Gal Gadot is going to be receiving the honor of being the first Israeli actor/actress to be inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame with her own star in the street. I guess she really is Wonder Woman!

"Salt Bae" is coming to Israel!

Whoopi Goldberg has confused some people over the years just with her Jewish-sounding name. That's ok, as it was her and her mother's intent, allegedly, when she changed her name to try to get a foot into Hollywood because the name Johnson didnt sound Jewish enough.

It seems that Steph Curry, basketball star, recently moved to Toronto, to a home near an Orthodox Jewish community.

that's ARod and J-Lo...

Back on Lag b'Omer, Chabad hosted a parade for kids with the popular children's performer Yuval Hamevulbal. They came under criticism for infusing the holiday parade with some religious content - explanations and lessons about the holiday. As an aside, Yuval Hamevulbal has famously come closer to religion over the years and is involved in religious events, he can be seen frequently photographed in tefillin, and he has a strong relationship with Chabad. For some reason people were surprised that a holiday parade hosted by a religious organization would have religious content about the holiday, and they complained about, to the point that it even made the news (though the video I posted has since been removed).

According to a report on Ynet, Yuval Hamevulbal, among others, has been investigated and questioned under warning for cocaine use, and the police say indictments are coming. And to think this cocaine addict was just criticized for trying to teach kids a little bit about Lag b'Omer at a recent chabad parade! They should have been, they were right to be, upset that their kids were being taught anything by a coke addict, regardless of what he was teaching them! I guess we will see, by the outcry or lack thereof, if parents are more upset about drugs or religion...

BTW, I am never surprised to hear about a celebrity/performer being caught with drugs. it is part of the way of life. Even if not all of them are involved in that, it is more common than not.

Natalie Portman's decision regarding the Genesis Prize surprised me. Portman has always been a supporter of Israel, and is Israeli herself. She has visited Israel in the past and has spoken in support of Israel. I dont want to accuse her of supporting BDS, as she herself says she is not, even though BDS supporters will probably use her in their campaigns, but her decision is painful.

The way it seems to be going down, with Portman accepting the prize (a lot of money) but refusing to show up and give an acceptance speech, turns the entire enterprise into a farce.

Basically this prize has been to attach a celebrity face to Israel on the world stage. It has done a good job so far, until Portman's decision, but perhaps instead of honoring rich celebrities and calling it "the Jewish Nobel prize", they would do better with honoring people who really work tirelessly on behalf of some cause connected to Israel - medical research, the poor, hunger relief, the sciences, peace efforts etc. Giving rich celebrities money they do not need for what the Prize calls its mission as  "The Genesis Prize honors individuals who have attained excellence and international renown in their chosen professional fields, and who inspire others through their engagement and dedication to the Jewish community and/or the State of Israel." makes the entire thing kind of wishy washy.

The Genesis Prize should also include a clause requiring recipients to be present to receive the award, or else an alternate recipient will be selected. What's the point of giving a celeb the prize in order to highlight their connection to Israel if you are not given the opportunity to highlight their connection to Israel?

#ConanIsrael

we will try to follow COnan's antics here...

I am not quite sure what to think of this story, and of the criticism of the incident, or lack of criticism.

Yochi Apolyuon, a star actress of Israeli reality television and bikini designer and model, was photographed writing a letter in a Torah at a ceremony of a hachnasat sefer torah.

This ceremony did not take place in a Reform community. It took place in Bnei Braq. The Torah was written in memory of her father, Rav Binyamin Apolyoun, a mashgiach kashrut residing in Bnei Braq, who recently died. The Torah was dedicated and installed in a yeshiva in Bnei Braq callled Yeshivat Bet Meir.

Present at the ceremony were the Roshei Yeshiva, other important rabbonim, "hundreds of" the yeshiva students and alumni.
sources: Kooker, Mako, Haredim10
Rav Chaim Amsalem criticized the image. His criticism was that there was no criticism of the picture. Amsalem is upset that because Haredim were doing this, it was let to happen silently, with no opposition or criticism. If anybody else had done this - Dati Leumi, Sefardim, Modern Haredi, or any other group, the Haredim would be screaming and calling them Reform. Rav Amsalem calls "them" hypocrites acting for money who would even sell their own grandmothers.

According to Mako, the incident was criticized by "many" Haredim, but I guess Rav Amsalem's criticism that at a Haredi yeshiva this was allowed to happen and some vocal opposition only came later after the fact and was probably just lip service.

