Life Advice from a Long-time Swimmer: Swim 100 laps every day

The Tosefta quotes Rabbi Meir (2nd century CE Talmudic scholar) saying that everyone should strive to recite 100 blessings each day. It then goes on to enumerate them - mostly in daily prayers.

Let's play with the word for blessings. They are berakhot ברכות in ancient Hebrew. Okay then. In modern Hebrew the laps that one swims in a pool are called berechot בריכות. A blessing is a berachah and a pool - and a lap in a pool - is a berechah.

I playfully read the ancient Talmud this way: Don't say 100 berakhot (blessings), say 100 berechot (laps).

Footnote about Meir from Wikipedia: Meir was buried in a standing position near the Kinneret. It is said that he asked to be buried this way so when the Final Redemption occurs, Rabbi Meir would be spared the trouble of arising from his grave and could just walk out to greet the Jewish Messiah. He requested that he be buried in Israel by the seashore so that the water that washes the shores should also lap his grave (Jerusalem Talmud, Kelaim 9:4).

And so I have crafted some Talmudic encouragement for myself to swim 100 laps a day. On many days each year, I do get to that goal.

Here are a few of my past reflections on swimming...

NYC Triathlon Swim: My Hudson River Diary 2013

New York City Triathlon, July 14, 2013, 6:45 AM

Minute Zero: Coming down the ramp onto the race-start-barge in the Hudson River at 99th Street.

Goggles, check; swim cap, check; stopwatch on zero, check. Interview with the race announcer over the public address, I’m Tzvee from Teaneck, New Jersey. Yes, it’s my first triathlon; yes, I’m on a relay team.

Line up, look into the river. Fourteen other swimmers in my wave and many of them sit down on the barge and jump in at the tone. So do I. It’s four feet from the barge to the water.

Minute One: I’m in the Hudson. It’s dark. I go in much deeper than I thought I would. It’s dark all around me. This was a mistake. I need to get out.

Wow, I now finally understand the psalm, “Out of the depths I cry out to you O Lord.” I do not like this at all. I’m back to the surface. It’s choppy. My heart is racing. My chest is tight. I’m not swimming. I need to swim. But where am I? Not sure. Start to do the breast stroke. Others around me are swimming. It’s cold. What a bad idea this was.

Minute Two: Still not swimming the crawl. Wetsuit. Should have worn one. Would float better. Another real dumb decision. Still doing the breast stroke and my breathing is too shallow. Realize that I am in full panic. Adrenalin starting to pump.

I’m not gonna make it. I see tomorrow’s obituary, “Teaneck Rabbi Drowns in Hudson… He always loved swimming, family recalls.”

I pray, “Shema Yisrael.” “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.”

Okay, so how do I get out of here? I am dizzy and disoriented. Just in case, I pray some variations, “Our father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.” Oh heck, “Hail Mary full of grace.” Hey, you never know. Oh, cover those bases, “Allahu akhbar.”

Minute Three: Still floundering. Tell myself to take deeper breaths. Urge myself to start to do the crawl. You can do this! No I can’t. I will swim over to that kayak and hop on board.

“Put your head down and swim!” That tight chest feeling is just panic. Not a heart attack. You wimp, you have six stents in your coronary arteries. You will be okay. Breathe, just breathe. Stroke, just stroke.

Minute Four: I’m coming back to grips with my reality. Ha! I muse that I will call out to the lifeguard on the surfboard, “I made a pledge to the United Jewish Appeal and haven’t paid it yet.” Old joke. The UJA definitely will make sure I get out alive.

I’m swimming now but going sideways. A guy in another kayak is pointing and waving at me to go in another direction. I am zigging and zagging. I’ve been swimming nearly every day for thirty years but boy, am I sucking at this swim.

Minute Five: I’m starting to get awareness for where I am and where are the other swimmers. “How long O Lord?” I sure haven’t made much progress. A long, long way to go.

Guess I really don’t like open water swimming in the Hudson. A little late to think about that now. Okay. Just stroke, breathe, stroke, breathe.

Minute Six to the Exit: Okay wow, we are doing this. Holy moly, it is far. No turning every 25 meters at the end of the pool. Can’t see any lane markers on the bottom of the river. No plastic lane dividers to gauge the direction. I am still veering right and left. There are currents and wakes. Salty I don’t mind. But feh. It’s dirty water.

Starting to bump into other swimmers. That’s good. Seems like a very long time. Stroke, breathe. Heart is strong. Breathing is better. Panic is easing.

Seems now like forever. Finally see the exit ramp ahead at 79th Street and a crowd of swimmers in front of it. A New York moment. Traffic jam is slowing us down at the Henry Hudson River off ramp.

