Coastie' friends, how does this song resonate with you? Are you infuriated? Flattered? Or does it not bother you since you moved back to the coast after school and haven't thought about the fly-over states since?

For various responses see: the AP article, the Heeb quip and the Sisterhood response.

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What's Up This Week?

So you missed 3rd Fridays at Next Dor? Not to worry, check out the glorious pictures here (and see if you can spot our contributors among the more than 40 people who showed up).

This is one of those weeks where it can be hard to be Jewish. With Christmas cheer all over the airwaves (seriously, even KDHX's Reggae shows played Yuletide music), and with Hannukah gone for another year, what are you do to?

Well, if you aren't afraid to brave the cold, come out Wednesday night to talk with Barry Rosenberg, an experienced non profit educator, and Executive Vice President of the Federation. Barry will be discussing his experiences in the community, giving us insider information into future direction, and is happy to engage in a little back and forth. To see the details, please click here

Thursday night, celebrate annual Chinese food and movie night with The Hebrew Hammer, at the Next Dor house. For details, email nextdorstl at gmail dot com. Read More......

End Of The Week Updates

You might have noticed a bit of a lag in the content here at The St. Lou Jew.

Most of it just has to do with the sheer amount of activities going on outside of the blogosphere, but we apologize nonetheless. The upshot is that there is so much to tell you about! Read on for all of the updates.

Starting out with what is going on tonight, join 3rd Friday's for the monthly Shabbat dinner, taking place this evening at Next Dor. The food is free, so stop on by.

Speaking of free, we found a really interesting article examining the impact of free event on Jewish young adults. The question being discussed is how free events impact both the immediate turn out (positively) and how they impact a sense of entitlement and future donations (negatively). You can read that article here

On an entirely unconnected note, a friend passed a long a NYT article that notes that most Christmas music was actually made by Jews. Long known to all Christian conspiracy theorists, this music tends to be fairly secular in nature, and illustrate the quest for acceptance many Jewish Americans felt over the past century. That article can be found here

Now, on to our favorite strip of land in the Middle East where Danny Ayalon, the Deputy Foreign Minister, wrote an op-ed in Arabic in one of the largest pan-Arab newspapers calling for a new relationship between Israel and her neighbors to combat extremism and to fight global warming. To see what Ayalon had to say (in English), click here

Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom
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Paradigm Shift In Thinking About Israel

Those of us with a liberal arts degree are familiar with terms like 'colonial', 'imperial', and 'native'. Many of us have toyed with moral relativism long enough to blur the line between terrorists and freedom fighters and, while embodying a liberal mindset that prides itself on openness and alternative narratives, we have become susceptible to propaganda that fits this world view.

There has been a lot of recent research showing that many American Jewish young adults don't have any connection with Israel. A lot of us feel that Israel shouldn't have a carte blanche in its harsh dealings with Palestinians. Israel's position as a pariah nation is further and further pushed through left-leaning media outlets and across college campuses.

The underlying narrative that has created this situation is that Israel is a country that was created because the European powers felt bad for the Jews after the Holocaust and decided to settle these white Jews in what was then the Palestinian mandate, uprooted thousands of brown people in the process. Classic colonialism, right?

Except that this oversimplified view of history is misguided at best, and at worst, totally incorrect. A very interesting article on Jewcy tackles the myth of Jewish colonialism head on and makes several very important points.

The first is that Jews are just as indigenous to the area between Sinai and the Jordan river as any of the peoples who have become known as Palestinian. Even following forced expulsion of Jews by the Babylonians, the Romans, the Christians, etc., there remained a continuous presence of Jews in the area now known as Israel.

The second point has to do with refugee rights. One gigantic issue which has time and again stalled the peace process is the 'right of return'. This is the idea that Palestinians have the right to return to the land from which they left, either from fear, direct threat, or otherwise. What the article brings up is that, more than 40% of Israel's Jews were, just a generation or two ago, living in Arab countries. Immediately after the end of the 1948 war, Jews were forced to leave every Arab country. Most were not able to take their possessions, and were forced to give up their land, homes, and money.

According to the article, the World Organisation of Jews from Arab Countries estimates that Jews in Arab countries lost many more billions of assets as the Palestinians, and four times as much land as the size of Israel itself. Now, while these facts do not lessen Palestinian claims, or abdicate the Israeli government for its actions, they do help to put certain things into perspective. This conflict is not simple black and white, and both sides have legitimate claims and illegitimate methods.

A true liberal approach to the conflict should examine all facts and viewpoints, even if it makes the conclusion unclear. Read More......

Next Dor Press

Just in time for the Potluck tonight, Next Dor is getting some great press from Jewishinstlouis.org.

The story, written by fellow Young Yid PJ is pretty solid and gives a pretty nice description of the house.

You can read it here and view some of the, as of yet, unreleased pictures here Read More......

