So, apparently, this guy is going to change the way Americans view Israel.
People see me as some kind of national hero,” says Eytan Schwartz, 30, who won the reality show “The Ambassador” in March. The prize was the chance to burnish Israel’s image from the media metropolis of New York City. The show, which drew top ratings this winter, tapped into the zeitgeist of a country desperate to polish its portrayal in the media, which many Israelis think unjustly depict them as oppressors. With the good wishes of his fellow Israelis — and feeling a fair amount of pressure from them as well — Schwartz arrived here last month. His mission was to give a fresh young face to Israel’s image.
Here’s the thing. He looks real familiar. Even his story sounds familiar. Although he is a neighbor of mine in New York (he lives seven blocks away from me), I don’t think that’s how I know him. I can’t put my finger on where I saw him, but I have a feeling it was on a recent trip to California (who is that guy on the left? click on pic for more info-ck).
Next in the JTA: “Tastes Grape to Be Jewish”: The Story of Wine Guy.
Wishing you all a meaningful Yom Hazikaron and a revelrous Yom Ha’Atzmaut.
Post-party addendum…I saw Eytan and met his lovely girlfriend at tonight’s mega-Jewparty. Eytan said his girlfriend wears the Jewlicious shirt all the time, and wishes he had brought her a pair of those Jewlicious pajama bottoms. Which I’m wearing now. (Sucka!)
Happy birthday, Israel!
thank you Esther it is assuredly most grapelicious to be jewish but I don’t know if the jewish people are ready, we are just coming out of the dark ages of the concordian oppression of Jewish taste buds …. it’s going to be a long hard road to recovery
Hashem please give us koach
Rabbi, did you ever receive my email for you and your Montreal friend?
Rabbi Yonah, if Wine Guy and I don’t go to San Diego for shabbat we’re coming over.
This was just one of those Jewlicious moments, Eytan walking into the JCC, Israel’s new face to the world, there, in Long Beach, at our conference. Divine Providence.