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At sundown tonight, the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, The Feast of Weeks, begins.

Shavuot is a holiday that celebrates the day that God gave the Torah to the Jewish people while they were assembled at Mount Sinai, shortly after the exodus from Egypt. Shavuot is also connected to the season of the grain harvest in Israel. In ancient times, the grain harvest lasted seven weeks, which began with the harvesting of the barley during Passover and ended with the harvesting of the wheat at Shavuot. Beginning on the second evening of Passover, and ending yesterday evening, Jews count the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot, called the Counting of the Omer. Shavuot is the concluding festival of the grain harvest.

Shavuot is unlike other Jewish holidays in that it has no prescribed Torah commandments, other than the traditional observances for every holiday which includes abstention from work, special prayer services and holiday meals. However, Shavuot is characterized by many specific customs, including the reading of the Book of Ruth and the consumption of dairy products like milk and cheese.

Jewish holidays are often stereotyped as revolving around food (“They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat!”), and most Jewish cookbooks you find will contain an abundance of recipes for meat dishes. It’s a nice change to have a holiday that is customary to have dairy, but the usual blintzes and cheesecake can become tiresome year after year, which brings me to this great recipe! This is an older one that I got from my mother and that I’ve tweaked over time, but it’s easy and delicious and I recommend trying it if you’re looking for a Shavuot recipe or a twist on the traditional lasagna.

Check out our contributor Chutzpah in the Kitchen for the full recipe and cooking instructions.

The Ormita Commerce Network is inaugurating its activity in Israel. It is the world’s largest private multilateral reciprocal trading company, with no cash exchange – only goods.

The company currently operates in 54 countries and connects between 220,000 companies. Its turnover in 2012 totaled some $3.4 billion.

The company checks what each customer requires and has to offer.

For example, the company created a barter agreement between the Pakistan government, which supplied excess oranges, and China, which supplied in exchange agricultural machinery worth $120 million.

Ormita charges a 7% commission on the sale.

Source: Ynetnews.com

Zhang Jingchu, known for her role in ‘Rush Hour 3,’ shoots scenes on capital’s busy Ben Yehuda Street for production expected to be blockbuster film in China. ‘People here are very kind,’ she says

It is not every day that downtown Jerusalem is featured in international films. But several weeks ago, a Chinese film production drew local attention, as movie scenes for what is expected to be a blockbuster movie in China were shot along the busy Ben Yehuda Street.

More via Ynetnews

Illustration Photo: Benny Deutsch

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein rules courts can recognize non-biological father’s parenthood without adoption process

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced that spouses of parents to children conceived through a surrogacy process overseas will be accorded parenthood status without the previous need for a lengthy and complex adoption process.

Instead, a court order will suffice.

The AG’s statement followed several petitions to the Supreme Court by homosexual couples who demanded both fathers be registered as parents, though only one of them is the biological father through surrogate conception.

The new move by the AG is based on the Mor-Yosef Committee’s recommendations, which examined whether single men or same-sex couples should be allowed to conceive via a surrogate mother.

Weinstein ruled that pending the finalization of proper legislation, family courts will be able to issue a court order recognizing the spouse’s parenthood following a genetic test proving the parenthood of the biological father and other conditions to be further elaborated in future legislation.

Source: Ynetnews.com

Richard Bowles finishes Israel Trail. Photo: Dov Greenblatt/SPNI

English-Australian ultra-marathoner wants more after finishing 1,009 km. Israel Trail run despite foot infection.

After plowing through 1,009 kilometers of the deserts, mountains and forests that highlight the Israel Trail, English- Australian ultra-marathoner Richard Bowles only wished that his journey could have been a little longer.

“I feel great actually,” Bowles told The Jerusalem Post over the phone on Thursday afternoon from Kibbutz Dan, just after he completed his run. “It’s nice to be here. I’m almost a little bit disappointed that it’s come to an end.”

Starting at the Eilat Field School on April 17, Bowles had planned to complete the entire trail in 12 days. Along the way, however, his body had other plans for him, when a foot infection began to pain him on April 25 – day nine of his expedition. After continuing about 60 kilometers the next day despite the infection, Bowles consulted with physicians and realized he would need to take a week off from running to allow the infection to heal.

Continue reading via Jpost

Have you ever wondered what became of the Old Spice Guy a.k.a. Isaiah Mustafa?

It turns out he’s alive and well and selling beer in Israel. In this ad for Maccabee Beer, Mustafa employs some of his trademark eloquence (“Did you ever taste the silent splendor of a sunrise?”) to convince a bar patron that Maccabee’s new taste is actually good. Mustafa here appears to be a stand-in for President Obama and delivers his philosophical treatise on taste from what looks like the Oval Office. In the end, the patron is convinced, which sets off a round of rejoicing in the whole nation of Israel. Mustafa, who was integral to Old Spice’s social media-driven turnaround in 2010, appears to be working his magic for Maccabee as well: The video has gotten more than 800,000 views since April.

Procter & Gamble, the owner of Old Spice, has never said that Mustafa is done as the brand’s spokesman and brings him back periodically. A rep confirmed that Mustafa “continues to work with Isaiah Mustafa on several global projects for the brand.” Old Spice recently rolled out a round of well-received ads for its bar soap showing a man eating watermelon out of a basketball and another man being followed everywhere by his shower.

Image courtesy of YouTube, Maccabee

Source: Mashable.com

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