The girls of Broad City rarely go an episode without some passing reference to being members of the Tribe — witness the very first episode where Ilana describes them as “just two Jewesses trying to make a buck”— but if the Jewish reference felt like merely a backdrop up until now, the 3rd season two-part finale put them in full view. And it happens just in time for Passover.  

After running across the city and back to make it in time for their “El Ol” flight that’ll start their “Birthmark” (read: Birthright) adventure, Abbi and Ilana turn onto a plane filled with incredible tribal satire. “Jews! Jews! Jews!” the pale crowd chants as our two heroes look on, a little shell shocked. When Abbi unexpectedly crosses a different kind of red sea (read: finds herself in desperate need of a tampon), the Passover parallels — unintentional as they probably were — became pretty clear. They may be on their way to the motherland, but they’ll suffer like hell to get there.

The initial concept for this finale was semi-spoiled for fans months ago, when it was announced that the Broad City crew had to cancel plans to film in Israel because of a recent string of violence. It seems the original plan was to actually see the girls throughout their trip, and while that would have been incredible —  who among us isn’t dying to see Abbi and Ilana at a kibbutz? — tracking their journey without reaching the Holy Land is somehow more fitting an end to the emotional 3rd season, and make for a pretty interesting Passover companion.

The past season has seen Abbi and Ilana through a lot, in still funny but uncharacteristically heavy fashion. They’ve dealt with career problems, break ups, and rat infestations — and that last one’s the happiest out of the three. “Burning Bridges” — the episode immediately preceding this two-part finale — got a lot of critical attention for its frank storyline featuring ray of wacky sunshine Ilana experiencing an emotional breakdown. With that in mind, it’s easy to imagine a finale that drops the girls in Israel as a would-be solution for all their problems, a renewing experience that helps them both confront their issues and restart their lives. Consider the fact that Ilana literally started this season enslaved in (bike) chains — is it any wonder she takes some inspiration from her ancestors and looks to end her bondage at the Holy Land?

But rather than deliver Abbi and Ilana right to the Land of Milk and Honey — or “Africa for the Jews” as Abbi calls it — we’re treated to a 10 hour flight of Jewish anxiety akin to 40 years in the desert. They have to sit through an Adam Levine flight safety video, endure heavy-handed matchmaking (Abbi’s matched with a proudly gay guy “just looking for a nice Jewish girl to marry”), and fork over $38 for a minuscule Kosher snack pack. And while Ilana does fulfill her mission of getting into the “Mohel Chai Club,”  they — much like Moses — don’t manage to make it to the Promised Land. Their travel plans get derailed in a series of events that starts with Abbi singing a Christmas carol and ends with both girls getting interrogated by Israeli officials as suspected terrorists before getting sent back to New York. Because of course.

Much like they have throughout the entire dark, wonderful 3rd season, Abbi and Ilana end up having more fun suspended in midair without a clear destination in sight.  So while no one but the writers knows what direction Broad City will be headed in Season 4, I think one suggestion is pretty obvious. What do you say ladies: Next year, in Jerusalem?

Shiran Lugashi is a writer, sometimes podcaster, and perpetual plan-canceller not living her best life in NYC.

Image credit: Facebook

The post Did Broad City Just Have a Passover Episode? Kind Of. appeared first on Jewcy.

Birthright for moms: it’s a thing! Less vodka/hook-ups on the beach, more wine/conversations about Shabbat observance.

It’s called the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project, and, according to a fascinating write-up over at JTA, the program has sent 5,000 women from 19 countries to Israel since 2009. (Who knew?!) The eight-day trip is pretty much free (participants need only cover the airfare), and sounds a lot like a typical Birthright program, with visits to the Dead Sea, Masada, and Shabbat in Jerusalem.

But the trip isn’t simply about having fun, (re)discovering your Jewish identity, or solidifying your connection with the State of Israel. And since the participants are already parents, it’s not about pairing off with a nice Jewish gal/guy to eventually make more Jewish babies. Instead, it’s a religious outreach program with strong connections to Orthodox organization Aish Hatorah. The organizers hope to encourage the participants, who don’t keep Shabbat, to take on more traditional Jewish observance upon their return home—and thus influence the religious lives of their family members.

Says the organization’s founding director, Lori Palatink: “If you impact a 22-year-old boy, you impact a 22-year-old boy. If you impact the mother, you can impact the whole family. If we want to have Jewish communities rise, a community lives and dies by where the women are.”

If you’re interested in becoming more observant (or if you’re a staunch secularist who can stomach the religious emphasis for a week), it sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

Read the full story here.

