Shabbat Surfing: The Rich Set Him Up! (?)

Could Eliot Spitzer be the Jewish Marion Barry? The inevitable conspiracy theories surface at Jewlicious. They might be worth pursuing, you know, if he hadn’t actually admitted to spending eighty large on hookers.

Tom Ricks on washingtonpost.com ran excerpts of a report on how concentrating on counter-insurgency operations degraded the IDF’s ability to fight a more conventional war such as the one against Hezbollah in 2006. He wonders whether the US Army’s current experience in Iraq could have similar consequences.

Arjewtino has a great post about wearing his father’s suit, giving props to another blogger who described it as, “Superman putting on his cape.”

Our neighbors at 17th Street Hardware make it into the landmark hearing at the Supreme Court about gun rights.

Patrick Sauer at Jewcy handicaps the NCAA field by their Tribe affiliations (as previously mentioned, I’m pulling for Memphis).

And we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention along with half the other bloggers in DC that the cast and crew of State of Play was shooting up the street at the Temple of the Scottish Rite. There have been plenty of other posts about this elsewhere, but one of our preschool classes took a walk up the street to check out the scene. Unfortunately, Russell Crowe was not available to participate in circle time.

Speaking of movies…After the jump: The Best of Purim on YouTube

March Madness, Purim Pandemonium

There’s something poetic in the nearly simultaneous launching of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and the holiday of Purim. They both herald times of great revelry and amusement, behavior just outside the norm, and of course, the dutiful consumption of alcoholic beverages. Beyond that, both contain stories of underdogs triumphing over greater powers to ensure their “survival” –whether in bracketology or ancient Shushan. Okay, maybe that pushes it a bit far, but seriously, is there a better time of year? Add to that the fact that three local schools (including George Mason and American) have made it to the big dance, and that one of them, Georgetown, is a decent bet to make it to the Final Four for a second straight year, and these are pretty good times. (In all honesty, I have the Hoyas losing to Memphis in the Finals in one of my brackets. In another, they lie down like dogs to a certain Big Ten school my wife attended.) 

But Purim at the 16th Street J is crazier than imagining a Mount St. Mary’s vs. St. Mary’s championship game. We’ve got not one, but two totally cool events happening on Saturday night to help you get your Purim on. First, there is the J on Demand staged reading of The Playdough Golem beginning at 9:00 pm. When a Hebrew School rents space at a Catholic Church the young Jewish boys are predictably attracted to the tartan-clad females of the resident St. Thomas Augustine Cathedral School. Seeing their crushes being swept away from them, a trio of girls, Leah Goldstein, Rebecca Goldman and Abby Goldberg go Kabbalistic on the competition by creating a golem out of Playdoh to mete out justice in the name of endogamy.  

Also on Saturday night is the Kurlander Program for Gay and Lesbian Outreach and Engagement’s Purim Party — featuring a schpiel by the members of Bet Mishpachah, entertainment by the DC Kings, a piñata, a deejay and music to dance the night away. Of course, both events will feature ample libations in the spirit of the holiday.

It’s March Madness. Catch it!