Six Israeli swimmers set world record for 236 Mile longest open-water swim

From Israel Hayom...

6 Israelis break world record for longest open-water swim

Israeli relay team swims over 236 miles from Cyprus to Israel to raise awareness about marine pollution • Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz: The fact that the swimmers could tell when they entered Israeli water shows there is work to be done. 

A year and a half of training came to an impressive end Saturday morning when six Israeli swimmers -- coach Ori Sela, Oded Rahav, Udi Erel, Ben Enosh, Doron Amosi, and Luc Chetboun -- broke the Guinness World Record for the longest open-water relay distance swim.

The six swam 380 kilometers (236 miles) from Paphos port in Cyprus to Herzliya Marina in Israel. The event, titled the Cyprus Israel Swim for Clean Seas, was held in cooperation with Zalul, an Israeli NGO devoted to keeping the sea clean, and dedicated to raising awareness about marine pollution. The six are also members of Zalul's Sea Guardians group. 

"We've made history. A total of 124 hours of swimming, 14,000 strokes in the water for each of us," the swimmers said.

The swimmers said that on Monday, they encountered a "horrible" current. "But suddenly at sunset 12 dolphins appeared and it boosted our morale."

The swimmers set off last Sunday afternoon. Erel was the first in the water, followed by each team member in a predetermined order with no alternates. Each man swam for an hour at a time, averaging 2 to 4 kilometers (1.2 to 2.5 miles) by the time he was relieved.

Is Muslim Prayer in the End Zone Kosher?

No it's not kosher to pray at any time in an NFL game. But then there's politics.

From the CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

Husain Abdullah celebrates after scoring a touchdown on Monday night.

NFL says ref botched call on player's Muslim prayer
By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Editor 

(CNN) – Husain Abdullah can kneel and pray pretty much anywhere in America he wants. Except, perhaps, for an NFL end zone.

The Kansas City Chiefs' safety and devout Muslim was flagged for "unsportsmanlike conduct" after sliding to his knees in prayer to celebrate a touchdown Monday night. 

On Tuesday, the NFL said the referee botched the call.

"Husain Abdullah should not have been penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct," said Michael Signora, a league spokesman.

Is Bruce Levenson Jewish?

Yes Bruce Levenson is a Jew. He is the team owner who has decided to sell Atlanta Hawks over a racist e-mail that he wrote in 2012. He admits that he, "wrote an 'inappropriate and offensive' email concerning African American spectators."

Levenson is a highly visible and communally active Jew. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports:

Levenson is a noted philanthropist who has been acknowledged for donating to organizations such as Birthright Israel, the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Youth Philanthropy Institute. Levenson has supported BBYO, the Jewish-American youth movement says on its website, adding that he also served as the Aleph Godol of Brandeis AZA.

Levenson was also among 100 prominent American Jews who sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in April, urging him to “work closely” with Kerry “to devise pragmatic initiatives, consistent with Israel’s security needs, which would represent Israel’s readiness to make painful territorial sacrifices for the sake of peace.”

Levenson accompanied his NBA team on a tour of the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. in April, and took his Holocaust survivor mother-in-law along with him.

My Dear Rabbi Talmudic Advice Column for September: What About Slow Pray?

Dear Rabbi,

I have been attending a 6:30 daily morning minyan at my local synagogue for many years. Right after minyan I rush out to catch a bus and go to work in the city. Many others at the minyan are on tight schedules and must connect with car pools or take their children to school. We always have completed our services at 7 promptly to satisfy our schedules.

Recently a man who is a mourner in shloshim (the first thirty days of mourning after losing a relative) was asked to lead the services, as is our custom. He recites the prayers clearly and accurately but there is a problem. He goes too slowly and sometimes finishes at five or ten minutes after seven. I have had to leave several times before the service is completed so that I could get to my bus.

I want to ask the man to speed up his davening. My friend says that is rude and I should not approach him. What is your advice?

