From the fanfare of the banner-waving opening ceremonies to the pride of hearing the U.S. national anthem played during their medal ceremonies, Southern California athletes made the most of their experience at the 10th Pan American Maccabi Games. They joined over 2,000 Jewish athletes from 19 countries for the eight-day competition in Santiago, Chile.
Nothing says casual first date like fresh flowers and kettle corn. So when Matt the internist suggests we spend Sunday afternoon exploring a Santa Monica street fair, I\’m in. We share roasted almonds, sunshine and our own true Hollywood stories.
Fruity, oaky and sugary; I taste blackberries, vanilla and sugar, lots of sugar; full-bodied, strong finish, and very sweet; horrible and, yet again, very sweet. That was the kosher wine tasting of yesteryear.
I\’m an exercise addict who does it all — hiking, running, spinning, dancing, aerobics and Tae Bo. I run the Santa Monica stairs and jog the UCLA perimeter. I\’m hooked on Pilates DVDs, \”Buns of Steel\” tapes and hit the gym three or four times a week. But this September I hit a wall. I no longer found my workouts challenging or effective. I wanted to do more than lose five pounds. I wanted to sculpt my abs, firm my figure and mold my Jew.Lo tush. So I settled down and started seeing a personal trainer.
Did you hear the one about the Jewish linebacker? If you did, don\’t tell it to Jed Margolis, executive director of Macabbi USA/Sports for Israel. \”The joke is always that there are no good Jewish athletes, but that\’s not true, especially in Southern California,\” Margolis said. \”Some of our Southern California Maccabi athletes are the best in their sport.\”
From Dec. 24, 2003-Jan. 4, 2004, 57 of those California athletes participated in the 10th annual Pan American Maccabi Games in Santiago, Chile. According to Macabbi USA, more than 2,000 Jewish athletes from 20 countries were participating, making the event larger than the Winter Olympics.
Hi. My name is Carin and I have a Jewfro.
Heeb hair. A Moses mop. A latke lid. I\’m down with my fun girl curls, but I can\’t say the same for the men I meet. My big hair is the Mason-Dixon Line of my L.A. dating life. Some men love the untamed, wild, bed-head look of my natural waves. But many men prefer I play it straight.
Wearing Ug boots and draped wool scarves, a chatty clique of Milken Community High School girls slumped into their seats in a packed auditorium. About 600 had assembled to hear the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra\’s (IPO) KeyNote Brass Ensemble perform with the school\’s Chamber Ensemble and Concert Choir.
Ryan and I did the L.A. supercasual thing for six or seven months. When I tried to rev up our relationship from supercasual to just plain casual, he freaked. I\’m talking full-on, take-it-to-Dr. Phil meltdown:
As a woman prepares to say \”I do,\” her friends prepare to stand by her side in purple puffy dresses and lavender dyed shoes. In sickness and in health, in velour and in taffeta, in chartreuse and in lemon. As her bridesmaids, they will participate in a tradition that may be as old as Judaism itself.
We\’ve all heard the wedding hora horror stories, where the beautiful bride plummets 10 feet to the ground with a thud — another unfortunate victim of the Jewish chair-dance tradition. Well, the MitzvahChair will put the kibosh on that newlywed nightmare.
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