Haredim10 also says that Rav Motka Bloi criticized the incident. expressing shock. Bloi said that even if she did not actually write a letter in the Torah it is a disgrace. A Sefer Torah is not a television prop. And it is much more serious that it happened in the streets of Bnei Braq, in the center of the City of Torah.

So, again, it was allowed to happen and many rabbis seemed to know about it and even participate in the event in which she did this, but it was also criticized by askanim and others outside of the event. So, I don't know what to think of both Amsalem's criticism and the event itself.

Then there is the issue of the writing in the Torah. I am not sure what the problem is. As far as I know, most of the time a ceremony like this is held, the laymen writing in the Torah is only ceremonial and the sofer really rewrites it or he makes the shapes of the letters and has the laymen fill in the outlines. The Torah is not written by laymen - allowing that to happen would be too risky in many situations, so they do it in a way that is only ceremonial, and the sofer usually is the one actually writing.

That being said, why when someone who is a television star does a mitzvah or religious act of some sort it has to be described as a television prop. Can't she want to dedicate a Torah in her father's memory just for the sake of his memory as not as a television prop? When men do it, even not-religious men, there is no such criticism, of it being just a prop. So why is this the criticism in this case? I can understand criticizing allowing a woman to write in the Torah, as, from what I understand, a Sefer Torah written by a woman is not kosher, but I do not understand the criticism of it being a cynical ploy for her personal career.

Interestingly, in all the various sites I saw this picture posted on, Apolyoun is pictured normally, while the rabbi, a male, has his face blurred. I understand why - to protect his identity - but it is a reversal of roles, of sorts.

Shuli Rand has become an enigma in recent days.

Last week he "disappeared" at some point and everyone was hysterical about what might have happened. Rumors surfaced before Shabbos that he is ok and his whereabouts are known (by certain people) and it is a private affair. Eventually he returned home, and his wife made different announcements, about forgiving him, about accepting him, about their personal situation, about being in major debt, etc. Some people started an online fundraising campaign to raise money to help the Rands. Bennet announced that he is giving Rand the Life Achievement Award that comes with a 150,000nis prize.

And now it has been made public that Shuli Rand was indicted last year for hitting someone in his family after an argument. Rand admitted to the charges and is awaiting the punishment stage of the court decision.

Will Bennet take the prize back because of this? Will all the people who made donations because they felt bad for the Rands regret their donations? Is there some way to cancel that campaign and not collect the money from the donors? This whole episode is very strange.

Me n my mom praying at the Holy of Holies breaking international Laws. pic.twitter.com/Jv1DYiuyOI

— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) April 17, 2016

nothing can raise a ruckus as successfully as an innocent post about Jerusalem...

Recently Jean Claude Van Damme visited Israel and posted a picture to Facebook of him with Jerusalem in the background and said "hello from Jerusalem", and that caused quite a stir (he originally had said Jerusalem, Israel, which he then changed to just Jerusalem).

Now, Morgan Freeman has topped that. Freeman is in Israel preparing for a documentary called "The Story of God". Obviously such a film will take one to explore the religions and holy places in Israel, and Freeman came for that purpose. Freeman posted, to his Facebook page, the following simple and innocuous post, that simply said "Jerusalem #storyofGod"

As of this writing, the post has been shared 5,605 times, and on the original post alone 6171 comments were generated, with the Pro-Israeli commenters and the pro-Palestinian commenters pointlessly duking it out once again...

interesting.. some are calling this an emerging trend among the celeb scene..

When Kim Kardashian and Kanye West recently came to Israel for a brief visit, the celebrity gossip columns were all abuzz.

Somehow the visit even made the Haredi press, though of course they did not show the image of Kim Kardashian herself. Even Kikar HaShabbat website, which has recently been showing pictures of women, did not show Kardashian.

TIME magazine found it noteworthy to mention. Speaking to an editor of Kikar, TIME was told that Kardashian is a "pornographic symbol, and that contradicts the Ultra Orthodox values".

Being that that is the case, they probably should just not have mentioned her visit at all and left it for the gossip columns to discuss.

Funnily enough, they mention that her image in the picture was covered with a  receipt.

they must have had to use a pretty big receipt!

Kikar should have just left out her visit entirely, and those upset should just be happy she got any mention at all.