Slow Pray in Bergenfield

Dear Slow Pray,

I play a lot of golf. So please allow me to describe a somewhat parallel question involving slow play that I encountered one recent day in that more profane activity. I was playing on a local course with three friends. The group in front of us was playing way too slowly. After several holes we all became antsy waiting for the foursome ahead of us to hit and move forward.

One of my friends insisted that we talk to them when they are on the next tee, to implore them to play faster. I argued that was poor etiquette, and if we wanted to get the pace quickened we had to speak to the ranger on the course and ask him to reprove the slow players.

We debated the point back and forth in our foursome for a while and eventually we did find the ranger and asked him to intercede. He spoke to the slowpokes, play picked up, and we did not have to confront the offending players.

Of course, slow play is not the same as slow pray. But you need to balance your desire for a steady and predictable speed with the needs of the community of praying people. You probably have a gabbai, a member of your minyan who is in charge. It’s best in a big minyan if you speak to the gabbai about the delay and let him approach the mourner who is leading your services.

If your minyan is small and friendly, you may take a chance on explaining your schedule-needs directly to the slow shaliach tzibbur (leader). It’s likely that he will not be offended and will make efforts to pick up the pace.

I do hope that you find helpful this brief Talmudic analysis and advice for the day-to-day reality of the pace of our contradictory world, where one person’s slow pray may be another person’s perfect day.

Tzvee Zahavy has published several new Kindle Editions at Amazon.com, including “The Book of Jewish Prayers in English,” “Rashi: The Greatest Exegete,” “God’s Favorite Prayers” and “Dear Rabbi: The Greatest Talmudic Advice” which includes his past columns from the Jewish Standard and other essays.

The Book of Jewish New Year Prayers
The Book of Jewish Prayers

Dear Rabbi: The Greatest Talmudic Advice
Kindle Talmud in English

God's Favorite Prayers

Is Surfing Kosher?

Yes Surfing is kosher. There's no reason for anyone to argue that it isn't.

And yet, the Times is genuinely surprised that a rabbi can surf, perhaps based on the artificial assumption that surfing is not a kosher sport, and a rabbi would not engage in it. It's a contrived bias and it also shows how narrow the conception of rabbis and rabbinical lifestyles has become.

The article is "A Rabbi’s ‘Spiritual Playground’ Extends to the Surf - NYTimes.com" and the author is astonished that a rabbi could be interested in or participate in surfing. [Hat tip to Yitz!]

There is no basis for the assumption. See my surfing posts on this blog.

I've been interested in surfing since I was sixteen. I use surfing as a metaphor in my book, "God's Favorite Prayers" where I speak about the "perfect wave of prayer" that I sought in my travels around the world.

My cover design for that book is based on the iconic Endless Summer poster.

Talmudic analysis: A slow news day at the end of the summer resulted in a silly straw man story about a rabbi who breaks the imagined mold and engages in a cool activity.

Is Hall-of-Famer retired commissioner of the NBA David Stern Jewish?

Yes, the retired commissioner of the NBA, David Stern, is a Jew who grew up in my town, Teaneck, NJ.

Stern will be inducted into the basketball hall of fame on 8/8/14. The NBA did not make him wait five years because of his undeniable contributions to building the NBA into the incredible sports powerhouse that it is. The Bergen Record extolled his record:

Stern ended his run as commissioner Feb. 1 after exactly 30 years — he won't say retired, because he's still working — and once thought he would wait five years for induction, or the same as players. But officials from the NBA and Hall of Fame believe he belongs immediately.

"It would be hard to overstate the impact I think David has had on the game of basketball," said P.J. Carlesimo, a former coach in the NBA and at Seton Hall.

"Admitting that I'm prejudiced toward basketball, David Stern could go down in our era as the greatest commissioner of all time in all sports."

The Times lauded Stern, "In a Transition Game, David Stern Is Passing the N.B.A. Commissioner’s Hat to Adam Silver." All accounts of his career extol Stern's achievements.

All that success, and he has a sense of humor. Stern appeared on the Letterman show on TV and did a top ten list segment.

