Looking up at the sky tonight, I could see stars glittering. When I mentioned this to my neighbor, she remarked that the government must be thrilled, because stars are visible above Beijing about as often as the Olympics come to town. I told her that the local Chabad rabbi would probably appreciate the great weather,…
It’s been two weeks since the Olympics began, and Westerners here are getting rather fed up with noodles, dumplings and rice. Even the bread here can taste strange. For Jews, or anyone who has tasted a freshly baked New York bagel, the rumors of a bagel shop in Beijing circulated around hotel lobbies, tour buses…
Mark Spitz has been questioned repeatedly over how he feels now that Michael Phelps has more medals than he does. Holding up the latest cover of Sports Illustrated, featuring a grinning Phelps wearing his eight gold medals around his neck — a re-creation of Spitz’s famous seven-gold-medal pose from 1972 — the elder champion smiled…
What must it have been like for Rami Zur today, the American-turned-Israeli-turned-US team kayaker, when he found himself eliminated from the Olympics after placing seventh in the men’s kayak single 1,000 meters race? Surely there was some despair and anger. But could there also have been a smile? A chuckle perhaps? Zur, who was born…
Across Israel today, Jews of varying political stripes breathed a sigh of relief and even shed tears of joy. No, President Ehud Olmert didn’t step down yet. Something better. Israeli windsurfer Shahar Zubari sailed to a bronze medal today after coming in second place in his last race of the 2008 Olympic games in Qingdao….
Three decades after the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, this year’s Israeli athletic delegation joined Israeli diplomats and other Jews in commemorating that terrible loss this morning here in Beijing in an event sponsored by the Israeli embassy and the Israel Olympic Committee. According to Haaretz hundreds came to the event, including representatives of Israel’s athletic…
On my flight from Newark to Beijing a few weeks ago, I noticed a young Hasidic man davening in tefillin. The plane was almost completely packed with Chinese, who must have had no clue what he was doing bowing while wrapped in leather. As one of the few other Jews on the flight, I approached…
First it was Presidents George W. Bush, Nicolas Sarkozy and Shimon Peres coming to Beijing for the Olympics. Now, it’s Rabbi Arthur Schneier. According to a press release, the founder and president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, which promotes religious freedom and human rights, will be fanning himself in the stands at that impending…
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