How does the symbolism of the four Sukkot species fit you?

“You will take for yourselves on the first day [of Sukkot] the fruit of a citron tree, date-palm branches, twigs of a plaited tree, and willows of the stream; and you will rejoice before Hashem your God for seven days” (Leviticus 23:40).  

What do the lulav and esrog you see Jews carrying on Sukkot mean? JooTube visited the 613 Mitzvah store in Pico-Robertson where Rabbi Shimon Kraft sells etrogs and lulavs for $40 a pair. Moshe Klein and Jonathan Eyshi, 10th-grade Yeshiva students at Mesivta Birkas Yitzchok in Los Angeles explain the lulav and esrog used in prayer during the Jewish holiday of the Tabernacles (Booths), the holiday of Sukkot which runs for a week, commencing Sept 20, 2013.

British scholar, Daniel Pinner writes: 

The Midrash explains the Four Species to represent four different kinds of Jews: “Just as the etrog has both pleasant taste and pleasant fragrance, so there are Jews who have both Torah-learning and good deeds… The date-palm has a pleasant taste but no fragrance, representing Jews who have Torah-learning but have no good deeds…The myrtle has a pleasant fragrance but no taste, representing Jews who have good deeds but no Torah-learning… And the willow which has neither fragrance nor taste represents Jews who have neither Torah-learning nor good deeds” (Vayikra Rabbah 30:12). All four species have to bepresent in order to fulfil the mitzvah; if any one of them is missing, then the Jew has not carried out the mitzvah at all (Rambam, Laws of Shofar, Sukkah and Lulav 7:5; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 651:12); if, for whatever reason, one or more of the species is unavailable, then one shakes the others without saying the Brachah, in memory of the mitzvah which should have been  (Shulchan Aruch ibid.).  Read more of Be an Etrog on Arutz Sheva.

Rabbi Aaron Parry ("Complete Talmud for Dummies") explains the symbolism of the willow branches used in the Sukkot Hoshana Raba worship, originated in Israel's original, sovereign incarnation.



To get more of your questions about Judaism and Jewish ritual answered, purchase a copy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Talmud" direct from Rabbi Parry here. 

Daniel Pinner concludes in Be An Etrog:

The myrtle with its pleasant fragrance but no taste, representing the Jew who has good deeds but no Torah-learning, survives for appreciably longer than the lulav with its pleasant taste but no fragrance, representing the Jew who has Torah-learning but no good deeds.  And finally we come to the etrog, with its pleasant taste and pleasant fragrance, representing the Jew who has both Torah-learning and good deeds.  The etrog remains fresh and fragrant and yellow (or green) for weeks.  Study and internalise the lesson of the Four Species.  Be an etrog-Jew! Contribute both pleasant taste and pleasant fragrance to the bundle of the Four Species, contribute both Torah-learning and good deeds to the community. The etrog-Jew is the Jew who survives, the Jew who endures.

P.E.T.A. activists chase chickens, vilifying Jewish kaparot atonement-ritual in orthodox L.A. neighborhood

Killing of chickens in Jewish ritual draws protests in L.A.

Animal rights activists and some liberal Jews have protested the practice of kaparot, in which chickens are slain. (L.A. Times Sept 11, 2013)   By Martha Groves and Matt Stevens

In a parking lot behind a Pico Boulevard building, inside a makeshift tent made of metal poles and tarps, a man in a white coat and black skullcap grabs a white-feathered hen under the wings and performs an ancient ritual.

He circles the chicken in the air several times and recites a prayer for a woman standing nearby whose aim is to symbolically transfer her sins to the bird. The young man then uses a sharp blade to cut the hen's throat.

In the days before Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, this ritual will be repeated untold times in hastily built plywood rooms and other structures in traditional Orthodox Jewish communities from Pico-Robertson to Brooklyn. Promotional fliers on lampposts in this neighborhood advertise the kaparot service at $18 per chicken or $13 apiece for five or more.

But the practice is increasingly drawing the ire of animal rights activists, and some liberal Jews, who say the custom is inhumane, paganistic and out of step with modern times.

This year, activists have launched one of the largest, most organized efforts ever in the Southland to protest the practice, known variously as kaparot, kapparot or kaparos.