Bergen Record Chronicles the Amazing JFS Bike Ride

Thank you to all who supported us.

There is still time to contribute.

Click here please.

Hundreds of bicyclists turn out in Bergen County to raise funds for Meals on Wheels

JUNE 15, 2014, 1:46 PM    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2014, 1:59 PM

BY MINJAE PARK

STAFF WRITER

THE RECORD

AMY NEWMAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

ROCKLEIGH — They financed the delivery of thousands of Meals on Wheels by getting on wheels.
More than 450 North Jerseyans on Sunday morning pedaled 50-, 25-, 10- or 3-mile courses through upper Bergen County — hitting a dozen towns from Rockleigh to Fort Lee — for the fourth annual Wheels for Meals. The event raised $150,000 for the Jewish Family Service's Meals on Wheels program, which delivers 28,000 meals each year to the homebound elderly and disabled.

AMY NEWMAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Lyle Nadler, 4, left, and his twin brother Luke were joined by their father Jeff Nadler for the 3-mile ride.

Karen Fujii of Tenafly watched her 8-year-old, Kay, take off for the 3-mile ride.
"I had to tell her it's not a race," she said. Her daughter sped off to the front of the pack anyway.
Her husband and 11-year-old had left earlier for the 10-mile ride.
The event pays for the delivery of meals, but it also promotes the program and Jewish Family Service to participants and onlookers, said Susan Greenbaum, executive director of the organization's Bergen and North Hudson branch, based in Teaneck.
Taking place in a part of Bergen County "with such affluence and privilege," Greenbaum said, the event "is an opportunity for people to gain some perspective and do something that is so, so meaningful."
The event, now in its fourth year, originated with David Feuerstein, now 19.
At the time of his bar mitzvah, Feuerstein said, he started a bar mitzvah fund to feed the hungry and delivered meals with his mother.
"You develop a connection that's really nice," he said of visiting homes, recalling how food recipients "just wanted to sit down and have a conversation."
The fund ran out when he was 15, and he decided to start a program modeled on the rides for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. It's run by a committee of Jewish Family Service members. Eleven students at Northern Valley Demarest High School helped out, starting at 6 a.m. Sunday to set up tables, slice bagels and pack gift bags. It was their second year helping out, said Heba Arsha of Closter, co-president of the student council.
Since 2011, the event has raised more than $400,000. The goal this year is to raise $180,000, Feuerstein said. Donors can still give at ridetofighthunger.com "Over these four years, our goal of the event is to make the community more aware and more involved," said Feuerstein, who is home for the summer after his first year at Cornell.
The event seemed to attract interest on Sunday from some participants.
"We're thinking maybe we'll get involved with Meals on Wheels," said Uri Herzog, a Cresskill resident, as he headed out for the 10-mile ride with his son and two nieces.
"I'm excited," his son, Natan, 11, said of the length of the course. "I'm not intimidated."
At the finish line, the riders were greeted by 27 cheerleaders from Cresskill High School.
"Awesome," Natan said after his ride.
"Natan led the way," Herzog said.
His cousin, Dahlia, 23, said she suggested they ride in together.
"I said, 'no,'" Natan said.
"He snuck past me at the end," Dahlia said.
Dov Torenberg of Cresskill parked his bike on a stand after finishing the 50-mile ride.
“It's a beautiful path,” Torenberg said. "Perfect weather. Very little traffic. Couldn't have been better."

- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/hundreds-of-bicyclists-turn-out-in-bergen-county-to-raise-funds-for-meals-on-wheels-1.1035626#sthash.cWQdySWq.dpuf

Kindle Talmud in English @ $0.99
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Herald de Paris: Wilpons Will Move the Mets to Montreal and Tear Down Citi Field

Speculation about the future of the Mets from Herald de Paris. A grand conspiracy to make billions. Credible?

