Super Fun Vacation Photos from Israel

Here are some fun photos from my 2 week trip to Israel....

Grandfather Shlomo and Grandmother Hana

Dan, Miri, Dad, Mom, and baby nephew Michael on the lower left.

Donna and Gabriel

Little brother and big sister?

Miri Feldman-Peck and I at the vista point on the Galilee in northern Israel.

Mom on boat during my marathon swim.

Me at the finish line with nephew Gabriel Alpin on my arm.

Checking out my wrinkled hands after more than 

3 hours of swimming with nephew Nathaniel.

Check out this wrinkled hand yourself.

Mom and uncle Dave remembering their late aunt and uncle Eliza and Tzvi.

Mom, me, dad and Jon outside the Roman amphitheater in Ceasaria.

2000 year old Ceasaria Roman Theatre

Me in front of the former Roman Temple in Ceasaria.

Ruins of Temple and Church at Ceasaria

         

Donna and I at outdoor restaurant cafe in Ceasaria.

         

Donna and I floating in the Dead Sea.

        

Anti-Semitism in California on the rise, Anti-Defamation League says

To view original article in LA Times click: Anti-Semitism in California on the rise, Anti-Defamation League says

The Anti-Defamation League reported a sharp uptick in anti-Semitic incidents in California last year, many of them involving taunts, threats and insults by adolescents and teenagers.

In one typical example, a Jewish middle school teacher in Los Angeles found swastikas drawn on her classroom door and a note, also featuring swastikas, that read, "You're next."

“These are not necessarily kids who are filled with hatred in their hearts and mean to be malicious," said Amanda Susskind, regional director for the organization. But she said the trend was still troubling and may reflect the pervasiveness of hate speech on the Internet.

She also blamed the broader increase in anti-Semitic incidents, some of them violent, on the confluence of three events: the election of President Obama, the recession and the Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip. Combined, she said, they had emboldened extremists and led to a coarsening of the tone of national debate.

She added that the arrest and conviction of rogue financier Bernard Madoff, who is Jewish, contributed to a lot of anti-Semitic "chatter."

The ADL report, issued Tuesday morning, is somewhat at odds with a report on hate crime issued last week by California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown. That report showed that crimes motivated by anti-Semitism declined in 2009, as did crimes motivated by hatred against other religious and ethnic groups.

Susskind said the ADL was monitoring a much broader range of incidents, many of which are not crimes. She also noted that Brown's report found that 76% of the hate crimes motivated by religious bias were against Jews. Muslims were next, at 6%.

Although the ADL found that anti-Semitic acts in California had increased by 20% for the second straight year, the organization found that anti-Semitic acts nationally had declined from 1,352 in 2008 to 1,211 last year. However, it noted that it had raised the bar in some regions for what counted as anti-Semitism -- for example, including reports of swastikas only when they were clearly aimed at Jews.

In California, Susskind said, the ADL had already been applying the stricter standards after finding that swastikas sometimes reflected hatred for groups other than Jews and sometimes had no apparent meaning as symbols of hate.

-- Mitchell Landsberg

Pakistan's Premiere Fashion Mag: Ink Magazine features Donna Feldman

My phenomenal sister Donna Feldman has recently set her sights on taking over South East Asia's fashion scene. Pakistan's premiere English language Fashion Magazine, Ink Magazine features internationally celebrated and impossibly attractive super-model Donna Feldman. Ink's three page spread delves into the mind and career of this unimaginable beauty as she opens up about life as one of the planet's busiest mega models, whose looks alone are landing her on the covers and pages of the world's finest fashion magazines. 

 - Look at Interview with Photos Below -

Jerusalem Trip 2010

Yesterday my uncle David Katzenelbogen acted as the finest tour guide took my sister Donna, Jon and I on a memorable trip through Jerusalem. We started off by driving through the expansive Jerusalem forest to Yad Vashem, the national Holocaust Museum which was absolutely powerful and impressive in scope and emotion. We then drove on to the City of David in Jerusalem through the new and glitzy Mamilla Mall which leads to the Old City which was established in the 4th millennium BCE. Walking through the ancient walkways, alleyways, market stalls snapping pictures all day long that I am including below, take a look.

PHOTOS

Me, uncle David, and sister Donna stopping for ice coffee

 at the beginnings of our Jerusalem trip.

Beautiful church on a hill that just looked charming to me.

The entrance to Yad Vashem, (Holocaust Museum)

No photos are allowed to be taken inside the museum. 

The exit to Yad Vashem, which after an emotionally turbulent experience inside the museum unfolds to a happy ending with the Jerusalem forest of Israel which is so incredibly symbolic to post war period of salvation and freedom.

The view from the Jerusalem Forest from Yad Vashem.

The city of Jerusalem over 3000 years strong.

A fort building in Jerusalem Old City.

