sexiness
21 Jul
Arts & Culture, Latest

Israeli Sexiness Won’t Die

Our May/June issue certainly received mixed reviews from our readers due to the sexy cover image (left). But Heeb Magazine has done us one better. Their current issue features a pull-out calendar—a swimsuit calendar—of "the most beautiful Jewish women in the world." Titled "The Ladies of '69" for this year 5769 (get your mind out of the gutter), it's sure to turn heads at your local newsstand. Jewlicious, Jerusalem Post and Ha'aretz each had their own coverage. Nobody failed to point out that Bar Rafaeli, the Sports Illustrated and Victoria's Secret model, is included in the calendar. The Jerusalem Post has this preview: Other models participating in the shoot included Israelis Moran Attias, Adi Neumann and Esti Ginzburg, a four-time covergirl for French Elle who was snapped in a red bikini while holding a fishing rod on which she's...

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Pinchas
21 Jul
Latest, Misc

Weekly Parsha: Pinchas’ Zealotry and 600,000 Israelites

Last week's Torah parsha was Pinchas. (Numbers 25:10-30:1) Continuing from last week's parsha, Balak, Pinchas begins with the conclusion of the story of the plague of Baal-peor (Numbers 25). Balak ends with the men of Israel falling prey to their lustful appetites for non-Isralite women. They fornicate with them, marry them, and needless to say, Hashem is furious! He tells Moses to have the leaders impaled publicly, which leads to this Hollywood-esque finale (Numbers 25:6-9): Just as Moses finishes telling Hashem's orders to Israel's officials, the Israelite Zimri son of Salu brings his Midianite woman, Cozbi daughter of Zur, to a chamber in view of Moses and everyone else around. They proceed to copulate in what has to be one of the most disgustingly public, brazen, and defiant sexual acts in human history. We can imagine Moses and...

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Black Jews and the 2008 election
17 Jul
Latest

Black Jews and the 2008 Presidential Election

One of my favorite Soviet jokes goes like this: An old Jew is taking a walk in a Moscow park when he sees a young black guy sitting on a bench reading a Yiddish newspaper. "What, it is not enough for you that you are black?" asks the Jew, sighing. In the land of the free, however, multiple minority identities are celebrated, if not always understood, as today's Christian Science Monitor article on African-Americans' embrace of Judaism points out: Numbers are hard to pin down. Besides well-known conversions such as that of the late entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., black Jews remain an unfamiliar part of the American religious landscape. Yet Lewis Gordon, director of the Center for Afro-Jewish Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, estimates there are as many as 1 million blacks with Jewish blood in...

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Hezbollah and Israel flags
17 Jul
Latest

Israel-Hezbollah Prisoner Swap Follow-Up

Yesterday we provided a general recap of the prisoner swap that occurred between Hezbollah and Israel. Today, we are interested in the responses, not just from high-ranking officials, but from everyday people. We want to hear what you believe (you can leave your comments below). Was the swap a good idea? The Jewish community is swimming in contention. Those in favor of the deal say that Israel did the right thing by allowing the Goldwasser and Regev families the right to closure and proper mourning. One ex-soldier thinks it was the right thing to do as a statement of the government's commitment to its soldiers: "The army that does not take care of its POWs is not worth serving in and the nation that forgets it sons is not worth fighting for." Those against the deal believe that...

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Hezbollah and Israel flags
16 Jul
Latest

Hezbollah, Israel Complete Emotional Swap

The touchy swap between Hezbollah and Israel of prisoners and the remains of soldiers captured in 2006 was completed today with the assistance of the Red Cross at the Israeli-Lebanon border. Although much of Israel held out hope that the two Israeli soldiers—Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser—were still alive, the nation's fears were confirmed when the two soldiers' were brought to the border in coffins. In return, Hezbollah received the remains of 200 of their fighters, as well as Samir Kuntar and four other prisoners. Kuntar is a particularly controversial figure. In 1979, he killed Danny Haran and his four-year-old daughter Einat in gruesome fashion before being apprehended. Haran's other daughter was accidentally smothered to death by her mother, Smadar, who was attempting to keep her from crying out and disclosing their hiding spot. Kuntar is therefore a loathed...