Here is the crux of it from HdP:

...The Wilpons are, first and foremost, developers. Fred Wilpon was handed $500 Million worth of city-owned property, known as Shea Stadium, on which he built Citi Field. Then Fred was handed the adjacent Willets Point property by the City. The development of the Flushing-Corona location fulfills a proposed plan by NYC urban planner Robert Moses, the same guy who drove Walter O’Malley to take the Dodgers to Los Angeles, by planning to relocate them from Brooklyn to Flushing. Would a developer, like Wilpon, invest in the construction of Citi Field to secure $1 Billion worth of free land from the City of New York? In a heartbeat.

With the Willets Point project moving forward, how much more valuable would the adjacent Citi Field site be if it were also developed as a mixed-use development, and no longer played home to the Mets? Fully developed, each piece of the Flushing-Corona properties could easily yield $4-5 Billion. Thus, the Wilpons are sitting on a $10 Billion section of New York. Maybe more. They just need to move the Mets off the site to realize their developer dreams. All they really need to do is strip the club of its top players and its high salaries, then drive the fan base away with a lousy product on the field. They seem to be doing just fine, in that regard.

The Flushing-Corona location is a developer’s dream. It has water, sewer, an electrical grid, roads, a subway platform, a LIRR stop, highway access, and is located close to LaGuardia Airport. Nothing makes a developer drool more than a property which needs no infrastructure, as it has already been provided by the municipality. That the property is free, to boot, is like a perfect storm scenario for a property developer.

Say the Mets move to Montreal, where baseball fans and elected officials are so thirsty for major league baseball that they would gladly build a new ballpark for a new ownership group. The sale of the team would yield the Wilpons $2 Billion, more than covering their ill-fated ballpark construction, and help Selig fulfill his shell game of moving teams hither and yon. And if the WIlpons don’t sell the franchise? Jeff Wilpon owes Montreal a favor, for the Expos having drafted him. But why would Selig want the Mets out of New York? The 2000 Subway Series, between the Mets and the Yankees was great for New York. It was a nightmare for MLB.

Selig has insisted he is leaving the Commissioner’s post since 2012. His latest decree has him in the position until January, 2015. Is Selig part of the whole plan? Seems likely. It also seems likely that upon exiting the Commissioner’s Office, Selig will turn up as a trustee of the Corona-Flushing development.

Inevitably, New York baseball fans would clamor for another National League team in New York. Ultimately, MLB would have to allow another National League team to move to NYC, or the league would have to expand to accommodate two new teams. Where would a new team in New York build a ballpark? Why, Brooklyn, of course, the fashionably revived Borough which has already become the home of the NBA Nets and the NHL Islanders. And who owns the baseball rights to Brooklyn? None other then the Wilpons, who have a minor league team at Coney Island. Could it be true? Sadly for this Mets fan, it could.

- See more

Bike June 15 to Help Fight Hunger in Bergen County NJ

Dear All, On June 15th I will join hundreds of cyclists in Rockleigh, New Jersey to help raise funds in support of  JFS Wheels for Meals Ride to Fight Hunger.  In the last year alone, JFS has delivered over 27,000 meals to the homebound and elderly and have helped feed hundreds of families through their food pantry. I serve on the board of the JFS. Since its inception in 2010, the Ride to Fight Hunger has raised over $260,000 and this year they are raising the bar with a fundraising goal of $180,000.  I’ve done my part by accepting the challenge and now you can do your part.  With a donation of just $18 you can feed a family in need for a day; $90 will keep the food pantry open for one day; $180 will provide meals for an elderly couple for a month and $540 will provide meals for a person for 8 months. Whatever you can give will help - it all adds up! Please Visit My Fundraising Page to make your tax-deductible donation towards this great cause.  You can also find us on Facebook.  Feel free to invite your friends. I greatly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my progress. Sincerely, Tzvee Zahavy P.S.  If you prefer to make donation by check, please make check payable to JFS Wheels for Meals, write my name in the memo and mail to JFS c/o Jaymie Kerr, 1485 Teaneck Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666.

Kindle Talmud in English @ $0.99
Whence and Wherefore @ $0.99
God's Favorite Prayers @ $2.99

Is the Golf Fad Over?

