#24 Yael Naim

One of the more recent blips on the radars of Jewish Young Adults is French-Israeli singer-songwriter Yael Naim. Ms. Naim has been around the music scene for a while, her first album was released in France in 2000, but it wasn’t until one of her songs was hand picked by Steve Jobs for the new [...]

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#23 Hating the Matzah Ball but Going Anyway

(idea submitted by Benji)
Traditionally, Jewish Young Adults outside of Israel have found themselves alone and somewhat destitute in the days surrounding the prominent Non-Jewish holiday known as Christmas. While their Non-JYA friends were surrounded by family dinners and requisite gift giving, the JYA would console him/herself over a meager meal of General Tso’s Chicken and [...]

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#22 Keeping Kosher for Passover

Like their parents, Jewish Young Adults hold a variety of beliefs about keeping kosher; some are strict and will eat no dairy from an animal that was milked by a Non Jew, others are mildly observant and will eat dairy with chicken, but will not touch ham or shrimp, and others are completely lax to [...]

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#21 Jewish Geography

(idea submitted by Jenny S.G. and Faith R.)
One of the more obvious and readily noticeable traits of Jewish Young Adults is their penchant for organizing other JYAs into degrees of separation. This activity, commonly known as “Jewish Geography”, usually occurs within the first five to ten minutes from when two JYAs introduce themselves to each [...]

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#20 Michael Ian Black

The film Wet Hot American Summer was a failure both critically, and at the box office earning only a 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and grossing only $292,102 but quotes from this 2001 project nevertheless pepper the conversation of JYAs, who consider the film an under-appreciated masterpiece. One of the more oft quoted lines from [...]

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#19 Giving Pets Jewy Names

Jewish Young Adults of today have a tendency to put their mark on numerous aspects of their day to day life, whether it is through their language, their behavior at the dinner table, or their vocations. JYAs also have a tendency to extend the influence of their uniqueness into other fields as well, notably concerning [...]

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#18 Ordering “Special” Meals

(idea submitted by Emily B)
Upon entering a restaurant with a Jewish Young Adult, it is best to be patient and understanding when the waiter comes around, for JYAs exhibit a strong tendency toward ordering “augmented” dishes from what appears on the menu. Frequently a JYA will chose to adjust or alter any given dish [...]

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#17 Shia LaBeouf

One of the more recent actors to emerge from the small screen to the megablockbusters, gaining the interest of Jewish Young Adults, is 21 year old Shia LaBeouf. Shia, who spent his early years cutting his acting chops on Disney’s Even Stevens, is now a bona fide meg-celeb, starring in the recent Transformers, and [...]

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#16 Avoiding Large Jewish Organizations

There are a number of large well established and well funded Jewish organizations that have been around for a number of decades. These organizations, like Hadassah, B’nai Brith, or AIPAC, while important to the larger Jewish community, are typically shunned by the Jewish Young Adult of today.
Part of the reason for the disassociation stems [...]

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#15 Claiming Allergies to Common Foods

(submitted by Mike S. and written by Natalie K.)
While their parents had to contend with truly frightening maladies that disproportionately affect Jews like Tay-Sachs or building pyramids for Pharaoh, today’s JYAs take a more domestic approach and focus their grievances on highly specific and sometimes counter-intuitive gastrointestinal complaints that are the resulting of eating incredibly [...]

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