Over the weekend, a coalition of faith leaders and animal rights proponents held a "compassionate kaparot ceremony" during which rabbis used money rather than chickens for the ritual, an accepted alternative. Organizers say that more than 100 people attended and that some stayed to demonstrate late into the night.

Since the ceremony, activists including several staunch vegans and alarmed residents have taken to Pico Boulevard each evening, handing out fliers, setting up candlelight vigils and even bargaining with one kaparot manager to rescue chickens on the chopping block in exchange for protesting more peacefully.

The demonstrations have sometimes gotten testy. Protesters and kaparot managers alike contend they've been peppered with anti-Semitic slurs.

In one instance Monday night, police were called after a woman refused to exit a parking lot where she heard the screeching of fowl. By the time police arrived, she had walked down the block. No one was injured, and no arrests were made.

But activists said they were expecting business at kaparot sites to soar as Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jewish people, draws near. The holiday begins Friday evening.

Watch The Kaparot Chronicles- Uncut (no pun intended) in 9 segments

Rescuers-united against terror, wildfires, and disasters- L.A.F.D & Israel

On September 11, 2013, Israelis honored and remembered the lives of nearly 3,000 innocent men, women and children who died at the hands of terrorists 12 years ago.  A memorial ceremony at the site of the 9/11 Living Memorial in Jerusalem, honored the memories of the victims. 

At the Van Nuys, California fire-house (which sent its firefighters who happened to be on the East Coast in 2001) Southwest US Consul General David Siegel delivered a vase of flowers sent on behalf of the Living Memorial- to the Sherman Oaks stationhouse monument to the NYC World Trade Center and Pentagon victims.  The firefighters augment their unique monument which contains a limestone, remnant brick from The Pentagon and a steel beam from the World Trade Center- with a custom display of the names of the more than 3,000 people killed by Al Qaeda's hijacking on Sept. 11, 2001.




Asst. Chief Patrick Butler had collaborated with the Fire & Rescue Chief of Israel during a trip there.  Butler consulted with his Israeli counterpart in coping with the expansive Mr. Carmel Fire, and compared best-practices in first-response to disaster rescue- an area that Israel and earthquake-prone L.A. emergency services need to have expertise in.
World Net Daily reported in "Are Terrorists Setting U.S. Wildfires?"

In July 2012, William Scott, a former National Security Agency official and Aviation Week editor, told the American Center for Democracy that terrorists are using fire as a tactical weapon of war. Scott explained that after U.S. Navy SEALs killed al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, they “captured a treasure trove of material that provided some unprecedented insight into the al-Qaida plans. And one of those was a detailed campaign for starting fires throughout the [American] West... U.S. officials have pretty much determined that some of the fires that burned in California [in 2011] were ignited by al-Qaida operatives,” Scott said.

Israeli Consul General to Southwest US David Siegel spoke about Israel's shared situation in defeating the forces of Islamism- especially those with WMD - such as chemical weapons in Syria.



Battalion 10 Cmdr. Don Reyes addressed the 9/11/13 Ceremony at Fire Station 88 in Sherman Oaks with his flying cross-country to NYC with 23 others to search, rescue, and comfort the victims of Al-Qaeda's attack on the domestic United States.



Event attendees, Fran and Harold Barash, discussed that 9/11 ceremonies such as Sherman Oaks ought to do more to educate Americans to the nature of the Islamist movement which attacked  (and we still combat) with its aims to subjugate non-Muslims to its will. 

Borscht Belt documentary "When Comedy Went to School" lets Jewish comics revive good-old days

The birth of modern standup comedy began in the Catskill Mountains. When Comedy Went to School lets comics like Jerry Lewis, Sid Caesar, Jackie Mason, and Robert Klein lead us through the hey-day of the Borscht Belt.


Sandy Hackett (son of Buddy Hackett, and producer of Vegas productions) who appears in the film- interviews filmmakers Mevlut Akkaya (a gentile) and Ron Frank (Jewish) at their premiere in Beverly Hills at the Laemmle Music Hall where the picture screens around L.A. through Thursday 12 Sept.


At L.A. Premier of "When Comedy Went to School," actor Sandy Hackett tells one of his dad's off-color joke's which Tonight Show host, Johnny Carson, wouldn't permit on the air.