(Image: Shutterstock)

Related: New Video Sells Aliyah Fantasy to American Jews

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In case you were wondering what to discuss with your family when you’re home from school for Rosh Hashanah, Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keysar at the Trinity College Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture have released the preliminary findings of a survey of Jewish students on college campuses, New Voices reports.

Not surprisingly, the results point to similar trends as the Pew Research Center’s 2013 Portrait of Jewish Americans, but there are some significant differences that show how Jewish life in America is slowly changing, particularly among Millennials.

There are two fundamental events that defined world Jewry in the 20th century: the Holocaust, and the creation of the State of Israel. The college-aged Jews surveyed by Kosmin and Keysar believe these events to be less important in their definition of “being Jewish” than the Pew survey respondents.

60 percent of college-aged students said that “remembering the Holocaust” was “very important” to being Jewish, whereas 73 percent of Pew respondents said it was “essential.” That the Holocaust is losing its prominence as an important part of American Jewish identity may be surprising to older generations, but it is not shocking. As we move further away from the events of World War II, and survivors are no longer alive to personally relate their stories, the Holocaust becomes more of a historical event than a communal or familial one.

35 percent of the students surveyed by Kosmin and Keysar felt the Jewish state was “very important” to being Jewish, while 43 percent of Pew respondents said supporting Israel was an “essential” part of being Jewish. Yet, 62 percent of the college students had visited Israel (21 percent on a Birthright trip)—significantly higher that the 43 percent of Pew respondents who had been to Israel.

Also noteworthy: the students named Israel as a “top concern” when asked to identify the “crucial issues” concerning young Jews today. Given that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a hot-button issue on campuses across America—New Voices editor Derek M. Kwait refers to its “amoeba-like takeover of all Jewish life on campus”—it’s not surprising that some Jewish college students consider their religious and cultural identity to be separate from Israel. But the high percentage of students who have visited—and their degree of concern—indicates that they are still vitally engaged with Israel, although perhaps more critically than their parents.

The survey also shows an interesting balance between religious identity and the level of participation at religious services. 39 percent of Jews on campus considered themselves “secular” and just 23 percent identified as “religious” (quite different from the American college student population as a whole, where 32 percent identify as “religious” and 28 percent as “secular”). Yet, the survey also highlights that young Jews participate in religious services in higher numbers on a weekly and monthly basis than the American Jewish population as a whole. Fewer identify as “High Holiday Jews” than in the general Jewish population, but—puzzlingly—a greater number never attend services at all. “This seems to speak to the larger trend of our generation’s loathing of lip-service,” writes Kwait. “If we believe, we take it seriously (even if we take it seriously in a non-traditional way) and if we don’t believe, why bother with it at all.”

Some other fun facts to take away (approximate numbers):

1. 20% see “having a good sense of humor” as necessary to the Jewish identity.

2. 80% had a bar/bat mitzvah.

3. 40% say having Jewish children is a very important part of being Jewish.

4. 13% exclusively date Jews on campus.

5. 80% identify Judaism as a culture; 60% as a religious group; 40% as an ethnic group.

6. 64% were descendants of four Jewish grandparents.

As with any preliminary survey results, the findings are not 100% conclusive, but it’s still fascinating to look at the statistics and see what they point to. We’ll keep you posted on the final survey results, which will no doubt provide more clarity and provoke more questions.

The post Jewish College Student Survey: Israel is Most “Crucial Issue” For Young Jews Today appeared first on Jewcy.

Vulture brings our attention to this over-the-top—and totally Jewish—musical marriage proposal video. In it, we meet the theatrical Eric LaBarre, who has his friend Jake videotape his elaborate song-and-dance-filled proposal to girlfriend Nina Sturtz, who he sings about meeting on JDate.

But wait, it gets better: he’s filmed taking the train to her parents house in White Plains to ask for permission—while she’s in Israel on a Birthright trip. Then he tells his mom and brother, two of her friends, and even her ex-boyfriend, and dances in the street with some of his friends.

Spoiler alert: she says yes. Mazel tov, guys.

The post Is This the Best Jewish Musical Marriage Proposal Video of the Year? appeared first on Jewcy.

• Getting pooped on by a bird at the Western Wall becomes a catalyst for introspection for one Birthright-goer.

• Bar Refaeli gets sushi in Tel Aviv.

• Do Jews live longer than other people? Jewcy contributor Sala Levin debunks that and other myths.

• Leon Black is the mystery buyer who dropped almost $120 million for Edvard Munch’s iconic painting, “The Scream.”

• Girls’ Alex Karpovsky stars in this short film, based on an upcoming book by Joshua Cohen.

The post Daily Jewce: Israel’s Social Justice Activist, Bar Refaeli in Tel Aviv, and more appeared first on Jewcy.