Get to the ramp, a strong hand grips my hand and pulls me up. I’m out! Alive. But oh crap, I never started the stop watch. And double crap, now I have to run barefoot on asphalt to the bike transition. It’s long, it’s annoying. I reluctantly jog over half a mile. Hey, I am getting happier anyway.

I give my chip to my teammate, our rally team biker. He rides off.

I am done.

Check off that one.

Halleluyah.

Rabbi Dr. Tzvee Zahavy, who lives in Teaneck and writes the monthly Dear Rabbi Zahavy column for the Jewish Standard, was inspired by his triathlete son Yitzhak, who did the entire NYC triathlon and raised money to help victims of terror through Team One Family. Tzvee did the NYC Tri swim leg with help from his two Team One Family teammates, Harvey Lederman and Leiba Rimler, who did the biking and running legs.

Donate here to help the families.

Published in the Jewish Standard, July 26, 2013.

Read God's Favorite Prayers

Was Charles Krauthammer Jewish?

Was columnist and Fox TV commentator Charles Krauthammer Jewish? Yes he was a Jew.

In JPost interview Krauthammer reflected on his Talmudic upbringing. He described himself in the interview we cite here as not very religious:

As for my own practice, it's fairly minimal, but I go on the required days. I go to Yizkor, those kinds of things. I once described to a friend my Jewishness - I said, I'm a Jewish Shinto. I believe in ancestor worship. That's the heart of my Judaism.

We disagreed with most of what neoconservative Charles Krauthammer said about foreign policy. But from the excellent interview he gave to the Jerusalem Post, "The unfashionable Charles Krauthammer," we learned that his eloquent argumentation skills derive in part from his Orthodox Talmudic education.

Can you talk a little bit about your own Jewish upbringing and sense of Jewishness, and how that influences you? ...
I grew up in a Modern Orthodox home. I went to Jewish day school right through high school, so half of my day was spent speaking Hebrew from age six to 16. I studied thousands of hours of Talmud. My father thought I didn't get enough Talmud at school, so I took the extra Talmud class at school and he had a rabbi come to the house three nights a week. One of those nights was Saturday night, so in synagogue Saturday morning my brother and I would pray very hard for snow so he wouldn't be able to come on Saturday night and we could watch hockey night in Canada. That's where I learned about prayer...

He suffered a tragic swimming accident when in medical school which left him paralyzed.

He was the subject of a Fox News program and was on Jon Stewart's show to promote his book, Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics.



Here is the entire article. It is no longer available at jPost.

"The unfashionable Charles Krauthammer"

Summer at the Teaneck Swim Club, the Tenafly JCC Outdoor Swimming Pool + 10 more world class dramatic pools to think about

The start of summer swim season is nigh.

Today was cool at the TSC - about 70 in and out of the lap pool. A few of us braved the waters this weekend to inaugurate the outdoor lap season in Teaneck.

With nice weather ahead, I look forward to swimming outdoors every day in Tenafly or Teaneck at the JCC or the TSC.

And here are some of the other pools that I'd like to swim in...I've been to some of them...[reposted from 08].

Cool pools: 10 favorite hotel swimming spots By Gary Warner

The Orange County Register

Some like it hot. I do not. After a steamy day of going from museum to shop to cafe to hotel, I am in dire need of something big, cold and relaxing. No, not a beer. Well, OK, a beer would be nice, too.

I'm talking about a pool. A hotel swimming pool. A beckoning oasis of deep, crisp blue.

Over 10 years, I've dived and dipped into hundreds of Olympics, kidneys, minerals and infinities, from Bali to Baltimore. Most are fine but forgettable, so I cling to fond memories of laps gone by on my short list of classic dips. Come dive into the deep end of my list of favorite pools. You don't even have to shower before entering.

Bikinis and Burqinis on Beaches in France and a Women's only Beach in Tel Aviv

New Yorker has complementary and unrelated stories about religious women at the beach.

1. A Court Overturns a Burkini Ban, but Not Its Mindset in France, remarkable legal issues
2. A Separate Beach in Israel for Orthodox women - a remarkable photo album from Israeli photographer Michal Ronnen Safdie

Summer is almost over. Tune in next year for the next chapter in the continuing saga.

Is Olmypic Swimmer and Sex Symbol, Ryan Lochte Jewish?

No, we do not think that swimmer Ryan Lochte is a Jew. His national team bio does not specify his religion. We would guess from his last name that his family goes back to Dutch Protestant roots.

Wikipedia reports, "Ryan Lochte was born in Rochester, New York, the son of Ileana "Ike" (née Aramburu) and Steven R. Lochte. His mother is of Spanish and Basque ancestry and was born and raised in Havana, Cuba, while his father is of German, Dutch and English descent."

The Times' Style section had an extensive article about Lochte.

Ryan Lochte, Olmypic Swimmer and Sex Symbol

The U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte is poised to be the breakout star of the 2012 Summer Games, both in and out of the pool.

