Jewish Olympians Swim Like Fish
By Lana Gersten
Thu. Aug 14, 2008
AT THE GAMES: American fencer Sada Jacobson, top, won a silver medal; Jason Lezak, above, broke the world record in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay team.
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At 46.06 seconds, the fastest split of all time, Jewish athlete Jason Lezak swam the race of his life to achieve a gold medal for the American 4x100-meter freestyle relay team. In the process, he broke the world record and kept Michael Phelps’s bid for eight gold medals alive.
At 32, making him the oldest male on the American swim team, Lezak had to play catch-up in his anchor leg, hitting the pool a whole half-second behind Alain Bernard of the favored French team. But Lezak pulled one of the most impressive comebacks in Olympic history.
“I knew I was going to have to swim out of my mind,” he told the International Herald Tribune. “I just happened to have the swim of my life at the right time.” Also swimming for the men’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay was Garrett Weber-Gale, a 23-year-old American Jew who came out fast after a strong start by Phelps.
With all their triumph and glory, those two men are not the only Jewish Olympians making headlines. American swimmer Dara Torres, who at 41 is the oldest swimmer in the Beijing Olympic Games, became the oldest swimmer ever to receive a medal in the Olympics when she won silver in the women’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
American fencer Sada Jacobson won a silver medal after being defeated by fellow American Mariel Zagunis, and Israeli windsurfer Shahar Zubari captured first place in his first race and finished third in his second and fourth races.
Israeli swimmer Alon Mendel, whose father died just two days before the Olympics started, set a new Israeli record of 1:59.27 in the preliminary heat of the 200-meter men’s butterfly, good enough for fourth place. Although he didn’t make the semifinals, he did record his personal-best time.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
On Eikev
t 18, 2008
Parashat Eikev
Below is a condensed summary of AIPAC's Synagogue Initiative Sermon Tidbits for Eikev. The complete version of Tidbits is two pages long and a quick reading of the summary below should indicate if this Tidbit interests you.
*
Have No Fear - Moses directs the Jewish people not to fear going into battle because of God's commandment to defend the nation. Today it remains important for us to be assertive in defending the Jewish people by working with Congress to ensure that the U.S. remains committed to Israel 's qualitative military edge. Click here to view the complete Tidbits for Eikev.
*
Words of Thanks - Reciting blessings instills in us the value of hakarat hatov – expressing appreciating for the good that God and others do for us. Today we have a wonderful opportunity to express our hakarat hatov to the majority of Congress who recently voiced their support for tougher sanctions against Iran . Click here to view the complete Tidbits for Eikev.
*
Looking for Trouble - Moses tells the Jewish people that they will emerge victorious in battle because their adversaries, like Sichon and Og, had instigated unprovoked aggression towards the Jewish nation. Today, like Sichon and Og who suffered for their acrimony, so too the Iranian government is suffering for their own animosity, in the form of increasingly harsh sanctions. Click here to view the complete Tidbits for Eikev.
Parashat Eikev
Below is a condensed summary of AIPAC's Synagogue Initiative Sermon Tidbits for Eikev. The complete version of Tidbits is two pages long and a quick reading of the summary below should indicate if this Tidbit interests you.
*
Have No Fear - Moses directs the Jewish people not to fear going into battle because of God's commandment to defend the nation. Today it remains important for us to be assertive in defending the Jewish people by working with Congress to ensure that the U.S. remains committed to Israel 's qualitative military edge. Click here to view the complete Tidbits for Eikev.
*
Words of Thanks - Reciting blessings instills in us the value of hakarat hatov – expressing appreciating for the good that God and others do for us. Today we have a wonderful opportunity to express our hakarat hatov to the majority of Congress who recently voiced their support for tougher sanctions against Iran . Click here to view the complete Tidbits for Eikev.