In "​Where have all the golfers gone?" CBS News asks why pareticipation in the sport has dropped.

Just a decade ago, it looked like the golf industry had hit a hole-in-one. Interest in the game was surging, and consumers snapped up equipment and booked tee times.

These days, though, the sport is caught in the rough.

Golf is losing more players than it's gaining, as 4.1 million people left the sport in 2013, outpacing the 3.7 million who picked it up last year. With an overall decline in the number of players, that's causing a ripple effect in the golfing world: Sales of clubs and other equipment are plunging, while some courses are pulling up their tees and calling it a day.

"The main issues that cause people to leave the game and not to try the game are the same. They boil down to time, cost and difficulty," said Steve Mona, the chief executive of the World Golf Foundation.

Golf reached what Mona calls its "high water mark" in 2005, when the sport had 30 million participants playing 550 million rounds of golf. Last year, that had shrunk to 25 million participants and 465 million rounds.

The recession had an impact, as well as tough winter and spring weather the past two years, Mona noted. But the industry is also aware that it needs to overcome some perception issues about the sport's expense, the length of a game and the time it takes to master golf, he added...

Recession and bad winters? CBS doesn't offer too many deep insights into why the interest in golf has weakened. Sure I think high prices for tee times and equipment could have something to do with it. The fall of Tiger Woods from super-stardom might be a factor, which they don't even mention.

Or maybe golf was a long-lasting fad whose time has passed. [HT to K :-)]

Are men's bathing suits kosher?

The Times' T style magazine has an article about the styles of men's bathing suits, aka swim trunks, explaining which ones are kosher.

Apparently they think that Speedos are not cool: "(The least cool thing you could wear, even if you’ve lived a life full of male mistakes in the fashion arena, is a pair of Speedo trunks, or “budgie-smugglers,” which leave nothing to dignity or to mystery either.)"

Clockwise from bottom right: C. David Claudon (2); Peter Marlow/Magnum Photos.

Yes Please | Float, Memory

By ANDREW O’HAGAN

Amid an ocean of style disasters, one man explores the sartorial and psychological conundrums of the swim trunk. More...

Kindle Talmud in English @ $0.99
Whence and Wherefore @ $0.99
God's Favorite Prayers @ $2.99

Is Donald Sterling Jewish?

Yes Donald Sterling is a Jew. He was born Donald Tokowitz. He changed his name to Sterling. David Suissa reports that:

...he grew up in Boyle Heights [east of Downtown Los Angeles in the City of Los Angeles] and saw his father wake up every morning at 2 a.m. to buy produce and resell it to local restaurants. And that he picked up his father’s strong work ethic to work his way through law school, and when the big firms did not hire Jews at the time, started a thriving practice to help everyday people get legal assistance.

... Donald changed his last name from Tokowitz to Sterling to give himself an aura of success. The name Tokowitz, apparently, sounded too Jewish.

Wikipedia reports he, "was born in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois. He and his family moved to the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles when he was two years old. His parents, Susan and Mickey, were Jewish immigrants."

Billionaire real estate developer Sterling owned the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team but was banned for life by the NBA for ractist remarks in April 2014.

The Strange Mishnah for Cheerleaders: Tractates for the Buffalo Jills

Because of a lawsuit, the public now has access to the codes of conduct for the Buffalo Jills cheerleaders, who cheer for the Buffalo Bills football team.

The Deadspin website has published the documents along with comments on excerpts and a juicy title for their post: "Insane Handbook: Bills Cheerleaders Are Told How To Wash Their Vaginas"

Most codes of conduct fit better into the prescriptive genres we call Mishnah or Halakhah (in Jewish literature) rather than into the more dialectical genre that we call Talmud (in Jewish writings).

There are two Mishnah-like Jills documents attached to the Deadspin article: "Jills Glamour Etiquette Hygiene Rules" and "Jills Codes of Conduct 2013 2014."