The Weekly Update: Mayor Schoemehl, Pot Lucks, and more!

Last week was indeed a busy one and this week promises more interesting things. Read on for the juicy details.

A quick shout out to I64-40, known by locals as 'highway fahrty', which FINALLY opened back up this morning at 5 am.

The past weekend was jam-packed with a huge Moishe House dinner (props to heather for the great tilapia), some Challah French Toast, video games, and Hebrew tutoring at the Next Dor House on Saturday, and the big bad menorah's of Lightfest, followed by some Chiropractic help and a jam session at the Next Dor House (for more on what went down over the weekend at Next Dor, click here).

So what is happening this week?

Well, for starters, tomorrow night (Tuesday), Vince Schoemehl will be following up to the initial conversation we detailed (here) with a larger group of influencers and power brokers. If you want to be a part of that conversation and the activities that flow from it, be at 5020 Waterman (AKA Central Reform) tomorrow night at 6 PM.

Wednesday night, Next Dor will be hosting a pot luck, and judging by the early response, it looks like it will be a full house. To make sure you have a place at the table, RSVP here.

Thursday on out, you're on your own. I'm headed to Denver on business and will be making a stop over to see one of my favorite baby cousins.

Don't forget, Friday is already Hannukah, so bust out your No Limit Texas Dreidel sets, and your deep fryers, and get ready to celebrate.
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A Completely Different Path

You asked for change. Here it is.

If anyone was concerned that President Obama's number one priority was not the U.S. economy, one need not look further than his new Afghanistan plan for reassurance. In a foreign policy speech, the President's ultimate justification for his Afghanistan War plan was the effects the war is having on our economy. His appeal, out of place in a major foreign policy address in which America and its allies needed assurances that the Commander in-Chief was committed to the fight against Muslim extremism, was this: "...the American people are understandably focused on rebuilding our economy and putting people to work here at home." When Obama took office, the U.S. was as involved in the world as it has ever been. However, Obama has made foreign policy decision after decision with one central theme: to reduce the role and footprint of the U.S. abroad. This policy is not based solely on his economic concerns; Afghanistan is only one of the policies that has led me to my conclusion, and not all are economic in nature. A few observations to support my conclusion follow.

It is surprising that at a time of such globalization, America is experiencing the likes of a re-dedication to domestic policy not seen in modern times since, I don't even know when. The presidencies of the Bushes were mired by global events, the Clinton years a time of heavy involvement in the Middle East and Balkans, Ronald Reagan's a heavy focus on ending the Cold War, Jimmy Carter's a focus on international "human rights," Lyndon Johnson's Great Society program hurt by the Vietnam war, JFK's brief presidency one of Cold War focus, and so on. While each president has had his own domestic agenda, some more successful and influential than others, the Obama presidency is shaping up to be one of a different breed.

The Central Intelligence Agency, once the envy of the world and the U.S. gatekeeper, has been at the wrong end of a 35 year campaign to reduce its role and influence that has, since Obama's inauguration, seen a ramp-up. Despite promises coming into office that he would not prosecute CIA staff for their conduct under the Bush administration, Obama has asked his Attorney General to initiate an investigation into CIA conduct. These sorts of investigations over the last 35 years have been used by Democrats and power-hungry Department of Defense officials to reduce the efficacy of the CIA (which is ironic because the CIA was created, run, and inititially strengthened by the most liberal of Democrats).

The issue de jour raised against the CIA is whether the conduct of its role in the war on terror has been executed in a moral fashion. Moral dilemmas do not involve having to choose between right and wrong; they arise from having to choose between two questionable options. It is plainly wrong to inflict pain on another human being, but what if doing so could prevent the loss of life on a larger scale? This is the type of question the CIA faces in its day-to-day operations: how to weigh certainty against possibility, and its decision making is now being subjected to scruitany by a group of people who have never been in these sorts of situations. In the wake of 9/11, Justice Department lawyer John Yoo and his staff were asked to define the boundries that the CIA would be held to. The memos produced have been referred to as "torture memos" and demonized as government approval and guidance of how to carry out torture. In fact, the opposite is true: they are anti-torture memos in that they drew lines that the CIA was not to cross, no matter how justified. With one single execption, who is now in jail, the CIA stood behind the limits set forth by the DOJ. These anti-torture memos separated out the different ways a prisoner could be coerced in order to elicit information, and decided which techniques counted as torture and which did not, and how far they could be taken under different circumstances. They did not provide approval for torture; DOJ documents (drafted under the Reagan and Clinton administrations) already exist for this purpose. Rather, they clarified in greater detail, so as to prevent torture, what was and was not allowed, and updated the rules with modern techniques.