High-Holiday special: What does G-d really expect from me? Faith? Ritual? Conduct? Orthodox rabbis answers may surprise you

Observant or secular: "Conduct unbecoming" a Jewish person?  Leading Orthodox Rabbis on Jews' behavioral obligations

Orthodox Rabbis Shmuel Goldin (Rabbinic Council of America) and Joel Tessler (Int'l Rabbinic Fellowship) are asked about Jewish ideals we should uphold- and what's hypocritical and what isn't.

Secular humanism (being a good person) alone does not make one a "good Jew," says Potomac, Maryland Rabbi Joel Tessler.
  

What are our obligations to G-d in faith, conduct & deed? Rabbi Moses Parry explains:


Faith without deeds- can one be "a good Jew"?  Orthodox Rabbi Shmuel Goldin of N.J.

 

"Israel, Lone Light in a Dark Region" by P. David Hornik

(Photo courtesy: Family Security Matters)

Israel, Lone Light in a Dark Region by P. David Hornik in FrontPage Magazine, August 30, 2013 

As the Obama administration keeps weighing whether and how to act in Syria, one wonders if Israel is looking good—or at least better—to the administration these days. Seemingly, if there was ever a time, now would be the time to start taking note of Israel’s strengths in a bad region.

1. Some ways in which Israel differs from other countries of the region.  

No chemical-weapons attacks. In the Middle East this can hardly be taken for granted. Along with Bashar Assad’s use, there was Iraq’s against the Kurds in 1991 and Egypt’s against Yemeni tribesmen in the mid-1960s. Egypt and Iraq are, of course, countries with which the U.S. has been allied or heavily involved, and for decades U.S. diplomats kept coming to Damascus to try and get President Hafez and then Bashar Assad to “make peace” with Israel.

Israel, of course, will never use WMD of any kind except to save itself from annihilation.

No intercommunal bombing campaigns. Along with the carnage in Syria, such campaigns are now being waged in Iraq and, to a lesser but growing extent, Lebanon; they’re basically spirals of reciprocal mass murder.

Israel too, even within its Jewish population, has had intense animosities between groups. The right and left were at loggerheads particularly in the 1980s and 1990s, and there are ongoing tensions between secular and ultra-Orthodox Jews. But violence, of course, has been small-scale and rare. Differences get settled at the ballot box.

No church burnings or other persecution of Christians. In fact, Israel is the only country in the region whose Christian population is steadily growing rather than fleeing.

No mass rapes in public squares.

No bigoted slanders of other countries by national leaders. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey recently pulled that one off when he declaredthat Israel was behind the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi in Egypt. Although President Obama has in the past called Erdogan a great friend, this was too much even for the administration, which “strongly condemn[ed]”Erdogan’s words.

Israeli leaders, of course, do not engage in public defamation and conspiracy-mongering.

No journalists in prison. In that category Turkey now takes the lead in the world, surpassing Iran and China. In Israel even Uri Blau, a Haaretzjournalist convicted last year of holding thousands of classified military documents that were passed to him by a soldier who filched them, was sentenced to all of four months’ community service.

This is, of course, a very partial list, but it’s enough to point to an essential difference between a democracy and countries very far from democratic standards.

2. Some ways in which, nevertheless, Israel is treated differently from other countries in the region.

No recognition of its capital city. The U.S. embassy is in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem, and the official position of U.S. administrations (though not of Congress) is not to recognize even “West” Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. No such problem, of course, arises regarding Cairo, Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad, Ankara, and so on.

Jewish sommelier reveals kosher wines & spirits (even from Israel) rank highly in quality and value

“This is delicious!” exclaims a friend, tasting a wine and requesting a second glass. “Are you sure it’s Kosher?” If you are celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, this year, you are in for a delicious treat. 

BlogCritics publishes Marisa D'Vari's article on kosher wines she recommends: 

For much of our families' lifetimes, most families sipped the sweet, grape-y Manishevitz. Today you will find some excellent, affordable, and delicious Kosher wines being produced in regions around the world that quite often outshine non-Kosher wines at a similar price point. If you are hosting a large party, you might take the opportunity to stock up on several different Kosher wines so you can serve a few as an aperitif, and then pair them with different courses. At the end of the evening, you might also ask your guests which wines they liked the best, and make note of your favorites for your next trip to the wine shop. Most of these wines are so delicious you will want to serve them all year round.

