Tackle Football Wallops Israel

Quick hands are followed by the chase as number 67 goes in for a tackle.
(Ariel Jerozolimski)

Colleague Sam Ser over at The Jerusalem Post has the local "gridiron" details:

As kickoffs go, the opening play of last Friday's game between Big Blue and the Pioneers was unexceptional - the only indication of any greater significance being that it ended, in what was undoubtedly a first for an American tackle football league, with a Levi tackling a Levy.

Israel Football League logo

Minutes into the Israel Football League's inaugural game on an unseasonably warm November afternoon at Jerusalem's Kraft Stadium, one of the more than 200 mostly American immigrants in attendance soaked in the sound of shoulder pads crunching against churning thighs as if listening to a long-lost rock'n'roll album he had just rediscovered at the back of his closet. "Wow," he said, turning to his friend and nodding with satisfaction, "it really brings you back to high school, doesn't it?"

But how do they say, "Hail Mary Play" in the language of the Prophets, and does, "throwing the bomb," rattle the receiver?

Read the rest here, and find out more about the Israel Football League here.

Earlier posts about baseball in the Holyland are here.

'Been away so long, I hardly knew the place...'

Columbus, GA., guitarist and songwriter Marshall Ruffin rockin' the crowd at The Loft. (Dave Bender)

"Gee it's great to be back home..."


High-altitude ice crystals bracket the setting sun on a Sunday evening, after a day trekking through the hills near Helen, Ga. Click the pics, or go here for more recent images. (Dave Bender)

Well, y'know: life; work, mainly covering stories, Shabbat, Chag; and especially, missing Israel... But in the meantime, covering events here, like this demo:


Two protesters at the annual SOA Watch protest outside the gates of the US Army's Ft. Benning, GA. facility, demonstrate "waterboarding," a controversial interrogation technique, opponents consider a form of torture. The willing subject of this simulation was unrestrained, and emerged unharmed from the brief exhibition. (Dave Bender)

I'll make a Thanksgiving vow to try to get back into blogging. Really, I will. Right after I finish a prison story I'm working on...


Staffers at Stewart County Detention Center, Lumpkin, Ga., removing handcuffs and leg irons from detained illegal aliens, in order to for transport them to hearings on their cases - or deportation. (Dave Bender)

San Diego blazes, Sodom, & the Jewish Question...

A fascinating, moving post from a San Diego resident, via Aish:

We live in La Jolla, which means "The Jewel." Our community is little more than a stone's throw from one of the prettiest pieces of coastline in the entire county and boasts the best weather too. We have a lovely shul with over 280 families, a spa-like mikvah, and an eruv on the way. This past Shabbat, as we do every week, we enjoyed our shul kiddush al fresco, socializing around the towering Torrey Pine tree that defines our shul's courtyard. We could not have predicted that such a short time later, our blue skies would turn toxic, the crisp ocean breezes replaced with menacing winds and our Torrey Pine and its courtyard laden with ash.

Thankfully, our normally idyllic coastal enclave seems to be out the path of the fire -- at least for now. But as the communities immediately to the North and to the East of us were steadily evacuated, my husband and I were increasingly concerned: What if we were next? What if a call comes in the middle of the night asking us -- telling us -- to leave?

Read the rest, and try to decide for yourself what you really care about.

Acco: Jumping for joy (Original photography)

Acco: Jumping For Joy. (Dave Bender)

Acco youth jumping into the sea at the end of a hot summer's day. He wasn't hurt by the razor-sharp barnacles, and stones of the wash. I b&w'ed the rocks in the background, in order to bring the kid to the forefront.

Click here for another image from this series.

Jaffa: barring 'The Real Thing'

Barring 'The Real Thing.' Click on the image for a close-up, hi-rez version. (Dave Bender)

A decaying window, on a lane facing the Mediterranean sea, near the old port of Jaffa. Now at ground level, close up, it looks as though the street was once lower, and it offered its once-upon-a-time residents a pleasant view of the sunset.

More recent Jaffa news, you ask? Oh, ok:

Vandals spray anti-meat graffiti on McDonalds in Jaffa

JerusalemOnline: Weekly Video News Update

Today's Headlines:

Palestinian assassination plot against PM Olmert foiled Remnants of First Temple Period discovered by Temple Mount Recycled park built on remains of massive garbage dump

(Full disclosure: I worked at JerusalemOnline as an editor and translator)

Iran's Khamenei to US: 'Join the unfree world'

He he he:

In a speech that condemned the upcoming U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference, Iran’s Supreme Leader today called on the United Nations to impose sanctions on the United States aimed at “bringing the U.S. into the global community of unfree nations.”

“The people of the United States have lived under iron-fist of liberty for too long,” said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is law in Iran. “We believe that deep in the human soul dwells a universal desire to submit to a more powerful person whom one can revere with quiet obedience. Americans have had to squelch this yearning for more than two centuries.”

Mr. Khamenei told a cheering Iranian crowd, “No people can long endure the shackles of a democratic regime, without finally breaking those chains and taking their place among uncivilized nations that have wisely advanced only so far as they ought.”

“With proper encouragement from the United Nations,” he added, “the American people will soon throw off the yoke of freedom, and breathe the fresh air of subservience along with their millions of brethren in the Muslim world.”

Spot the differences:


More Iraniabilia here.

Debka dancing on the edge (original photography)

No, not that Debka... but this one:

'Dancing On The Edge' (Dave Bender)

A shot of two Israeli Arab youths from Acco, near Haifa, as they alternate diving into the waters off of the Crusader-era ruins, adjacent to the walled Old City. Their poses as they gingerly stepped across the rocks reminded me of a sort of "dance frieze."

Originally a color shot, I am trying to shorten the b&w learning curve (btw - via a stunning stills/video photog site: Radiant Vista), and this is an early try. Some Photoshopping, to bring out the clouds, and tonal "oomph" that b&w does so well. Comments, critique (and cash) are all welcomed.

Heart-to-heart between Israel, Palestinians

Heartwarming, no?

Two Palestinian children in need of complex, life-saving heart surgery will be operated on by an international team of experts during a live broadcast surgery at an upcoming international medical seminar in Israel.

World-renowned medical professionals will meet in Israel next week to share and debate leading research and techniques in adult and pediatric cardiothoracic surgery and cardiology, as part of the Second Sami and Angela Shamoon Medical Seminar held at the Edith Wolfson Medical Center.

The seminar will take place from October 21st – 22nd, 2007 and will bring together distinguished medical professionals from the US, Canada, UK, China, Germany and the Netherlands.

The conference will also unite Israeli and Palestinian doctors through the Save A Child's Heart, 'Heart of the Matter' program sponsored by the European Union, where 15 Palestinian doctors from the West Bank and Gaza are expected to participate in the conference. Read the rest.

Meanwhile:

President Shimon Peres expressed regret on Thursday that innocent Palestinians were being subjected to any form of maltreatment by Israel, but he added that over the past three weeks, six potential suicide bombers had been apprehended as they tried to enter Israel with explosives... Peres outlined his vision of the proposal for an industrial zone peace village that is supported by the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian leadership and said the Japanese were giving $100 million and the Germans $30m. toward the project.

Click here for previous posts on Israeli medical advances, and related medical news.

'Picturing Israel' in orange

Another in a series of stunning images from Israel:

"Yarkon park, sunsetting on a boys dream"