World Cup 2018 in Israel-Palestine?

Guardian writer James Montague has done some serious homework in laying out the possibility of a 2018 World Cup hosted by both Israel and Palestine (see video above). Israeli filmmaker Eytan Heller and the international NGO OneVoice are behind the bid, which proposes games in Ramallah, Tulkarem and Gaza in Palestine, and Haifa, Tel Aviv and Mitzpe Ramon in Israel. It's a wistful sort of bid, but its advocates believe it could help push the two sides towards peace. After all, Japan and Korea used to be enemies, and they co-hosted the 2002 World Cup. Says Montague: Heller is realistic that a joint Israel Palestine bid for the World Cup is a long shot, but he believes that even the slimmest of chances is still a chance. "The chances are very small, yes," Heller admitted. "The campaign is more...

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Jews with Tattoos

Jews with Tattoos

Next time you place judgment on your old Sunday School friend who decided to get inked in college, or find it oxymoronic that your friend's father has a Jewish star tattooed on his forearm, think again. The New York Times published an article this week on tattooed Jews, playfully titled For Some Jews, It Only Sounds Like ‘Taboo.' The story blows the lid on a myth that has been incorporated into mainstream culture and allowed decades of parents and grandparents to condemn tattoos with the threat of exclusion from the family burial plot. Josh Starr, a Maryland resident and a Junior at Stanford University, has always wanted a tattoo but feared religious and familial consequences. "Growing up, my parents always told me that if I got a tattoo I wouldn't be buried in a Jewish cemetery. I...

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Beijing Olympics

Beijing Olympics: Jewish Update

We are getting closer and closer to the Beijing Olympics next month, where all the Jews whose baseball teams have nothing left to play for will finally have summer sports worth watching again. In order to get you ready, we will have periodic updates on Israeli Olympic news. First of all, NBC has some interesting coverage of Israel's Olympic history and Beijing outlook. NBC says Israel "first competed in 1952 and has since missed only the 1980 Moscow Games, which it boycotted." Unfortunately, though, much of the most recent news has been negative. An Israeli marathon runner was arrested earlier this week on fraud charges. He was released today. And earlier this month, U.S.-born Israeli swimmer Max Jaben tested positive for an anabolic steroid. Jaben is still hopeful the test will be disproved and he will be allowed...

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Max Mosley Nazi orgy image

F1 Chief Wins Suit Over Nazi Orgy

Perhaps you heard the vulgar story News of the World published a while back about Formula One chief Max Mosley—the son of British fascist Oswald Mosley, who was a friend of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s—and a nefarious orgy in which the participants purportedly play acted as Nazis. Mosley sued the tabloid, and came out on top. At least one writer fears that the case represents a blow to all investigative journalism. NPR says: Mosley told the court he had an interest in sadomasochism going back 45 years, but said he found the idea of Nazi sex fantasies abhorrent. He said he and the women acted out a German prison scenario, with no Nazi overtones. It certainly was a grotesque image, for everybody, and even though Mosley's successful suit against the British tabloid was quite pricey for the media...

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Radovan Karadvic

This Week’s Links

As Jews, we have a responsibility to deny any future genocide. That's why many Jewish groups applauded the arrest of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadvic. Now it's up to the Hague to fulfill the justice due. Frum Satire wonders what is more Jewish: the bagel or the deli? Two Jewish women are in the running for Miss England 2008. Jewcy has a piece on Jewish mothers and how Sacha Baron Cohen is making his eema crazy. (Via The Jewish Journal) JTA has news about Australian Orthodox Rabbis against gay marriage; a foundation to get Israeli artists to America; and Israel's new tourist helpline. For your next trip to Israel: The Jewish National Fund started a bicycle path connecting Jerusalem to Tel-Aviv. The downhill ride shouldn't take more than five hours! And it looks like...

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Pinchas

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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Seder plate

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

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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