Amazing to me is one assertion in the article, "A Jill is paid next to nothing—no money for gameday cheering, none for practice, none for the bulk of her minimum 20 personal appearances, none from the tips she receives but must turn in during the mandatory Jills Golf Tournament—and is classified by the team as a volunteer/independent contractor..."

The samples below provided by Deadspin would be somewhat comical, if they were not so tragically serious for the women to whom they are directed.

JStandard.com: My Talmudic Advice Column for February: Tracking the Tribal Golfer and Search for the Perfect Shul

Dear Rabbi: Your Talmudic Advice Column
Published in The Jewish Standard

Dear Rabbi,

I play golf often with my friend Charlie, who is a secular Jew. We generally are sent out by the starter to play the round along with another twosome. After a few holes, Charlie inevitably inconspicuously asks me if I think the guys we are playing with are “members of the tribe.” I can’t understand why Charlie is so concerned about his and other people’s Jewishness if he does not himself follow any religious practices.

Kosher Golfer
Mahwah

Dear Golfer,

You raise an issue about our genetic or tribal identification as Jews that is core to our self-understanding as a people. I used to teach that in modern times there can be a clear distinction between Jews, who connect to our people by descent only, and Judaists, who are Jews and also practice the religion of Judaism. I have come of late to recognize that genealogy and theology are intertwined in a more involved fashion.

Frozen Chosen Minnesota Jews Make the News: Sigi Wilf Ceremony for a New Stadium and Binyomin Ginsberg Kvetches at the Supreme Court

Vikings ceremonially break ground on new stadium:

Team owners Zygi and Mark Wilf also attended, along with executives for HKS Inc., the stadium architect, and Mortenson Construction, the stadium builder, and star running back Adrian Peterson.

“What a day,” Zygi Wilf said to the gathering. “It was always our intention to bring a championship and a stadium” to Minnesota, he said. “We are embarking on our way to both.”

Wilf said the new stadium will “provide a tremendous game-day experience. … The fan experience has driven” the design of the stadium from the start, Wilf said.

Mark Wilf followed his brother to the podium and said the team will soon have “a great shot” at hosting a Super Bowl in the Vikings’ new home....

Supreme Court cool to Twin Cities rabbi who was booted from WorldPerks for complaining:

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case Tuesday of a Twin Cities man who was stripped of his top-level Platinum Elite status in Northwest’s WorldPerks program because, the airline said, he complained too much and schemed to get bumped from flights in return for compensation.

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg, 52, of St. Louis Park, said that Northwest, which has since been absorbed by Delta Air Lines, failed to act in good faith when it barred him in 2008 from its frequent flier program and took his miles away. The airline countered that federal deregulation of the airline industry in 1978 rules out claims like Ginsberg’s.

Most justices during arguments signaled that an opinion favorable to Ginsberg could give rise to state-by-state rules that the deregulation law was intended to prevent....

Is Mark Cuban Jewish?

Yes, Mark Cuban is a Jew. He owns the Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team -- winners of the 2011 NBA championship.

Cuban's Russian Jewish grandparents changed the family name from Chopininski or Chabenisky when they immigrated to America. Cuban grew up in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh in a working class family.

In September 2002, Cuban married Tiffany Stewart, an advertising executive (who likely is not Jewish) in a private ceremony in Barbados.

The billionaire entrepreneur was charged in 2008 by the SEC with insider trading in what appeared to be a weak case.

Update: Case was dismissed but it can be refiled by the SEC (7/2009).

Update 2: Cuban is going after the SEC for malicious prosecution and has been granted discovery by the court (12/2009).

Update 3: Cuban on trial for insider trading September 2013.

Update 4: 10/16/2013 - a jury cleared Cuban of wrongdoing, making Mr. Cuban a winner in the civil case and delivering a blow to the federal agency that he battled tooth and nail for five years.

My Fifteen Minutes of Swim Fame with Diana Nyad

Wednesday night (10/9/2013) I swam with celebrity endurance swimmer Diana Nyad for fifteen minutes in a specially built 2-lane 40-yard pool in front of Macy's on Herald Square in New York City. (If you do not know who she is - read about her here.)