The Obama investigation is not so much demonizing the judgment of the Bush DOJ so much as it dismisses the concept of CIA conscious moral judgment. Decades of leftist criticism of the CIA have inoculated the notion that CIA operatives automatically commit immoral actions and are thus incapable of deciding right from wrong and must be reigned in. Instead of focusing on upper limits that give chance to success, the focus is on setting lower limits to, as best as possible, assure that nothing goes wrong. The only approach that can be thought up is to impose more rules when, if anything, simply better rules are needed. This is the easy way out. A sign above the desk of the CIA's case officer sums it up:

Big ops, Big problems
Small ops, Small problems
No ops, No problems

This is not the attitude you want your agency responsible for foreign intelligence to have. In light of Obama's inability to distinguish between what the CIA does and true torture is (the kidnapping by Islamic terrorists in 1983 of CIA officer William Francis Buckley who was chained to a radioator and beaten for 15 months until he died of a heart attack compared to the "torture" of a terrorist suspect who was been threatened with a power drill, for example), his actions can only be explained by drawing on his strong concern of how the U.S. is perceived abroad; because terror suspects with information that might be used to save lives were treated like terror suspects with information that might be used to save lives, obviously some immoral action was involved. Despite many Arab government's goals conflicting with our goals, and despite the fact that many Western governments do not have the same concern for our well being as we do, their concerns hold a special place in our president's heart. A more limited CIA is not what our country needs right now, yet that is what we are going to get because a stronger one might upset someone in France or Saudi Arabia.

President Bush spent three years talking the Polish and Czech governments into participating a missile defense program they both wanted and saw as necessary to their national interests (Poland saw it as a step towards greater independence and strength against the Russians, and the Czechs saw it as increasing their importance to, and role in, the world). Less than a year into his presidency, Obama has renegged on these promises and thrown two very important allies under the bus. "Catastrophic to Poland" is how the Polish Ministry of Defense descripted Obama's actions. "This is not good news for the Czech state, for Czech freedom and independence" was the Czech response. There is no precedent for the manner in which these agreements were unilaterally erased. The U.S. has historically respected its treaties as they've passed from administration to administration, even those opposed by the in-coming president. The reversal of the treaties with Poland and the Czech Republic came as huge surprises to those countries who had take big risks in agreeing to them, and will likely make it for the U.S. to come to agreements in the out years on sensitive issues.

Why did President Obama make this decision? Few know for sure, but many have a pretty good idea: the Russians did not like it, and the U.S. could really use better Russian relations. In his deliberations on the issue, Obama floated a trade to Russian President Medvedev: we'll give up missile defense in Poland and the Czech Republic and you support us on Iranian sanctions. Medvedev responded publically: great, we fully support you giving up Poland and the Czechs, but these issues are not related and a trade is out of the question. Despite this, Obama moved forward and got nothing out of the deal. The Russians were bound to eventually support the sanctions, as they have done recently, because (as should have been apparent to the naive Obama administration), Iran was not going to play ball and head down an even more dangerous path that, at some point, the Russians were going to be threatened by. It's happened, all on its own, and Obama gave up a significant national security effort, weakened relations with two important allies, and challenged other allies to trust us in the future, out of desperation in a situation where none was warranted.

Today, in Mogadishu, a suicide bomber killed three Somali ministers and more than a dozen others. Al Shabaab, a militant youth Islamic group with links to Al Qaeda whose declared purpose in Somalia is to overthrow the government and institute Islamic rule, is the suspected transgressor. Since the 1990s, the Somali government has struggled to establish law and order and a viable state. The lawlessness has given rise to piracy, and now is drawing Al Qaeda fighters from countries like Pakistan and Yemen. In the past several months, attacks by Islamic militants have spiked in what the U.S. believes is a goal to establish an African base from which to plan and stage attacks on America. Of suicide attacks, a Somali ambassador said, "it's new to us; it's not a Somali thing." There is clear-as-day evidence that while we are fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (the one war zone that Obama has right), they are setting up shop in Somalia, yet we are doing little other than sending money to the ineffective Somali military to prevent it. This reeks of a Clinton decision not to attack Al Qaeda despite knowing the location of Osama bin Laden. Why did Clinton not go after bin Laden? He did not want a foreign operation with limited international support that posed a threat to our interests. Oops. I'm willing to bet Obama is of a similar mindset with Somalia.