President of the Society of Wine Educators, Certified Wine Educator, Ira Norof  spoke with JooTube.TV regarding  quality kosher wines and spirits being sampled at the L.A. Times epicurean fair "The Taste" over Labor Day Weekend. 



Mr. Norof explains how the Herzog company has made kosher versions of local wine varieties from different countries which rival their non-kosher competitors'.  Herzog now produces Scotches which are kosher, and also was demonstrating their tequilas, which are not.

Remember the lessons of Jewish communities sacrificed from Gaza to test Arab sovereignty

Kfar Darom, Gaza Strip - Aug 18, '05:  Israeli activist leader Colonel Moshe Leshem waves the Israeli flag as Israeli riot police break onto the synagogue roof where hundreds of resistors had barricaded themselves during the expulsion from the veteran Gaza Strip Jewish community of Kfar Darom. Hundreds of expulsion-opponents barricaded themselves behind barbed wire in this Jewish settlement's synagogue - as security forces dragged screaming residents out of homes. Settlers elsewhere burned houses, fields and tires in protest of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.  (Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images)

This week in August 2005, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government forced Israelis to withdraw their 30-years-in-Gaza lives - as a step towards demonstrating their willingness to co-exist in peace with Palestinian Arabs.  Instead of reciprocating, Palestinian Arabs burned the synagogues and launched ongoing rocket attacks from closer to Israeli population centers, requiring Israel's Operation Cast Lead incursion to stop rockets from Gaza in 2008. 



Mrs. Rivka Goldschmidt, a Gush Katif expellee, told a Gush Katif Museum audience in NYC - her family's story of building communities in Gush Katif- only to be forced to dismantle them some 30-years later.


Watch Mrs. Goldschmidt's referred-to, Jewish women's prayer-appeal for divine intervention from removing Jewish families from lands holy to Jews- for political pressure by Muslims Covenant-keeping, pilgrim Jewish women pray their unswerving devotion to God's will - in the face of the failure of their resistance against the destruction of their temple and civilization in Gush Katif's Neve Dekalim, August 2005.   

Translation of "Tefillah Le'Ani" "Tefillah le'ani ki-ya'atof, ve'lifnei Hashem yishpoch sicho. 
A prayer of the afflicted man when he faints, and in front of Hashem he pours forth his supplications.

Hashem, shema se'fillasi, ve'shav'asi ei'lecha savo. 
L-rd, hear my prayer, and my cry - to You let it reach!

Al tas'teir panecha mi'meni be'yom tzar li. 
Do not hide Your face from me on the day of my distress."  (Tehillim 102:1-3) 

The Rambam writes, "It is a Mitzvah from the Torah to cry out to Hashem for help...whenever trouble strikes the community." 

The Sefer HaChinuch adds: "And someone who is in difficult circumstances and does not call out to Hashem to save him has violated this mitzvah of prayer...for it is as if he has removed himself from the overseeing of Hashem." (Courtesy, "Know the Words" ) 

Watch speech of Israeli colonel resistance-leader to Christian Zionist, Days of Elijah, in 2007:  Moshe Leshem: Forfeiting Israel? 

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Mandela-era parliamentarians, African Christian Democrat Party Meshoe-family denounce hijacking of "apartheid" as inaccurate to describe Israel

"Palestinians have used the falsehood that Israel is an apartheid state to gain sympathy for their cause, By doing so, they and their allies in the churches and elsewhere , purported concerned with "Palestinian suffering," are their own worst enemies. By maintaining the animosity against Israel, perhaps they are deliberately trying to prevent a peaceful process of negotiation to end the conflict," writes Michael Curtis, distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Rutgers University and author of Should Israel Exist? A Sovereign Nation under attack by the International Community.  In his article, Evangelicals: Righteous Gentiles for Israel  (May 31, 2012 Gatestone Institute) he declares:

The existence of Israel as a legitimate state is now being challenged in a number of ways and by a variety of media: by a Palestinian-initiated offensive to portray Palestinians as suffering from human rights abuses and colonial crimes committed by Israel; by the Electronic Intifada, an online Internet news website; by the United Methodist Kairos Response; by individuals and groups, such as the writers and academics Grace Halsell, Timothy Weber, Tony Campolo, and Gary Burge, (Wheaton College), as well as attendees, especially Stephen Sizer, the anti-Zionist Church of England priest, at the Christ at the Checkpoint Conferences organized by the Bethlehem Bible College.