Doors open at 7:30pm, show starts at 8:00pm.

Buy tickets online for $10, $15 at the door. Ticket prices include one drink!

Visit http://www.HobokenIsraelParty.com/ and click where it says “Buy Tickets Online” and you will be taken to the registration page.

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A few months ago, Jay Judah went on the Taglit-Birthright tour of Israel.  We’d heard a million different stories from individuals about their time on the trip.  From people finding religion, to body watching on the beach, shooting a machine gun, riding a camel, or deciding to give up the USA and making aliyah.

Jay’s story is a bit more nuanced than that.  Reading his account seemed more like The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test or Hunter S. Thompson; more interesting story, less cheesy testimonial.

Obviously we liked that, and wanted to publish it.  This isn’t an advertisement for Birthright or Israel, just a series that we’re really happy to present.

Read part one here.

January 2nd, 2011 – 6 AM, Jerusalem time. Another night with about as little sleep as physically – and mentally – able. I was fighting my own body, the rising sun, jet lag, the 5000 miles it took for me to engage this battle, and the highly suspect tuna sandwiches they served on the airplane. Note to self: tuna, on an airplane? Poor form.

After a day spent in lectures on Birthright policies, Israeli culture and history, and icebreaking games, I started an unofficial betting ring where we placed wagers on the likelihood of our fellow travelers falling asleep on their feet. I won, but still, we all lost.

The bonding process had increased ten-fold — as expected. Birthright is summer camp, except we were accountable only to ourselves; we had opinions, experiences, money of our own, and should we so desire, we could freely drink ourselves into bliss.

I could tell immediately – I was in love with the country: the slow chilly sunsets over hillside cities of crumbling orange brick, the forgotten and forgiven rudeness of the locals (among other observations, lines have no meaning, no purpose, no order. No one, not grandmothers, children; men who smell like bad cigars: no one respects the sanctity of a line!), the trials and rabbit-jumps of communicating in very broken Hebrew, my passing remembrances of Yiddish, my new found respect for ‘toda raba’ and ‘slicha’ and ‘sababa!’ and our wonderful, wonderful soldiers and the phrases (mostly filthy) that they tried to teach me.

In those first days, my room was never empty. I had established an open door policy, and would have it no other way. There was always music, often cards, and a high probability of merriment. Despite forgetting many names (Davids and Daniels and Michaels…Oh My!) these people were all wonderful in their own ways and I quickly garnered an appreciation for all of them.

After that first night, one of our soldiers (whose name shall not be mentioned in respect to his service, military and otherwise) helped me organize and execute a jailbreak, in which nearly our entire bus –save for some weaker-hearted souls– slinked off the grounds of the kibbutz under cover of darkness, down a rainy cobbled road to a local pub a mile or two away.

In no time we were at a bar, which I can only describe in the following way. Take any American dive with their sticky floors, shaky tables, dark wood and dim lights. Remove your ability to communicate with the bartender, the bouncer, and every kind of woman. Add a slowly ballooning crowd of mostly Israelis –hungry to dance, to drink, to smoke cigarettes with careless ease– to share the same space and jump and sweat and have confused flirtatious conversations with bemused Birthrighters in broken Hebrew. This is the pub we went to, and it was the best pub any of us have ever been to in Ma’ale Hachamisha, Israel – that much is a fact.

An Israeli – Vera – cute, young and probably able to beat me in a wrestling match (should I be so lucky,) confessed to me a love for salsa dancing. When the DJ played a song with a relatable beat, she grabbed me by the hand and dragged me onto the dance floor. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I know what I’m doing out there — one hand holding hers, the other draped seductively on her hip, a rakish look and quick feet and so much sway it hurts. I can spin; I can dip; I know the score. I assume the position — only to have dear Vera hurl herself from side to side with glorious abandon, like a paper doll twisting in the wind.

I have rarely seen someone have so much fun. I wish I loved anything as much as she loved “salsa.”

Off to Tzfat next, where my goals would be to begin my souvenir shopping (did someone say trinkets!?) and chiefly, tragically, to pick up another bottle of personal-stash booze. As far as Birhtright seemed to be going, you never knew when another party would have to break out.

The post Birth Writing: Jerusalem Outskirts appeared first on Jewcy.

Location: The Grove

Add more flour or egg when your latkes fall apart? Let us remind you! The Birthright Israel NEXT LA cooking class will teach us the ins and outs of perfecting the craft of latke making, as well as constructing delightful soofganiot and other traditional Hanukkah cuisine.

Remember the Maccabees and the miracle of their long lasting oil? Pay homage to their bravery in battle and the marvel of light by frying up your own delicious latkes.

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