In his 11 months in office, Obama has laid a clear framework of ideology (if I had more time, I'd discuss Asia too) that says America has a bad reputation, so we're going to back down. I doubt he has considered that our reputation has degraded not so much because we're over-extended but because we're not working hard enough to uphold our ideals of freedom and democracy. With Russia, Obama has cowed to a despotic government because it's easier than taking it on, and the trust of our allies is fading. Where's our committment to the young democracies in the region promoting freedom? In Cairo, Obama told the Arab world that Israel was created out of Western guilt for World War II, despite the well document falsity of this concept; our committment to truth and honesty would have cost us too much there. In Somalia, we are going to allow Al Qeada to do its thing because we simply can't be bothered to stand up for human decency, let alone do some preventative work to stave off future Al Qaeda operations. Most blatant of all is Obama's treatment of Honduras. When Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted last summer, Obama immediatedly called it an illegal action, insisted he be returned to power, and refused to talk to the interim government. Forget that Zelaya's constitutional term limit was up and that he refused to leave office and tried illegally to hold onto power, Honduras is still a democracy; Zelaya's interim successor is not even allowed to be a contender in the election that has already been planned. What possible motivation could Obama have for this, seeing as he's contradicting the tenets of democracy? For good or bad, it appears Obama is taking America down a path of reduced influence and power in the world. One could make the argument that the focus should be on strengthing America from within, but as we're increasingly tied to the fate of other nations, it seems unwise to reduce our role in their business.
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Hot Jewish Women And Their Place In Pop Culture

Not so long ago, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girlfriend was a status symbol for a Jewish guys. According to a recent article, however, now it's Jewish women that have become fetishized.

According to this piece, Jewish girls have jumped into the mainstream consciousness as objects of sexual desire. A quick youtube search for Jewish girls or Israeli girls will bear this out.

While this is nothing new to me (having gone to Jewish summer camp and been active in NFTY), it is interesting that this article isn't talking about Jews finding Jewish women attractive.



Perhaps most interesting is that not too long ago, Jewish women were portrayed in the media high-pitched, materialistic, JAPS, who were anything but sexual.

I'm all for the celebration of Jewish women, so long as it doesn't increase the competition.
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Community Update

Now that the turkey is finally out of our system, we want you to know about the latest and greatest going on in St. Louis.

Starting with this very evening, both AIPAC and Elie Wiesel are in town.

AIPAC, aka the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, will be hosting its annual event at the Ritz Carlton at 7 PM tonight, and Dan Senor, co-author of the recently published "Start up Nation, The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle"* will be the featured speaker.

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize winner, most famous for his book, "Night", about the Holocaust, will be speaking at Saint Louis University at the same time. For more information, click here.

Thursday night, come check out Yid Drum and DJ Duo Autiomadic at the Gramophone for free at 10 PM.

Friday, Moishe House kicks of December with Shabbat dinner, followed by a trip to St. Louis' Holiday Magic on Saturday.

Sunday. Sunday. Sunday. Not only is the HUGE LightFest going down at the JCC, but afterwords, Next Dor is bringing some of the top students from Logan University's Chiropractic program to give deep tissue (non) massages. You can RSVP for that here, or just drop in.

For more Next Dor updates, you can visit www.facebook.com/nextdorstl Read More......

Vince Schoemehl: Roundtable on Racism and Segregation in St. Louis

Monday night, a small group sat down with former St. Louis Mayor Vince Schoemehl to discuss segregation in St. Louis and to answer one of his nagging questions, "Why don't my kids have any Black friends?"

Schoemehl, now President and CEO of Grand Center, was hoping to gain some insight into this question from a group of young adults.

The conversation jumped from the Metrolink, and lack of viable public transit in St. Louis, to the history of housing covenants, the public school system, the city/county divide, and more.

Schoemehl wanted to know how we get different people interacting across these constructed boundaries. The first step to integration, is interaction, and in St. Louis, without even knowing it, most of us step into segregated bars, clubs, and restaurants every day. In fact, one attendant remarked, the only place you see people interacting are at the large outdoor festivals like Live on the Levy, the jazz shows at the Botanical Gardens and the Festival of Nations, all of which occur in public spaces. Because so many neighborhoods are segregated, particularly between the city and the county, citizens of St. Louis aren't as exposed to heterogeneous populations and so aren't forced to interact with them.

It was agreed that we could throw around theories until we were blue in the face, so we decided to try to take action (this action is still being discussed).

Clearly, this isn't just a St. Louis issue, but as Schoemehl pointed out, St. Louis is a city that faces irrelevance if it can't move towards a more dynamic, post-racial culture.

What do you think? Have you make friends across the 'great racial divide'?
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Live Music and St. Louis

We spend a lot of our time here at the St. Lou Jew trying to figure what to get into next. A lot of it is music, and while St. Louis has a great music legacy, St. Louis of today isn't known for being a thriving music community. Truth is, though, that if you are prepared to dive in, you'll find a rich subculture of accessible and talented musicians.

Our story starts at the Broadway Oyster Bar, a personal favorite of mine, and St. Louis Luminary Ron Gubitz. Located downtown on Broadway, the Oyster Bar prides itself on New Orleans music, food, and culture. It is home to Gumbohead and the Funky Butt Brass Band, two of the most fun NOLA style groups in the city, and Friday night, hosted a new band called Hot Carl and the Cleveland Steamers (they joked that if they add a horn section, they'll have to call it the Rusty Trombones).