An exceptional individual who has been an important counterweight to the disparagers of Israel is Dr. Kenneth Meshoe, a member of the South African Parliament, president of the African Christian Democratic Party, and pastor of a South African Church. What is particularly significant about pastor Meshoe is that he, as a black South African, on a number

of occasions, has put paid to the lie spread by the Palestinian narrative, that Israel is an apartheid state. At the international conference of legislators from around the world held in Budapest on October 31, 2011, Pastor Meshoe replied to the kind of fulminations published by the Electronic Intifada that Israeli actions are "the epitome of apartheid" and aim at the systematic destruction of Palestinian society. He describes those who promulgate the lie of Israel-as-apartheid as ignorant individuals who are not aware of, or who deliberately disregard, the true nature of the negative impact of apartheid on black South Africans -- an experience quite different from that of Palestinians in nature and intensity. South African blacks were treated as second-class citizens and were denied basic human rights. By contrast, he points out that in Israel there are no laws discriminating against people on the basis of their color or on the basis of their religion. Palestinians have not suffered the pain of apartheid experienced by black South Africans.

Pastor Meshoe amplifies his general remarks by specific examples. He calls attention to the fact that in South Africa there were separate modes of transport for blacks and whites; there were coaches in trains only for black people, and others only for whites. Segregation was present in schools, hospitals, public places, city parks, benches, chairs, beaches. No such segregation exists in Israel.

Esther Meshoe, daughter of conservative South African parliamentarian, Dr. Kenneth Meshoe, refutes false allegations of apartheidism on the part of Israel.  

Mrs. Lydia Meshoe, wife of 19-year South African Parliamentarian Dr. Kenneth Meshoe, relates that reality of Muslim treatment by Israel nowhere approaches the false allegations of apartheid by South African politicians, seeking to curry favor with Muslim interests. She feels compelled, as a Christian, to stand up against this treachery against G-d's home and guardians.

 

Dr. Kenneth Meshoe, 19-year member of South African Parliament, says that Islamist propagandas exploiting 'apartheidist' to mis-characterize Israel's treatment of Arabs- actually harms humanitarian growth in Africa by inhibiting African access to Israeli innovation in health, biology, environment, and energy.
   

Cameroonian journalist, Stephen Mugwa Tebid, explains how overcoming negative beliefs about Israel could be more beneficial to Africa than solutions from the West.


Mr. Tebid spoke at the Celebrate Israel Parade on June 2, 2013. He is presently in Israel to enhance relations with Africa.

The Meshoe Family, Dr. Kenneth, wife, Lydia, and daughter Esther fleshed-out the situation in South Africa, their attitudes towards the lies of apartheid, and the burden they assume because of their commitment to defending Israel. They addressed an audience in Los Angeles on 11 Aug 2013, organized by Lily Steiner and Pastor Kevin Diekelman of One-Heart for Jerusalem.

Did Moshe Feiglin invoking Jabotinsky legacy in NYC what drove Obama to L.A. for NBC's Leno?

It is 73 years since Ze'ev Jabotinsky's death in 1940 in upstate New York. His words, warnings, beliefs, prophecies are all uppermost in our minds today as we witness the shameful and pointless actions of Israel's leaders. Jabotinsky wrote: "We are not consigned to our fate. We need not concede our national intersts in search of the ever-elusive moral high ground. Our cause is indeed just, and if we have the courage, even in the 11th hour, we can redeem ourselves."


M.K. Moshe Feiglin interviewed about control over the Temple Mount and Western Wall of the Beit Hamikdash by The Temple Institute

Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI) and the Nordau Circle are sponsoring their Annual Memorial Tribute to Ze'ev Jabotinsky on Tuesday, 6 March, 7:30 p.m., at the Westside Institutional Synagogue, 120 West 76th Street (between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues in NYC). The roster of speakers is impressive. AFSI's Chairman, Mark Langfan will lead off, followed by Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive VP Emeritus of National Council Young Israel.