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Chuck Hagel
15 Jul
Latest

The Barack Obama Chuck Hagel Controversy

More controversy regarding Barack Obama and his policies on Jewish-related issues has bubbled up and, perhaps, simmered down in the past few days. According to the JTA, the Republican Jewish Coalition released a statement yesterday (which has since been removed from their website) condemning what they saw as Sen. Chuck Hagel's accompanying Obama on his upcoming trip to the Middle East. The RJC demanded Obama drop Hagel from the trip. Hagel is a controversial figure in the Jewish community for a number of reasons. Mostly, though, he is seen as less than totally supportive of Israel. Last year, the National Democratic Jewish Council created a list of some of his most unpopular actions regarding the Middle East; in January of this year, Haaretz saw Mayor Michael Bloomberg's associations with Hagel as a detriment to his potential...

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President Obama
15 Jul
Latest

President Obama and His Inner Circle

Yesterday's Washington Post featured a front-page article on President Obama and his inner circle of advisors and friends. Although the article focused on the Chicago-based commonality in Obama's circles, we couldn't help but notice another fascinating attribute they all had in common: The innermost circle that the Post assembled (which can easily be viewed in the accompanying graphic) is comprised of seven people, all of whom are minorities. Four of the seven—John W. Rogers Jr., Valerie B. Jarrett, Eric Whitaker and Martin Nesbitt—are African American. The other three—David Axelrod, James Crown and Penny S. Pritzker—are Jewish. Axelrod, Obama's senior political strategist, is a former writer for the Chicago Tribune and political consultant. He is in large part responsible for the hope rhetoric and focus on an outsider image that has driven Obama's success thus far. Crown and national...

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Nazi Criminals top photo
14 Jul
Latest

Unnerving News of Untried Nazi Criminals

Some recent worrying reports have reached us regarding infamous Nazi criminals who are not only escaping the public spotlight and the inevitable justice it would bring, but who are apparently living comfortably. According to a June 16 article in The Sun, Milivoj Asner, the fourth most wanted Nazi on the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s list, was seen mingling with soccer fans at Euro 2008—despite escaping a trial on account of being too ill. Asner is evidently confident he will evade punishment. "I have a clear conscience, I can appear in front of any court," he said. The Sun says this about Asner's suspiciously healthy activity: The Sun tracked down the 95-year-old former police chief and Gestapo agent and secretly filmed him as he strolled confidently for more than a mile, arm-in-arm with second wife Edeltraut. Walking without a stick, he even...

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Seder plate
27 Jun
Food, Latest, Misc

Seder Recipes From the Google Seder

Google Seder Recipes Boiled Kosher Brisket with Horseradish Salsa Verde 4 pounds boneless beef brisket 3 medium onions, quartered 6 qt Beef Broth (or chicken) 6 qts water 2 bay leaves 1 tsp black pepper 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut in chunks 3 stalks celery 2 bunches flat leaf parsley 1/4 cup freshly grated horseradish root 2 Tbl shallots, diced 2 Tbl red wine vinegar 2 Tbl extra virgin olive oil NOTE: Brisket is best if you have 3 days to make but can all be done at once. Brisket is more difficult to slice if warm. 2 days in advance: generously season with salt, refrigerate overnight 1 day in advance - In a deep stock pot, add water, broth, onions, celery, carrots, bay leaves, black peppercorns and season broth as if it were a soup. - Warm broth so that it's moderate (approximately 170 degrees) - Place brisket in broth (it will float),...

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Seder plate
27 Jun
Latest, Misc, Religion

The Google Seder

The e-mail invitation came at the last minute. Not that Google didn’t know Passover was on its way, but apparently it would have been un-Google-like to plan too far in advance. So the message arrived just a few days ahead of the special evening: “I would like to formally announce this year’s Google seder, affectionately known as Koogle@Google 2008.” “Google? seder? Google seder?” you might ask. Not many companies (I can’t think of any others) have an official corporate seder. We’re not talking a Hanukkah or Christmas party but a full-fledged Exodus commemorative night at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, a few miles south of Palo Alto, in the heart of Silicon Valley. It was my first visit to the sprawling campus of the Internet search giant, founded in 1998 in a Menlo Park garage by...

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