New Dead Sea Scroll Found

user submitted pictureWell, new to you, anyway. The 2000 year-old scraps of animal skin were found in a canyon near the Dead Sea, where Jewish revolutionaries hid out from the Romans in the second century (C.E.). They’re hand-printed in Hebrew with verses from the Book of Leviticus, sort of the “spiritual rulebook” of the Pentateuch. “Not very sexy” says blogger Ed Cook, but this adds to the likelyhood that the scroll isn’t a fake.
The fragments haven’t been completely authenticated yet, but those who like to get down and dirty with old stuff like the brainy dudes at Paleojudaica and Codex
have more in-depth repoorts.
Photo: AP.

Jew Pride Goes Mainstream

user submitted pictureSexy accordion maven Annette Ezekiel of Golem gets a few quotes in this AP article about how the “new trend” of Jewish pop culture as evidenced by hasidic dub star Matisyahu and the proliferation of kitschy couture.
“Religion is not the most popular thing in youth culture these days,” says Sara Joki, 23, of Saratoga Springs. “But people like Matisyahu going on Jimmy Kimmel and singing about God, and seeing people go wild for it, it’s just amazing. It makes me proud of my generation.”
We’re all for Jew pride, but there’s something about wearing a t-shirt and listening to “Chop ‘Em Down” on the iPod that just says “poseur” if that person is out clubbing on Yom Kippur.
Says Jason Brzoska, director of learning communities and marketing for myjewishlearning.com: “I see the increase in Jewish pop culture, but I don’t know if it’s really bringing disillusioned, disengaged Jews together. The problem with pop culture is that it’s ephemeral.”
As Jews who saw nothing but blond feathered hair and little noses on TV growing up, we’re glad the young’uns can see their Judaism reflected in the mainstream. Perhaps this validation might actually bring some of the disillusioned and disengaged back to synagogue. In the meantime, wear those t-shirts ’til they fade.

Unholy Export

user submitted pictureFrom JTA: After 12 years of cultivating sturgeon, Kibbutz Dan fish farm on the Upper Galilee announced that it is ready to export the roe to caviar connoisseurs worldwide. Since sturgeon do not naturally exist in Israel, the farm must first import the fish from Russia (where the best caviar comes from anyway) and raise them for eggs. Galilee Caviar CEO Yigal Ben-Zvi expects $2 million in revenue a year from the salty venture, though it won’t be sold in Israel as it’s nowhere near kosher (sturgeon don’t have scales.)
Still, it probably tastes like heaven on piece of matzah topped with a dollop of sour cream.

Jewish Cable Channel Sold to Highest (Uh, Only) Bidder

Globes Online reports that the auction of Israel’s Jewish Heritage Channel by The Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting received only one paltry bid for programming rights. The Shlomo Ben-Tzvi-Ami Giniger group, aka Taya Communications Ltd., had no competition in acquiring the channel, which makes us wonder where the hell ambigously user submitted pictureJewish media mogul Rupert Murdoch was last week.
Heck, where were our bosses? If we can piss so many people off writing a little ol’ blog, imagine the fracas if we got our grubby hands on our own cable channel!
Rupert photo c/o The Unjust Media.

Madonna Never Picked Up A Pen

Although Madonna revels in her literary status as the author of her children’s books Mr. Peabody’s Apples, Yakov and the Seven Thieves and last month’s release Lotsa de Casha, a tattletale has told Page Six that someone else was behind the keyboard.
user submitted pictureThe source says that the Kabbalah Queen used Eitan Yardeni, the same official ghostwriter that all the high-ups at the Kabbalah Centre go to for wordsmithing, including Yehuda Berg (who “wrote” the best-selling The Power of Kabbalah) and his brother Phillip Berg.
The Material One reportedly bought a house for Yardeni back in 2003, perhaps as a gift for doing her homework.
In other Madonna news, Dennis Rodman claims she wasn’t “all that” in bed when they dated back in 1994. Maybe she should have gotten someone else to ghostsex for her.