Speaking with Bassist, and KDHX engineer Andy Coco after the show, I got an invite to his musicians' holiday pot-luck and jam session. A sort of mini-Mecca for a lot of the guys who 'really play music' in St. Louis, the event was a sort of dream-come-true for any fan like myself. Members of all of the aforementioned bands, plus the Dogtown Allstars, Team Relevance, and others were all present. The jam session was amazing, with every musician taking a turn, and others grabbing cowbells, shakers, and other odds and ends to fill out the sound.

The ambiance was amazing. To have so many talented and experienced musicians and their fans in one place was unbelievable. And it needs to happen more frequently.

But say you don't happen to know any of the local artists. . . where do you start?

There are a number of smaller local venues that host great music. A few to start with, other than the Oyster Bar, are (in no particular order): Beale on Broadway, BB's Jazz Blues and Soups, The Gramophone, The FireBird, The Old Rock House, Off Broadway, and The Wedge.

The Riverfront Times is a decent place to hear about local music, but what the city really needs is someone with the knowledge and passion to create a site that will keep shows up to date and help people find out more information about artists they might like. Any takers?
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Lend A Hand, Make A Difference: Light Fest

It is pretty obvious that this economic situation is unprecedented in our lifetime.
What is often less obvious is the need this has created. The question is always, "how can I make a difference?"

On December 6th, Light Fest is hoping to help answer that question.

The community wide event is gathering food, clothing, getting blood donations, and more. Everyone can lend a hand in some way and this help has never meant more.

Even if all you can spare is an hour, it will be an hour well spent.

Please click here to see the schedule of activities, and click here to sign up to be a volunteer.

Whether you were born in St. Louis and never left, come here for school, or are on a work rotation, you have the opportunity to make a positive impact in this community. Read More......

Shomer Negiah Panties: Maya Escobar Is At It Again

From the same artist who brought you Berlin's Eruv and Acciones Plasticas now comes Shomer Negiah Panties!

That's right, The St. Lou Jew's favorite Guatemalan-Jewish artist, Maya Escobar, has just releases her Shomer Negiah Panties on Etsy.

Shomer Negiah literally means to guard touch, and refers to adherence of orthodox Jews to a ban on physical contact with members of the opposite sex aside from one's spouse and family.



Escobar's juxtaposition of this stringent code with ladies' undergarments is interesting for a few reasons. She sees this project as something that allows Shomer Negiah women to have a bit of fun with their observance, allowing them to feel sexy without doing it immodestly. One comment on Escobar's site read, "I can see all of the SN girls giving these to each other as an inside joke".

As a special double St. Louis bonus, another St. Lou Jew favorite, Randy Vines was able to play a role in helping print the panties.

For more on Maya check out www.mayaescobar.com
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Leora From Synagogue 3000 Visits Next Dor, St. Louis

She may have picked a pretty dreary time to experience St. Louis, weather-wise, but didn't slow down the activity at the Next Dor House.

Synagogue 3000 gave the initial grant to Next Dor which started the whole renovation/organization process in motion and Leora came in town to meet the Next Dor STL board, advisors, and peers.

It just so happened that Monday night, Rabbi Zvi Schwartz hosted an open dinner at the Next Dor house, which turned out to be the perfect opportunity for Leora to meet everyone.

There was a great turnout, as you can see below, and the Rabbi spoke briefly about the connection between this generation (dor) and the freedom (dror) to choose our destiny and our identity.



Leora sat down with most of the board individually and asked about each individual's background and interests, how they got involved in the project, and what they want to see come out of it.

While she had the opportunity to learn about us, we also had the opportunity to learn about Synagogue 3000.

There are a couple things that separate Next Dor STL from the other projects that S3K is involved with. First, all of the other projects stem from a single congregation. While Next Dor STL was initiated with a lot of help from Central Reform, the project isn't controlled by, a subsidiary of, or affiliated with the synagogue. Second, while every other site has a full time paid staff person, Next Dor STL does not, and is relying heavily on a board of young adults to make the decisions and reach out to the develop the project.

Next Dor STL is happy to be able to use the great resources S3K has made available to us to navigate the strange world of non-profits.

If you still haven't had the checked out the website , there is a bunch of new info up and we just got our facebook vanity URL hooked up (facebook.com/nextdorstl).
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Universalism vs. Nationalism/Ethnocentrism: A Jewish Dilemma

One of the fundamental points of tension facing Jews, particularly Jewish young adults in America, is the identity struggle between universalism and particularism (specifically Jewish nationalism and ethnocentrism). I just found a particularly interesting speech on this issue by none other than Natan Sharansky. The full text is listed below.