Nyad was garnering publicity for Proctor and Gamble, who sponsored her 48-hour in pool endurance swim, and she was raising money for Sandy Relief and she was getting a pool-load of promotion for herself. And that is totally okay, in fact it is highly admired part of the American way of life to be an entrepreneur like that.

Now it's not as if I was the only person in the city to swim with her. Richard Simmons and Ryan Lochte and other celebrities and a whole bunch of common people swam with her.

Now you ask, how did I get this swimming honor? Did Diana read my book, "God's Favorite Prayers" and say to her staff, go see if you can convince Rabbi Tzvee to swim with me? Did Ms. Nyad read my essay, "Hudson River Diary" about my swim struggle in the New York Triathlon and feel the need to induce me into yet another swimming challenge?

No and no. I am a common person, not a celebrity. This opportunity came to me in parts by chance, by timing, by the good efforts of my wonderful friend who found out that I could do this and sent me the link to apply and by my love of swimming and by my continued chutzpah.

On the Swim with Diana Application Form it asked and I answered:

Briefly, tell us why would you like to swim in the Nyad #SwimForRelief?: 

Diana inspires me. I identify with her dedication. I am a rabbi who swims 1.5 miles every day. I swam in the NYC triathlon in the Hudson this summer. Like Diana, I swam 100 miles this summer too - but it took me all summer.

And they wrote back right away that I'm in and gave me a great time-slot in which to swim.

And how did it feel? What was it like to swim with a celebrity at Herald Square? I'm told it was really cool. And it was deemed cool by all objective measures by my friends and family members who came to cheer me on.

But I felt that this was a delightfully strange thing to be doing. And in the pool, when it came my turn, Diana had been swimming for 35 hours. Up close, when I got in and looked at her, she looked really tired. She had just put on some insulating swimwear to keep her warm even though the pool was heated to 82 degrees. The air was 55 and there was a night chill around us.

Before we started to swim on schedule at exactly 8:10 PM, her assistant told her to say hello to me and she did say hello. So I said, "I'm Tzvee." I think she said, I'm Diana, and I said I know that.

She swam really slowly. I had a hard time keeping from swimming ahead of her. Then after one lap of 40 yards, she turned on her back and she started to kick. I did a really slow backstroke. We did this back and forth for 6 or 8 more times. At some point she stopped to get an inhaler from her assistants and they tried to feed her a spoonful of yogurt. I stopped too. I felt it would be rude if I kept swimming while she was pausing.

This was a painstakingly slow swim. And yes. It was cool, like no other event I've ever been in. We raised money for charity. We marketed products. We entertained New York and we continued to promote Diana's story of inspiration - that a 64 year old woman could endure an incredible 100 mile swim.

So that was my so-called-cool Fifteen Minutes of Swim Fame with Diana Nyad.

Pictures and Video Clips

To Raise Money for Sandy Relief Tzvee Will Swim With Diana Nyad in Herald Square - Please Help

I'm swimming 8 PM Wednesday night 10/9/2013 at Herald Square in NYC with Diana Nyad to raise money for Sandy relief.

Please make a donation to sponsor our efforts.

See the webcam here.

Diana Nyad wrote -

48 Hour Swim for Hurricane Sandy Recovery via AmeriCares

To mark the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad - fresh off her landmark swim from Cuba to Florida - helps power disaster recovery efforts through a 48-hour test of mental, physical and emotional endurance: the Nyad Swim for Relief. With the strength and support of P&G brands at her side, Diana Nyad swims for 48 continuous hours in the heart of New York City to raise funds for the AmeriCares Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund.

Fundraising Websites - Crowdrise
The Nyad Swim for Relief reflects the emotional and mental strength it takes to overcome adversity and restore a sense of normalcy to lives disrupted by disasters. P&G brands Duracell, Tide and Secret are underwriting all production costs for the Nyad Swim for Relief, maximizing the donated funds that directly support Sandy recovery activities. In the months following Hurricane Sandy, AmeriCares distributed more than $6.4 million in aid to help survivors, including $3.5 million for medicines and relief supplies and $2.9 million in grants to community organizations providing services such as storm clean-up and mental health counseling. And the recovery efforts continue with so many storm survivors still in need of help.