The Hospice of St. Vincent De Paul from Mamilla outdoor shopping district.

Beautiful alleyway of Jerusalem old city with the well worn stone streets.

Old Iraqi currency featuring Saddam Hussein on a arab shop window.

Vibrant market stalls in an alleyway of the Old City where every language in the world can be heard.

Jesus Walked I Swam The Movie

Jesus Walked I Swam - Mission Complete with Photos and Video

Well, I finished my 10 kilometer marathon swim for charity yesterday and it took me 3 hours and 15 min to cross the beautiful Sea of Galilee. With the help of family, friends and generous strangers, we had raised over $3500 to date for Jesus Walked I Swam. It was a total and complete success and people are still donating! Thank you all for all the support. This swim was one of the most beautiful, rewarding and meaningful experiences of my life.

I want to thank my family for being by my side (literally) on this swim and performing the all neccessary physical safety and emotional support. 

  To learn more about this charity and how to donate, 

please visit JESUS WALKED I SWAM

Please check out my photos 

plus a great video of the marathon swim from finsih line.

Photos:

The actual launch site located in the village of Kefar Nachum or Capernaum (The town is first mentioned in the New Testament, where it figures prominently in the Gospel narratives as the place where Jesus lived during much of his ministry in the Galilee) on the Northwest shore of The Sea of Galilee or the Kinneret 

This is a photo of the 5th century Byzantine Greek Orthodox The Church of the Seven Apostles

Part of my lovely safety team, my parents Amos and Esther Feldman

Sea Captain Chilik and Donna Feldman  

my super model sister and part time sportscaster.

With special appearance by John Peck, 

world's coolest water loving brother in law.

Donna Feldman welcoming you to my swim

Stroke! 2 km

Super model mom and sister posing boatside.

Stroke! 6 km

Mom and Dad sunning on the boat.

Stroke! 8 km

Mom and Dad enjoying a tow behind the boat alongside me.

Last Stroke! 10 km arriving at finish line

Victory!

Celebratory hug from sister Miri and her boys, Nathaniel and Gabriel

My teenage Arab groupies and cute photo bomber Gabriel Peck on far right.

Gabriel and I on our way to have some well deserved lunch after a totally successful swim

Check out  my short film of the swim,
Jesus Walked I Swam The Movie

A Special Thanks to the following, my parents  Amos and Esther Feldman, my sisters Miri Feldman-Peck and Donna Feldman-Peck, their husbands Dan and John Peck, my 3 angelic nephews Nathaniel, Gabriel and Michael, my awesome uncles David and Yoram Katzenelbogen, Meira Bienshtok of the Jerusalem Post and of course our brave and knowledgeable Sea Captain Chilik.

The Jerusalem Post: Israeli American to swim Sea of Galilee for charity

Read original article in Israel's largest English daily, The Jerusalem Post

by Meira Bienstock

With the ambitious goal of swimming across the Sea of Galilee, Eyal Feldman, an Israeli-American born in Petah Tikva and raised in Los Angeles, is taking a stand to earn money for Jewish and gay senior citizens on Thursday.

Feldman is hoping to swim 10 kilometers from shore to shore against the current in the course of three hours, averaging 2 miles per hour.

The earnings will be donated to JHA, the Jewish Home for the Aging in Los Angeles – a nonprofit organization dedicated to the security and wellness of Jewish seniors – as well as SAGE (Seniors Active in a Gay Environment), the world’s oldest and largest nonprofit agency serving gay, lesbian and transgender seniors.

In just one month, Feldman reached his goal of raising $3,000 for the organizations, and donations are still pouring in.

“We [my family] remain strongly connected with Israel and the Israeli community in the States, and I was taught to embrace tzedaka, always looking to support the charities that we love,” Feldman told The Jerusalem Post.

“I feel that swimming in Israel will not only help me raise money for my favorite organizations, but I can share this amazing experience with my family, who will be by my side supporting me while I swim across the Kinneret,” he added. “It is my own way of contributing some good and positive news about Israel, so it is a winwin for everyone involved.”

Feldman is ecstatic to be back in Israel, which he has visited every summer.

“I’m terribly excited, and I think it’s more important to raise money for the elderly, no matter what identity,” he said. “The more I work with the elderly, the more important I see what I can learn from them. They are the treasure of history and knowledge.”

Many of the elderly at JHA are Holocaust survivors.

One woman was in the Jewish resistance in Ukraine during World War II and fought against the Nazis. She also fought in Israel’s War of Independence.

Although Feldman has not told the JHA residents about his marathon, the staff there thinks his mission is very admirable.

“Volunteering with the elderly helped me to get in touch with that little swimming Jewish activist and volunteer inside me that was bent on tikkun olam, and what better or more meaningful place can that be done than in Israel?” asserted Feldman.