The following speech was given on November 9th, 2009. The transcription comes from this site

Twenty years ago to this day, the Berlin Wall fell. Two great wars were being waged in those years. The first was a worldwide struggle to free Soviet Jewry -- a cause which galvanized Jews across the globe as no other cause had, since the establishment of the State of Israel. The second was the Cold War, the struggle of free democracies around the world against the tyranny of Soviet style communism. In each struggle, the fall of the Wall became a turning point. Right after that fateful November day, a great Exodus of Soviet Jewry began in earnest. And within months, the totalitarian stranglehold over Eastern Europe disintegrated before our eyes.
The fact that a single event on the world stage -- the fall of the Berlin Wall -- was the culmination of both struggles is hardly coincidental. It seemed to be history’s way of saying that, in a deep way, the wars were not really separate; they were simply two sides of the same coin.
For years, I had been a foot soldier in both these great wars. In the years before my arrest I was in fact the unofficial spokesman of two movements -- a human rights movement pressing for democratic reforms in the Soviet bloc and Soviet Jewry movement seeking the right of Jews to become free. In those years I was often pressed by my comrades in arms on both sides to make a choice between these two wars. You have to decide, they said, are you the fighter for human rights for everybody or are you fighting for the rights of your own tribe? Do you belong to the world of universal values or to the world of nationalist? I must say, I personally never felt that I needed to choose. And not only because I enjoyed both these battles, But because I felt that they are deeply connected. That in fact it is the same battle. The battle for freedom and the battle for identity was the same battle for me.
From where did the strength to fight for freedom come from? I was one of many assimilated Jews only because the Soviet regime put it as an aim to deprive people deliberately of any loyalties to their faith, to their nation, to their family. As the official definition of citizenship stated clearly -- all Soviet people are cogs in the communist machine. And we as cogs knew that we are slaves. But we had no strength to fight. After all, the only value left for us was our physical survival and there was no reason to risk it.
In 1967, the Six Day War in Israel reconnected us with our people, with our country and history, and gave us pride for being Jewish.
When did this situation change? In 1967, the Six Day War in Israel reconnected us with our people, with our country and history, and gave us pride for being Jewish. We discovered our identity and this empowered us to fight for our freedom. But even then we small group for Jewish activists could never have survived in the struggle in the Soviet Union if it did not immediately become the struggle of millions of Jews all over the world. Why did these Jews for 20 years spend their time energy trembling for fear when they traveled to the Soviet Union to bring us books and bring us information from the free world and to press on their governments? Many times I heard from many of these volunteer emissaries almost the same phrase. We are from the same cities, and it is almost by chance that we are there and you are here. They were also returning to their "shtetl" and getting from there their energy, their passion to fight for our freedom.
I remember when the time had come to make the last blow and have a historic march on Washington I remember there were some voices of skepticism. Will big numbers of Jews really come to Washington in the winter for such type of demonstration? In order to dismiss these doubts, I went from city to city, from federation to federation, all together 30 of them. And the response was always automatic -- of course we will be there. Not to be part of that demonstration was like not going to the Bar Mitzvah of your family. It was a family insult!
In fact this demonstration of a quarter of a million Jews in Washington in December was probably the biggest family reunion in history. So the energy that was released from going back to your people was the driving force of the great struggle for freedom. In fact the Berlin Wall was brought down because proud Jews, proud Czechs proud Germans, proud Catholics, proud Pentecostal together with a proud army of Jews brought down the Berlin Wall.
That's why the choice between two battles was fallacious.
Today we live in the global, post national, post modern, post identity world where people of the free world again are asked to make a choice between universalism and nationalism, between freedom and identity. If you believe in the universal values of freedom and human rights, why bother to stick to your national or ethnic identity we are asked.
This question hits home in an especially difficult way for Jews. Doesn’t Judaism prize tikkun olam, perfection of the world at large, as its highest value? If we insist on being part of a Jewish state, does that make a mockery of our larger, universal ideals? If so, do we really want to shelter ourselves in a Jewish cocoon of a state? Why insist on staying part of a small tribe, when the great, global melting pot makes nationalities seem like nothing more than sentimental reminisces.
And when one young Jew believes that he or she must make choice, that you cannot belong to both, they make the choice in favor of universalism. And then assimilation erodes our communities. And then it becomes more and more difficult for the people of Israel to defend their Jewish state. And our detractors sense our hesitation and our weakness and multiply their efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel.
Then the most awful thing happens, a young Jew after months and sometimes years of standing in the face of extreme and false slanderous attacks on Israel, finally says: Enough. I want to live in the world without Israel.
It's frightening enough when our enemies talk about a world without Israel, but when a Jews says this, it is the greatest victory for our enemies.
Just like 20 years ago, this choice between freedom and identity is a false one. We must remind ourselves that the Iron curtain was brought down and hundreds of millions found their freedom only because we found the source of strength in our pride and in our identity. We must remind ourselves that we succeeded in building the democratic State of Israel and bringing the ideas of human rights and equality to the darkest places populated by tyrants and dictators only because we were empowered by thousands of years of dreams and prayers of Next year in Jerusalem. Today I speak here as the Chairman of the Jewish Agency. A Jewish Agency which connects between the Jewish world and the State of Israel and which together achieved great things and made history -- rescuing more than 3 million Jews from pogroms and persecutions. It was the Jewish Agency which coordinated the efforts of all the Jews of the world in helping to build a strong and modern state of Israel. And today of course we must always be ready, and we are ready, to continue to save every single Jew, to help everybody who wants to join us in Israel and to help every Jew in need wherever they are.
Our main battle today is to strengthen, to deepen, to build and to defend our Jewish identity.
But our main battle today is to strengthen, to deepen, to build and to defend our Jewish identity -- the identity of one people, those in Zion and those in the Diaspora. And in this battle it was proved again and again that we need one another. Today, Israel experience programs bring approximately one third of the Jewish people to Israel. Our aim must be to connect every young Jew with Israel and to connect Israel with every Jewish community of the world. Like in the Soviet Union in the past, we need a strong Israel. But Israel today needs strong Jewish communities.
We have to be able to reach every young Jew in the Diaspora and in Israel by Jewish education. Through schools, special courses, cable TV and internet. And we must find a way to make it interesting. And we must be together not only in our great partnerships with Jewish communities, but we must expand these partnerships to every campus in the world where the battle for the future of our young generation is taking place.
Strengthening Jewish identity is the best answer in the struggle for Israel. Strengthening our Jewish identity is the best guarantee to continue kibbutz galuyot, gathering of the exiles. And most important today, like yesterday, returning to our Jewish roots, rebuilding our Jewish identity, can empower us to fight for tikun olam, with more justice and more freedom for everybody.
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Update on Next Dor Furniture, Idn Raichel and More