Ryan Lochte, Olmypic Swimmer and Sex Symbol - Slide Show

Mr. Lochte, 27, is being groomed to be a breakout Olympic superstar, with millions in corporate sponsorships.

Update April 2013: Lochte has an E! reality show, starting Sunday April 21 at 10pm EDT.

Here is a funny video interview about the show - watch to the end.

Hat tip to anonymous!

Talmudic Books for Kindle The Kindle Talmud in English

NYTimes on the Tranquil Euphoria of swimming

Pool of Thought

Richard A. Friedman JULY 16, 2016

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CreditRebecca Bird

THERE is no drug — recreational or prescription — capable of inducing the tranquil euphoria brought on by swimming. I do all my best thinking in the pool, whether I’m trying to figure out how to treat a patient’s complicated ailment or write a paper. Why that is is mysterious, but I have a theory.

Assuming you have some basic stroke proficiency, your attention is freed from the outside world. You just have to dimly sense the approaching wall before you flip turn and go on your way. Cut off from sound, you are mostly aware of your breathing. You have to traverse boredom before you can get to a state of mental flow. Now your mind is free to revel in nonlinear, associative thought. Nothing has to make sense. You suddenly become aware that time has passed. You are not sure what elapsed in that strange discontinuity, but the solution to a problem that escaped you on land is perfectly obvious emerging from the water — a rapturous experience.

More...

NPR: A Brief Historical Survey of US Bathing Suit Rules (Not the Jewish Ones)

The NPR history department did a story on a Brief Historical Survey of US Bathing Suit Rules (Not the Jewish Ones). Hat tip to KS.

Thank goodness it concludes:

...as the 1930s wore on, restrictions on swimwear began to wear off. Stories about beaches posting dress — or undress — codes seemingly disappear from newspapers. By 1939, the city of Hammond, Ind. — apparently reflecting the relaxing attitudes of many American towns — had thrown all bathing suit rules out the window. "The city will establish no rules on type of bathing suits to be worn," the local Times reported on June 16, "just so bathers are garbed in some fashion."

Happy Lappy New Year 2015

To all my friends,

A happy lappy new year. May the currents be with you!

Hope you have a swimmingly great year.

Tzvee

Six Israeli swimmers set world record for 236 Mile longest open-water swim

From Israel Hayom...

6 Israelis break world record for longest open-water swim

Israeli relay team swims over 236 miles from Cyprus to Israel to raise awareness about marine pollution • Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz: The fact that the swimmers could tell when they entered Israeli water shows there is work to be done. 

A year and a half of training came to an impressive end Saturday morning when six Israeli swimmers -- coach Ori Sela, Oded Rahav, Udi Erel, Ben Enosh, Doron Amosi, and Luc Chetboun -- broke the Guinness World Record for the longest open-water relay distance swim.

The six swam 380 kilometers (236 miles) from Paphos port in Cyprus to Herzliya Marina in Israel. The event, titled the Cyprus Israel Swim for Clean Seas, was held in cooperation with Zalul, an Israeli NGO devoted to keeping the sea clean, and dedicated to raising awareness about marine pollution. The six are also members of Zalul's Sea Guardians group. 

"We've made history. A total of 124 hours of swimming, 14,000 strokes in the water for each of us," the swimmers said.

The swimmers said that on Monday, they encountered a "horrible" current. "But suddenly at sunset 12 dolphins appeared and it boosted our morale."

The swimmers set off last Sunday afternoon. Erel was the first in the water, followed by each team member in a predetermined order with no alternates. Each man swam for an hour at a time, averaging 2 to 4 kilometers (1.2 to 2.5 miles) by the time he was relieved.

Are men's bathing suits kosher?

The Times' T style magazine has an article about the styles of men's bathing suits, aka swim trunks, explaining which ones are kosher.

Apparently they think that Speedos are not cool: "(The least cool thing you could wear, even if you’ve lived a life full of male mistakes in the fashion arena, is a pair of Speedo trunks, or “budgie-smugglers,” which leave nothing to dignity or to mystery either.)"

Clockwise from bottom right: C. David Claudon (2); Peter Marlow/Magnum Photos.

Yes Please | Float, Memory

By ANDREW O’HAGAN

Amid an ocean of style disasters, one man explores the sartorial and psychological conundrums of the swim trunk. More...

Kindle Talmud in English @ $0.99
Whence and Wherefore @ $0.99
God's Favorite Prayers @ $2.99

Are Statins Kosher?

The NY Times Op-Ed, "Don’t Give More Patients Statins" by JOHN D. ABRAMSON and RITA F. REDBERG argues that no, it is not kosher to start giving more classes of people statins in order to prevent heart attacks.