Hurricane Sandy caused approximately $70 billion in damage across the Eastern seaboard, destroying 12,500 homes in New Jersey alone. To-date, in Ocean County, NJ, more than 25,000 residents are still displaced from their homes and in New York FEMA has again extended its deadline for Transitional Sheltering Assistance -- demonstrating the continued need for these recovery efforts.
A 40-yard, two-lane pool is installed in Herald Square for the event, allowing the public to witness Diana’s incredible display of perseverance while learning about AmeriCares important work of rebuilding lives.

How you can help:

Make a donation to AmeriCares Sandy Relief Fund.

Share the word with friends and family about this important event and fundraising effort (social media links are located above) and encourage them to join in.

Cheer on Diana by sending words of encouragement using the hashtag #SwimForRelief. Submissions may be showcased at the pool, shared with media and featured across Nyad Swim for Relief activities.​
- See more 

All Games 50 Cents with the NY Mets and NY Yankees Baseball Clergy Passes

Those were the good old days.

In 1966 both the NY Mets and Yankees Baseball teams offered Clergy Passes that allowed you to attend all the games for a service charge of 50 cents.

My dad got both passes. Someone used them. Often. Tickets cost more today, I am told.

(repost from May 2009)

Are smart watches kosher?

Yes indeed, smart watches are kosher. They are destined to be blockbuster products.

I have been wearing a pebble watch for nearly two months and can vouch for its utility and outright coolness. Especially on the golf course - using Free Caddie to measure the distance to the pin. Wow - this is a no brainer. And then there is the bike computer app - Pebble Bike - another freebee that makes the whole idea worthwhile.

Business Insider Australia reported on the prospects for the smart watch industry:

For years, some iPod users have worn those devices on their wrists as a watch. Now, millions of consumers will have a chance to own a bonafide smart watch.

The mass-market test for smart watches has arrived. The Samsung Galaxy Gear will arrive in the U.S. in October, and ATT has become the first carrier to offer the Pebble smart watch. Speculation surrounding a so-called Apple iWatch pegs its release date around mid-2014.

In a new proprietary forecast for the smart watch market, BI Intelligence has published a half-dozen charts and datasets illustrating the potential for smart watches within the wearable computing space and mobile.

Here are the dynamics and numbers driving the emerging smart watch market:

• We forecast 91.6 million smartwatch units sold globally in 2018. With an average selling price of about $US100, that translates to a $US9.2 billion market by 2018. Subscribers can download a spreadsheet and charts that show year-by-year estimates and the numerical assumptions behind our market forecast.
• Through just the first half of 2013, the Kickstarter-launched Pebble watch has shipped 93,000 smart watches and has taken over 275,000 pre-orders.
• A mass-market smart watch would be the first new mobile device since the smartphone to upgrade or enhance a ubiquitous consumer product — the wristwatch. A watch with an Internet connection isn’t as alien a concept as Google Glass.
• And watches are a huge addressable market. It varies by age and gender, but consumer surveys reveal a slight majority of the U.S. and global populations still wear a watch, around 55%.
• Even if only a minority of watch-wearers upgrade to Internet-connected and app-centric smart watches, that’s still a huge market and a boon for growth-hungry tech players and app makers.
• In the future, about one in 20 smartphones will be paired in some way with smart watches.
• The market in mainstream, wearable computing has so far been anchored by smart fitness bracelets, and pioneered by Pebble, but mass-market smart watches will absorb some of the fitness wearables market, and become the wearables category-leader for the ordinary consumer.
• Smart watches will have screens, even if they’re tiny, and potentially run software that allow them to serve as a robust extension to smartphone operating systems and apps.

I vouch for the smart watch concept for personal consumption and for VC investments. It's a no brainer sure thing.