Furniture has arrived at Next Dor! We are now proud owners of gorgeous and huge dining room table with matching chairs, a big sectional sofa, which is still wrapped until we can clean up a bit, and some other 'goodies'.

Hit up yoni at nextdorstl dot org to see the place!

Also, tonight, St. Louis hosts both Israeli music sensation Idan Raichel, and the Washington University Graduate School Battle of the Bands.

So much music in one night? The St. Lou Jew will be covering both (and performing at one), so stay tuned for pictures! Read More......

A Little Haimish Get-together At Next Dor

Programming at Next Dor officially kicked off last night with a conversation with Bob Gershen and Jan Miller, hosted by JGrads and the Jewish law society.

What did you miss?

Haimish is defined as informal and relaxed by the Jewish English Lexicon and is probably a good way to describe Next Dor's first program.

Bob started off talking about how he used his experience as an actor to create presentations for lawyers to improve their courtrooms presentation skills. After hearing about a woman in Florida who taught acting skills to lawyers, Bob developed a seminar which he taught to LA County prosecutors.

He moved back to St. Louis, figuring that the connections he had would let him really hit the ground running, but he found that trial consulting wasn't as accepted in St. Louis as it was elsewhere. It took four years of travelling around the country gaining experience before he found demand for his skills in the St. Louis market. As Bob put it, "new ideas come to St. Louis last".

Bob spoke about how testifying is often a frustrating experience for witnesses, partially because it violates nearly every rule of conversation etiquette because there are so many constraints on what you can say and when you can say it. What Bob often does is to work with lawyers and witnesses on preparing them for the process of testifying.

Jan worked for the Department of Justice, which he says is "bar none, the best place to gain experience". He talked about the transition from working for the government as a prosecutor to being a client lawyer in private practice. Ultimately in private practice, you have to answer to the client, who may not always be correct.

Jan recommends that those who want to become litigators start with a smaller firm. He started at a firm in NYC and ended up spending most of his time in the library, until he made the move to Boston, where he was able to gain more hands-on experience.

The event was well received by the participants and JGrads is interested in continuing the series with other local lawyers.

If you know anyone who might be interested in speaking, please have them contact yoni at nextdorstl dot org.

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JGrads and JLS Host Bob Gershen and Jan Miller At Next Dor

The first event at the Next Dor house goes down tonight!

Interested in Litigation? In serving as a Federal Prosecutor? In things that you can do with a law degree that don’t involve practicing law? Or in discussing life after law school? Join the Jewish Law Society of Wash U Law, JGrads, and the Next Dor House (http://www.nextdorstl.com) for an informal talk with Bob Gerchen and Jan Miller on these topics and more. Bob Gerchen serves as the Director of the St. Louis Office of Litigation Insights and focuses on such fields as trial based jury research, mock trials, and mediation. Jan Miller, currently a Partner at Thompson Coburn, served as the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland before that. This event is open to all.

We'll try to take pictures and video! Read More......

Knowing Is Half The Battle: Afghanistan

Interested in the latest information on Afghanistan?
Please join Truman National Security Project Founder and CEO, Dr. Rachel Kleinfeld, for a conference call briefing on Afghanistan.