The final speaker will be MK Moshe Feiglin, Deputy Speaker of the Israeli Knesset.  The Memorial program will begin at 7:30 upstairs in the ballroom.

Israelis and Americans are bewildered and confused by the actions of the leaders of both countries. Is Bibi giving in to pressure from the U.S.? Are his actions self-motivated? Is Obama betraying both Israel and America, and indeed the western world by his actions? Is Jabotinsky's "Iron Wall" insufficient?  Speakers on Tuesday evening will be addressing these issues. 

Mark Langfan, AFSI's Chairman has written an insightful article about where the Benghazi trail really leads. Op-Ed: Benghazi Leads to Iran, Not Al Qaeda

L.A. Jewish Symphony's participatory KlezFest jam - freilachs the Ford Amphitheater

L.A. Jewish Symphony staged "KlezFest 2013 - a free event for the community - on Monday, July 29th at the Ford Amphitheater. 

Yiddish dance-master, Bruce Bierman, led the attendees to dance onstage to the sounds of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony and guest "jammers" playing instruments and percussion under the stars.



Among the clips in this JooTube playlist, Cantor Linda Rich shares her experience of the communal singing, dancing, and playing at the secular, Ford Amphitheater venue.  

Dr. Noreen Green, the symphony's artistic director and conductor, utilized the Ford's second year's invitation to the group as an opportunity to promote the 10th annual Cultural Collaborations concert, featuring Broadway's memorable Tevye, folk-entertainer, Theodore Bikel on August 25th. 

Maccabiah stories of Americans, native and immigrant, handicapped & healthy

Athletes from around the globe convene in Israel for Maccabiah Games

Over the past 2 weeks, 9,000 Jewish athletes converged on Israel to compete in the 19th Maccabiah Games. Host country, Israel, won the most medals with 411, including 150 gold medals. 1200 Americans earned 196 medals, the second most.  The next most were earned by Canada, Australia, and South Africa, in that order.

George Thomas of CBN News reports on the Maccabiah Games from American athletes' perspective:

Steve Soboroff, Chairman of the Committee of 18, and Maccabiah Executive Director Eyal Tiberger held a fundraiser in L.A. this spring, courtesy Marv Markowitz  (of  Factor's Deli and The Mark hall) towards funding trips for the athletic Jewish young-people to compete in the Maccabiah Games.

Steve Soboroff discussed, with JooTube, the purpose and results of sending Jewish youth from around the world to compete in the Maccabiah Games in Israel. 

The anti-Semitism in Iran in the 1960's, motivated short-heighted Suleman Binefar to learn how to wrestle.  He became so good at it that he entered the Jewish Maccabiah competition and earned a silver medal. When he escaped from Iran, his medal and all of his memorabilia were misplaced.  Executive Director Eyal Tiberger discusses how the Maccabiah restored his medals to him in Los Angeles.  30-years ago, former Israeli national-team soccer player Eli Marmur launched Maccabi clubs in North America. These clubs will meet in Orange County, California this weekend for the JCC Maccabi Games.



Assistant Coach of the U.S. Girls Junior Soccer team, Nicole Hagouel, gave her views on getting the US Junior Girls Soccer towards Maccabiah Gold.  

She was prescient about defeating Brazil - her girls earned 1st place- above even the host Israeli team.



Joe Siegman, founder of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (and author of Jewish Sports Legends) discusses the role of the Maccabiah games in his life, starting as a cricket-player since 1973.



Nearly killed in 2010 accident, a triumphant Dave Blackburn returned to Maccabiah in JTA, 30 July 2013:

Dave Blackburn beamed triumphantly, surrounded by a crowd of American athletes and cheering spectators. It was like old times, the great pitcher basking in applause. But Blackburn wasn’t being ushered off the field with a championship trophy in hand as he was after leading the U.S. softball team to gold medals in four earlier Maccabiah Games. Instead, Blackburn maneuvered his wheelchair down an aisle to the front of a reception hall earlier this month after being named one of 10 athletes to carry the U.S. contingent’s banner onto the field for the opening ceremony of the games.  Read more.

Separate to Blackburn's appearance, for the first time in the Maccabiah’s history Paralympic competitions were held.  The only two nations to win gold were the Israel with six and the United States with four.  Jewish Paralympic athletes from Hungary, Hong Kong and Australia also earned medals