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Uncategorized

Bidding on The World to Come on eBay

Those who read Milton Steinberg’s masterpiece novel “As a Driven Leaf” will remember that eternal life is a reward given for the fulfillment of two mitzvot (commandments), namely the honoring of one’s parents and the shooing of the mother bird from the nest before taking her eggs. However, yesterday those who wanted to taste eternal life could have simply logged into the preeminent online auction website eBay.com and offered a bid on heaven.

 

Ari Mandel of Teaneck, New Jersey, a self-proclaimed former Ultra-Orthodox Jew, listed his place in The World To Come on eBay for a mere 99 cents. Titled “My Portion in Olam Habaah (Heaven)”, Mandel says he did it as a joke and didn’t expect that bidders would bid it up to $100,000.

 

eBay user Ari Mandel auctioned off his portion of the World to Come on eBay

 

Since the auction “item” violated eBay’s terms of service it was quickly taken down from the website. Mandel told the Jewish Daily Forward that “it was a joke that ran away from me… when it reached $100,000 I didn’t really expect to get that money. It was nice to fantasize, but I didn’t think it was going to happen.”

 

Mandel, 31, included several references to the Jewish concept of Olam Habah (the World to Come) and used common Yiddish phrases in his auction listing. He claims to have simply done this as a joke and tells those who took it seriously or were offended by his harmless prank to “chill out”.

 

The Forward reports that Mandel was raised in an ultra-Orthodox community in upstate New York, but left the community about seven years ago. He is now a divorced father of one child and a student who works as a part-time translator. While eBay didn’t allow his auction to last very long, he was able to get his joke spread pretty wide thanks to the speed of the Internet. For those who held out hope that they could really get a spot in heaven by a simple click of a computer mouse button and a six-figure payment, keep working on it. You’ll have to go back to honoring your parents and shooing away mother birds.

 

This isn’t the first time that eBay has been used to auction off an intangible Jewish concept. Back in 2006 on this blog I wrote about a man who used eBay to auction off his chametz (leavened products) before Passover (see below). It turned out to be a great way to raise money for the Ziv Tzedakah Fund, Danny Siegel’s wonderful nonprofit organization.

 

 

Categories
Celebrities Hebrew

Shaquille O’Neal Says Shabbat Shalom & Other Hebrew Phrases

A few years ago I saw one of those quick “catch a celebrity getting into his car” video clips on TMZ.com in which NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal walked out of a restaurant and wished all his Jewish friends a L’shanah Tovah. It was right before Rosh Hashanah and it was circulated pretty quickly around the Web.

I had forgotten about that video when I asked Shaq to say “Shabbat Shalom” into my cellphone yesterday. My friend and fellow native Detroiter Lisa Lis got me hooked on video recording celebs saying those two Hebrew words a couple years ago and I’ve already collected several which I uploaded to my YouTube.com channel.

Shaquille O'Neal with Rabbi Jason - Shaq Speaks Hebrew

Yesterday at CES in Las Vegas I heard a wonderful interview with Russell Simmons, the Hip Hop pioneer and entrepreneur. After the interview he graciously offered a “Shabbat Shalom”. After meeting Russell, who is the president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding along with Rabbi Marc Schneier who serves as chairman, I had the opportunity to meet Curtis Jackson, better known as 50 Cent. Something told me that he wouldn’t be so into saying Shabbat Shalom, but Shaq was more than willing. In fact, he took the time to ask me what “Shabbat Shalom” means and when it’s appropriate to say it. He even surprised me with some other Hebrew phrases (“Baruch Hashem” and “L’shanah Tovah”). Shaq and I shmoozed for a while inside the Monster booth at CES. When he saw the large American Express bag I was carrying with me, he asked where I got it because he needed a large bag to carry his gifts from Monster. I gave him the bag and in return he presented with me a nice pair of Monster DNA Pro headphones. A great deal!

I suppose had I gotten 50 Cent to say “Shabbat Shalom” on video it would have been the triple trifecta of Shabbat Shalom greetings in one day from three uber-successful entrepreneurs in the African American community. All three gentlemen struck me as very impressive, nice guys who are each doing great things to promote technology and entertainment in the 21st century.

The Shabbat Shalom videos of Shaq and Russell Simmons are below:

Categories
Humor Jewish

The LED Kippah

I just saw that there is now an LED Kippah (yarmulke) that you can buy on the Web. (Update: the website is no longer operational so perhaps it wasn’t a successful idea)

Light Up Kippah - LED Kippah Yarmulke

You can program your own scrolling message. Perhaps donors will contribute money to the congregation for their name to scroll down the rabbi’s kippah?

Think of all the messages I could display on my kippah during services:

  1. Today’s Kiddush sponsored by the Goldberg family
  2. Please keep side conversations to a minimum
  3. Turn off cellphones please
  4. In memory of [yahrzeit name here]
  5. Please don’t be offended by anything said in my sermon
  6. How’s my preaching? Call 800-2-KVETCH
  7. My other head covering’s a Detroit Tigers hat
  8. CNBC Stock Ticker
  9. This LED message was not programmed on Shabbat or Yom Tov
  10. News Headlines crawler from JTA.org
Light Up Kippah - LED Kippah Yarmulke
Screenshot from the L.E.D. Kippah Website
Categories
Uncategorized

LED Kippah

I just saw that there is now an LED Kippah (yarmulke) that you can buy on the Web. (Update: the website is no longer operational so perhaps it wasn’t a successful idea)

Light Up Kippah - LED Kippah Yarmulke

You can program your own scrolling message. Perhaps donors will contribute money to the congregation for their name to scroll down the rabbi’s kippah?

Think of all the messages I could display on my kippah during services:

  1. Today’s Kiddush sponsored by the Goldberg family
  2. Please keep side conversations to a minimum
  3. Turn off cellphones please
  4. In memory of [yahrzeit name here]
  5. Please don’t be offended by anything said in my sermon
  6. How’s my preaching? Call 800-2-KVETCH
  7. My other head covering’s a Detroit Tigers hat
  8. CNBC Stock Ticker
  9. This LED message was not programmed on Shabbat or Yom Tov
  10. News Headlines crawler from JTA.org
Light Up Kippah - LED Kippah Yarmulke
Screenshot from the L.E.D. Kippah Website