http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/160/1/41

third paragraph, second sentence

“ADH2*2 is highly prevalent among Asians and infrequent in most Caucasians except for individuals of Jewish descent (30, 31).”

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-79380840.html

Visiting Jewish Student Assaulted on Temple University Campus
-please note, Andrew Schwartz (me) is quoted)

http://temple-news.com/2008/03/03/campus-gathers-after-attack/

_____
i am exceedingly qualified to have an opinion. I was forced into a leadership position and the out spoken voice of the Jewish population on campus. There were maybe 10 active students on campus. We had to get the others into the know. Most, know nothing. The vast majority dont lean left, they sit in on a couch on the left, watching CNN and at times, perhaps cracking open the NYTimes.

professors are 99% left, and unfortunately, it creeps into their classes. it shouldnt.

you should be more concerned with what i said above, the Birthright Unplugged program. Statistically speaking, the less observant Jews are in the diaspora, the less they think Israel is important. They both have no connection emotionally (because they have never been) and religiously, because the reform [and increasingly the conservative movement] have emphasized social judaism, not religious. I live in one of the only hubs of conservative jewry in the world, and also a booming reform community. the kids who do not go to jewish dayschool literally know nothing.

while the media is not as bad as the BBC, it is terrible here.

Active intelligent students will be active, and intelligent. But most United States birthrighters are neither.

to the author:
i strongly disagree on all points.

birthright is any countries dream. imagine if you had outside money tht brought tourists to your country for free. 100% of the money they spend is profit for the country. and considering that israel’s economy was once 50-80% based on tourism, thats a big effing deal.

furthermore, birthright is also known as birthrate. iwent on birthright. they give you a jolly tour of all the nice and some historical things about israel, but basically, its a college party, spring break style, in the land of jewish people’s heritage. they not only encourage drinking, but at times, give you no other choice. A lot of these people dont normally hangout with jews whatsoever, and so, im drunk, your drunk, my body fits into your body…whoa, what do you know. hence, birthrate.

students know exactly what birthright is, perhaps parents dont. but point of fact, this whole thing is humorous because it implies that parents send their kids. you cannot go on birthright until you are 18. you have your own rights and freedoms at this point, and dont need parental consent.

furthermore, birthright never claims to be the israeli experience, rather, the ISRAEL experience. that people should experience their heritage, not how people are living now. that is an inverse conclusion. heritage implies past, not present.
his assessment of the safety of israel is always flagrantly wrong. a jew was assualted on temples campus. i dont know of any anti-semites surrounding a jew on any israeli campus, and then knocking him out cold and breaking his orbital bone. (I was president of Temple Students for Israel at the time. look it up, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA)

furthermore, in hs (AKIBA HEBREW ACADEMY, MERION STATION, PA, USA, now known as BARRACK HEBREW ACADEMY, PA, USA–look it uo), playing phelps hs, their entire school and biggoted parents surrounded our teams bus, –after they, like the above story, has surrounded our captains of the varsity team and punched him in the face, breaking his jawbone– would not allow us to get on the bus. thankfully, i was going home via some parents… but the police were called and knives were even pulled on the coach of my team. YEA THIS WAS ALSO ON THE NEWS. just myself and my friends did not push to get it into every newspaper in the world, as oppose to the above.

things that do not happen in israel

When i went on birthright, it was obviously different. I dont need to meet you to know you are not dati. you are not chareidi. you are not chardol. you perhaps visit chabad or breslov from time to time, but otherwise consider yourself simply as chiloni. I went to Israel because it is the land of my heritage. the place whos name was mentioned everyday of school, from the time i was 2 years old, until i was 18. I wanted to kiss the ground when i got off that birthright plane, but i did not do so because I was with 40 other college students. when my birthright hillel advisor said, “we need to hurry onto the bus, some people need to get back to the hotel before shabbat” she really meant, “avi needs to get back to the hotel before shabbat”.

The truth is, Americans are stupid, PERIOD. They are indoctrinated all the time. And you need not worry. They share your equally bigotted leftist views, as per all college campuses in the United States. The president and vice president of Students for Justice in Palestine on my campus were both jewish while i as president of Temple Students for israel. and the Palestinians have organized Birthright Unplugged–where they tour gaza, ramallah, and the poorest parts of the arab-israeli world. You prefer this? the brain washing that israel is purely evil? The one where they feel as though they are guilty, because they are taught (both on campus, in campus classes, and then on these alternative trips) that as a jew, they are PERSONALLY responsible for what Israel as a government does?

Israel is no different then any other country. significant government distrust, and disallusionment. No, the birthrighters do not meet chareidim. they do not get to see how a bunch of people sit and do nothing all day, get 90% tax credits and stipens from the government, all without even serving in the army.

Finally, since I am done correcting your, in my opinion, untruth…i would like to end on the most glaringly obvious omission from your little diatribe above. Birthright is for all Jews, EVERYWHERE. On my trip, i met jews from Africa (no, not south africa), India, England, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Bolivia… it is for all Jews to experience their heritage.

you clearly take for granted living in israel, and what it means to do so. others dont have the oppurtunity to go. like myself. i was supposed to go for 2 weeks in 8th grade. i sol 500$ worth of wrapping paper to go. then arafat declared war on the jews. our trip was canceled. i finally got to go 5 years later because of birthright. i fought to go to israel. and it was an honor, and a privilege.

I’m sorry, but I was 19 years old and aware enough to read between the lines of my Birthright trip. I agree with everything the author said, and have grown to learn that nothing is free and everyone has an agenda – even fellow Jews.

And evenyhough the movie is not the issue, you should note that it was filmed in The Israeli Experience, which is basically a sub-program of the same thing.
see: http://mondoweiss.net/?s=birthright

Josh

I have no illusions that the army is perfect or that any army on earth is perfect — it’s an army for heaven’s sake – but it’s there to protect us. There are huge flaws but work with us and not against us.

Tons of Jewish students go to Hillel events for free meals, with no intention whatsoever of meeting their Jewish spouses-to-be, although this is the obvious intention of Hillel. I’d bet many young Jewish people go on Birthright with the same free-meal approach, and don’t buy into what they hear on that trip. If 18- to 26-year-olds really were “kids” it would be a totally different story. And you’d be surprised at how many boys, regardless of their politics, get excited to hold and be pictured with a gun. It’s disgusting, but it’s not like Birthright’s the only chance they’ll ever get to do so.