Tuesday, November 9
12:30pm EST / 9:30am PST
Dial (712) 775-7000
Enter Code 254870#

You can RSVP through Facebook by clicking here, and you can join the Truman Project's Facebook group here.

*Q+A time will be provided*
What is Afghanistan 101 you ask? Good question:
-- Understanding the relationship between al-Qaeda and the Taliban and how it affects our Afghanistan debate
-- What exactly was the counterterrorism strategy of the Bush administration?
-- Why and how a counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan could succeed or fail
-- Different viewpoints and goals of different parts of the military
-- Pakistan!?!?
-- The President's main options Read More......

Gaza and Goldstone: The Debate

For those of you following Goldstone report, a UN backed report on the recent Gaza war which accuses Israel of war crimes, Justice Goldstone recently debated his findings at Brandies University.

This marks the first time that he debated his findings with an Israeli political figure, former Israeli ambassador Dore Gold. The two men agreed that the UN is biased against Israel but disagreed on a great many other points.

The debate is one that needs to be had openly and honestly as most people probably haven't read the report but have read of it.

To view the video, please click here.
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Next Dor Upcoming Programs

The house is looking gorgeous, and there are already a few things on the November calendar. From dinners to local influencers, there is a already a wide variety of things slated to take place. Read on for glorious details.

The first official event at the house will be sponsored by JGrads and the Jewish Law Society and will take place on Tuesday, November 10th at 7:30 PM. Details below:

A Conversation with Bob Gerchen (Director, St. Louis Office, Litigation Insights) and Jan Miller (Former U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois; Current Partner, Thompson Coburn)
Interested in Litigation? In serving as a Federal Prosecutor? In things that you can do with a law degree that don’t involve practicing law? Or in discussing life after law school? Join the Jewish Law Society of Wash U Law, JGrads, and the Next Dor House (http://www.nextdorstl.com/) for an informal talk with Bob Gerchen and Jan Miller on these topics and more. Bob Gerchen serves as the Director of the St. Louis Office of Litigation Insights and focuses on such fields as trial based jury research, mock trials, and mediation. Jan Miller, currently a Partner at Thompson Coburn, served as the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland before that. This event is open to all – for more information e-mail rbmoreen (at) wulaw.wustl.edu.

Beginning next Wednesday, November 11th, Shulchan Ivrit (Hebrew Table) will kick off weekly gatherings in the Next Dor house. Designed to just give people the opportunity to practice their Hebrew, it accommodates all levels from native speakers to those who learned a few words on Birthright.

The following week on Monday the 16th, drop by the house around 7 PM for dinner (kosher and free!). Meet other young Yids and see the house for yourself.

Finally Wednesday, November 18th, come over at 6:30 PM to meet State Representative Jake Zimmerman, who can explain why public transportation is falling apart in St. Louis while rural MO gets money for new bridges, why healthcare reform isn't easy, and what it's like being one of the only Jews in the state legislature.

As always, you can check out the calendar at nextdorstl.com. If you have an idea for how to use the house, you can use the website to submit it.

For more info, email nextdorstl (at) gmail.com

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Update on the HUC situation: Save HUC and it's role

You might remember our previous updates on Hebrew Union College and the social media campaign being organized at savehuc.com. Well, some big announcements were made yesterday.

Yesterday, by a vote of 43-5, the Board of Directors of Hebrew Union College decided not to close any of the campuses.

This is a huge win for Judaism between the coasts.

Sources in Cincinnati have named savehuc.com as an important factor in the letter writing campaign that shifted the momentum in the struggle.

A recent article from Cincinnati magazine even called out the site:

With every campus under scrutiny, supporters in all three cities rallied to defend their turf. Students, alumni, and others wrote letters and made phone calls. There were Facebook and Twitter campaigns and a Web site, savehuc.com. Ellenson, the school’s president, received more than 10,000 letters and e-mails from supporters. “I was actually quite pleased how vital people thought HUC was to the life of Reform Judaism in the communities in which we serve,” Ellenson says.

I just want to assess how it was that savehuc.com attracted over 10,000 visitors.
First, how much would a traditional media campaign to reach that many people have cost?

Postage alone would have been $4000.

How much was the savehuc.com campaign? Less than $20.

By using an easy to remember domain name that forwarded to a free wordpress blog, the whole thing probably took all of half an hour to set up. The facebook cause that attracted several hundred people grew organically and directed people back to the site. Additionally, by using Twitter, and connecting with Rabbis and Jewish organizations around the country, the message spread even further.

Word of mouth seems to have played a big part, as a demographic that is not traditionally associated with facebook wrote a fair number of comments on savehuc.com's posts.

Clearly, this issue resonated with a large number of people, who felt compelled to take action. In this case, it seems as though that action had its desired effect.

We'll keep you updated, but for now, I know a lot of people who are breathing a sigh of relief.

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