Notebook: A Discussion of Contemporary Jewish Issues was launched Nov. 24 at the University of Toronto law school. Many students came to celebrate and there was clearly a feeling of pride and accomplishment.

Notebook is made possible by a grant from the Azure Student Journals Project and from Hillel of Greater Toronto.

Brauna Doidge, a second-year student of Jewish Studies and editor-in-chief of the new journal, learned about the Azure grant while working in Israel last summer. As Brauna told the crowd, she was captivated by the idea of such a publication and contacted fellow student Alexander Green, the executive editor, who at the time was a counsellor at an American camp. Together they planned Notebook, “a forum of expression for thoughts on Jews, Judaism and Israel.”

The name was chosen, Brauna explained, because Rashi and other famous scholars referred to their own commentaries on ancient Jewish texts as kuntres, which means notebook.

U of T Professor Kenneth Green, father of Alex and a member of Notebook’s advisory board, praised the high calibre of writing in this new “outlet for creative energy.” He described the significance of the undertaking as a “momentous event in the history of the university.

“Never has there been an intellectual journal of Jewish students done on their own,” Green said. “I hope it will inspire more students to get involved, to debate, to write.”

Alex presented Brauna with flowers as a “token of appreciation” for devoting the last five months “to making this dream a reality…for the dedication, sweat and love” that she put into the first issue of Notebook.