*
Looking for Trouble - Moses tells the Jewish people that they will emerge victorious in battle because their adversaries, like Sichon and Og, had instigated unprovoked aggression towards the Jewish nation. Today, like Sichon and Og who suffered for their acrimony, so too the Iranian government is suffering for their own animosity, in the form of increasingly harsh sanctions. Click here to view the complete Tidbits for Eikev.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
For this week's parasha
.
New video on Dvarim, Tisha Bav, Olympics
on youtube
Get off the mountain and possess the land jewu 429
This wek's parasha is Vetchanan. It has the Ten Commandments and the Shma/Viahavta. Watch my videos on nthese two topics and the one on chanting the shma
Ten Commandments JewU 22
The Shema-Hear O Israel Lord our God Lord is One JewU 89
Shma first and last paragraphs sung JewU 149
It also contains the mitzvote on mezuza, tfillin, jewish education. Watch these videos
Mezuza-what is that box on a Jewish home? JewU 41
Tfillin Phylacteries JewU 187
Raising Children to be Jewish JewU 92 Raising Children to be Jewish -2 JewU 115
Homework this week
memorize
SHEMA
Shema, Yisrael, Adonai Eloheynu, Adonai Echad.
Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
TEN COMMANDMENTS
1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt
2. You shall have no other gods before Me.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness.
10.You shall not covet
New video on Dvarim, Tisha Bav, Olympics
on youtube
Get off the mountain and possess the land jewu 429
This wek's parasha is Vetchanan. It has the Ten Commandments and the Shma/Viahavta. Watch my videos on nthese two topics and the one on chanting the shma
Ten Commandments JewU 22
The Shema-Hear O Israel Lord our God Lord is One JewU 89
Shma first and last paragraphs sung JewU 149
It also contains the mitzvote on mezuza, tfillin, jewish education. Watch these videos
Mezuza-what is that box on a Jewish home? JewU 41
Tfillin Phylacteries JewU 187
Raising Children to be Jewish JewU 92 Raising Children to be Jewish -2 JewU 115
Homework this week
memorize
SHEMA
Shema, Yisrael, Adonai Eloheynu, Adonai Echad.
Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
TEN COMMANDMENTS
1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt
2. You shall have no other gods before Me.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness.
10.You shall not covet
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
This man was thought dead and is alive
Man presumed dead in 1976 Colo. flood found alive
Sun Aug 3, 9:48 PM ET
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - A man believed to have died in a Colorado flood in 1976 has been found living in Oklahoma.
Who will live in and who die? drama of Yom Kippur ishow will we respond if granted a reprieve another year. This man was thought dead and is alive
Sixty-three-year-old Darrell Johnson told the Fort Collins Coloradoan for a story Friday that he didn't know he had been counted among the 144 victims of the Big Thompson Canyon flood until a resident called him last year.
Barb Anderson said residents didn't want his name on a memorial plaque without proof he was dead.
Johnson and his family had decided to leave their shabby cabin the morning of the flood after just one night. A few hours later, the resort was washed away.
How Johnson ended up on the victims list remains a mystery.
He now directs funerals in Oklahoma City and acknowledges he was lucky to get the bad cabin.
Sun Aug 3, 9:48 PM ET
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - A man believed to have died in a Colorado flood in 1976 has been found living in Oklahoma.
Who will live in and who die? drama of Yom Kippur ishow will we respond if granted a reprieve another year. This man was thought dead and is alive
Sixty-three-year-old Darrell Johnson told the Fort Collins Coloradoan for a story Friday that he didn't know he had been counted among the 144 victims of the Big Thompson Canyon flood until a resident called him last year.
Barb Anderson said residents didn't want his name on a memorial plaque without proof he was dead.
Johnson and his family had decided to leave their shabby cabin the morning of the flood after just one night. A few hours later, the resort was washed away.
How Johnson ended up on the victims list remains a mystery.
He now directs funerals in Oklahoma City and acknowledges he was lucky to get the bad cabin.
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