Page Text: “Apartheid” or “Two National Movements”?
About Us
What is Oy Bay? Oy Bay is a blog dedicated to news, groups, events, and goings-on for young Jews in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. It is meant not just to be a communal listing as other sites currently are used, but also as a forum for discussions on events and issues pertinent to you. So, this is meant as a two-way thing. A dialogue. So start commenting! 🙂
Why did Oyster start Oy Bay ? I started to notice ( in my post-college search for things to do Jewishly with my fellow tribespeople of about my own age ) that there were a good deal of things going on (much more than at first glance), but that no one knew of all of them. It seemed that due to Jewish life in the Bay Area being very unaffiliated and diffuse, the word wasn’t getting out very well about some of these events, and that inter-Federation politics on the other hand was preventing useful cross-posting of activities. So, hence the need for an all-inclusive listing in a format that would be accessible and familiar with our web-savvy generation (X’ers or millenials), with the ability to form community out of the open discussions that can take place around any posting.We are currently looking for contributing writers, especially from around San Francisco and Oakland. Please write to oyster [at] oy-bay.org for more information (be sure to put README in the subject line !).
Oyster is the founder and editor-in-chief of Oy Bay! He has lived in the Bay Area his entire life, and has always been active in the Jewish community. In high school he was the regional vice-president for cultural, religious, and Zionist programming for BBYO, and in college at UC Berkeley was for a time the chair of the Israel Action Committee. He helped start the Jewish Students For Peace pro-Israel Zionist student network during the worst times of the second intifada. Currently, he works as a Jewish educator at his synagogue, programs events for 20-something Jews, and stays involved in the Jewish blogosphere. He currently is studying Yiddish, Krav Maga, and hopes one day to be a learned Jew.
Shiduri graduated from UC Berkeley in 2006 with an Interdisciplinary Studies degree focused on Middle East / Near East Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, and folklore. Her senior thesis explored the role of the conceptual Jew as a pernicious, demonic outsider in anti-semitic folklore.She has worked as the head factchecker and research assistant for Sandy Tolan ’s The Lemon Tree (Bloomsbury Press USA 2006) — a book which explores both the Israeli and the Palestinian narrative of the ongoing conflict.
She has taught Hebrew and religious studies at Temple Israel of Alameda since 2002, and is now a preschool teaching assistant. Shiduri writes on Judaism, folk-lore, local Antisemitism, Zionism, Israel, Torah, and just about anything else that would make one say, “Oy Bay!”
ALilyAmongThorns has an experience that mirrors many Jewish Russian Americans in the Bay Area. She was born in Moscow, Russia, lived in Netanya, Israel, then bounced through Massachusetts and New Jersey before staking out a home in California. She was very involved in BBYO in the South Bay, and cut her journalistic teeth at her high school newspaper, gaining awards along the way. She’s worked as an editor and journalist for De Anza’s La Voz student paper , once again unable to shake her award-winning tendencies, and also busied herself as a Senator in the De Anza Associated Student Body (consolidating political and media power, as any good Jewish girl should). And her Jewish credentials post-high school are just as impressive, having been an active member of the De Anza Jews, Israelis & Friends (JIF) club , and having served as a Koret Intern for the Hillel of Silicon Valley .
She currently is dazzling the loyal Oy Bay audience and reporting live on the Arab-Israeli conflict from… Berkeley. :-p
J-Lifer is a proud graduate of San Jose State University and a former staff writer for the Spartan Daily. When she’s not an intrepid reporter in the field, she likes late-night golf and blogging! J-Lifer was a freelance reporter for several South Bay publications and Jewish newspapers , and currently is working for the one of the most prestigious Jewish publications in the world, the Oy Bay Jerusaelm Bureau Jerusalem Post [You see where writing for Oy Bay will take you? -Ed.]. In addition to Oy Bay, she blogs for campusj.com and maintains her own blog, www.thejlife.blogspot.com . J-Lifer likes to report on local news and events, and anything relating to Jews or diabetics.
LChaimLover is originally from Boston, MA. Having recently graduated from Santa Clara University with a B.A. in English, her life goal is to write the Great American Novel. In the mean time, she is content with being actively involved at Hillel of Silicon Valley , Chabad of Sunnyvale , JSN , and SVYAD among other fine Jewish organizations in the Bay Area. Having moved 92 times (no joke) and lived in 14 states, she feels she has a pretty decent grasp on the many facets of American Culture.
ChallahBackGirl is one of the Jewiest Jewesses I’ve ever met. She’s one of the leaders of my shul’s young adult group , and writes about such on their brand-spankin’-new blog . I’ve known her since high school, and can say with utmost authority that she’s totally tubular. She’s had the writing bug since then, and previously wrote for and served as editor-in-chief of the Leviathan, the Jewish student journal of UC Santa Cruz .
And she’d really dig it if you “Challah’ed back” at her at a CBDYAG event !
I’ve known the KosherSheik since high school, when we served together on the Bay Area regional board of our Jewish youth group. He’s a hilarious fun-loving guy, with a sharp mind and an unparalleled patriotism for Calfornia, NorCal, the Yay Area, and San Francisco (HaShem help you if you say ‘Frisco’ or ‘Cali’ in his presence!). Oh yeah, and he’s kosher. REALLY kosher.
The KosherSheik is as San Franciscan as they come. Born and raised in the City, his life has pretty much been confined to SF. As an alumnus of Lawton School (SF), Abraham Lincoln High School (SF), and San Francisco State University (obviously SF), this guy lives and breathes SF.
This Mexican-Moroccan Sephardic Jew-Sultan was a regional newsletter editor of BBYO his junior year of high school and then went on to become the regional president of BBYO his senior year of high school. He was the founding president of the first and only chapter of a Jewish college fraternity in the city of San Francisco (Alpha Epsilon Pi) at infamous San Francisco State University .The Sheik loves: SAN FRANCISCO, the bay area, coffee, food, locals, the Giants, the 49ers, the Warriors, the Sharks, Israel, Morocco, Mexico and a variety of other things.
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