I have a high risk profile but in June 2008 I stopped taking statins (and several other drugs). The "side effect" for me was liver disease - quite an "effect". My liver readings were so high that the doctor called me to tell me to stop the Lipitor statins immediately. I also stopped monitoring my cholesterol - no point doing that if you are not trying to magically reduce the numbers with drugs.

This past year I increased my aerobic workouts by more that 50%. I swim 1.5 miles a day. I finally had my cholesterol tested and not surprisingly the numbers were good - especially for the HDL good cholesterol, and the good ratio was high. I don't smoke, I reduced my bad activities, the stress in my life, by orders of magnitude. And I increased my good activities significantly - e.g. golf, etc. ;-) I lost weight - a lot of weight - by watching everything that I eat. And I do not plan on ever taking a statin again.

Now the drug industry wants to detach the statin prescriptions from the cholesterol numbers - and guess what? This is not going to mean that fewer people should take statins. It will mean that more people should take them. Get it? I sure as heck admire the chutzpah of those drug companies.

But in answer to our title question, no statins are not kosher. Even those "studies" that show some correlation between statin use and fewer cardiac incidents are suspect to me. The math makes no sense. Reduction of risk by 50% is actually reduction of incidents by 1%. And my guess is that some time soon real scientists will conclude that it is the reduction of smoking, not of cholesterol levels, that has lead to the decline in cardiac disease in recent years.

Here is what Abramson and Redberg argue in the Times.

ON Tuesday, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology issued new cholesterol guidelines that essentially declared, in one fell swoop, that millions of healthy Americans should immediately start taking pills — namely statins — for undefined health “benefits.”

This announcement is not a result of a sudden epidemic of heart disease, nor is it based on new data showing the benefits of lower cholesterol. Instead, it is a consequence of simply expanding the definition of who should take the drugs — a decision that will benefit the pharmaceutical industry more than anyone else.

My Fifteen Minutes of Swim Fame with Diana Nyad

Wednesday night (10/9/2013) I swam with celebrity endurance swimmer Diana Nyad for fifteen minutes in a specially built 2-lane 40-yard pool in front of Macy's on Herald Square in New York City. (If you do not know who she is - read about her here.)

Nyad was garnering publicity for Proctor and Gamble, who sponsored her 48-hour in pool endurance swim, and she was raising money for Sandy Relief and she was getting a pool-load of promotion for herself. And that is totally okay, in fact it is highly admired part of the American way of life to be an entrepreneur like that.

Now it's not as if I was the only person in the city to swim with her. Richard Simmons and Ryan Lochte and other celebrities and a whole bunch of common people swam with her.

Now you ask, how did I get this swimming honor? Did Diana read my book, "God's Favorite Prayers" and say to her staff, go see if you can convince Rabbi Tzvee to swim with me? Did Ms. Nyad read my essay, "Hudson River Diary" about my swim struggle in the New York Triathlon and feel the need to induce me into yet another swimming challenge?

No and no. I am a common person, not a celebrity. This opportunity came to me in parts by chance, by timing, by the good efforts of my wonderful friend who found out that I could do this and sent me the link to apply and by my love of swimming and by my continued chutzpah.

On the Swim with Diana Application Form it asked and I answered:

Briefly, tell us why would you like to swim in the Nyad #SwimForRelief?: 

Diana inspires me. I identify with her dedication. I am a rabbi who swims 1.5 miles every day. I swam in the NYC triathlon in the Hudson this summer. Like Diana, I swam 100 miles this summer too - but it took me all summer.

And they wrote back right away that I'm in and gave me a great time-slot in which to swim.

And how did it feel? What was it like to swim with a celebrity at Herald Square? I'm told it was really cool. And it was deemed cool by all objective measures by my friends and family members who came to cheer me on.

But I felt that this was a delightfully strange thing to be doing. And in the pool, when it came my turn, Diana had been swimming for 35 hours. Up close, when I got in and looked at her, she looked really tired. She had just put on some insulating swimwear to keep her warm even though the pool was heated to 82 degrees. The air was 55 and there was a night chill around us.

Before we started to swim on schedule at exactly 8:10 PM, her assistant told her to say hello to me and she did say hello. So I said, "I'm Tzvee." I think she said, I'm Diana, and I said I know that.

She swam really slowly. I had a hard time keeping from swimming ahead of her. Then after one lap of 40 yards, she turned on her back and she started to kick. I did a really slow backstroke. We did this back and forth for 6 or 8 more times. At some point she stopped to get an inhaler from her assistants and they tried to feed her a spoonful of yogurt. I stopped too. I felt it would be rude if I kept swimming while she was pausing.

This was a painstakingly slow swim. And yes. It was cool, like no other event I've ever been in. We raised money for charity. We marketed products. We entertained New York and we continued to promote Diana's story of inspiration - that a 64 year old woman could endure an incredible 100 mile swim.

So that was my so-called-cool Fifteen Minutes of Swim Fame with Diana Nyad.

Pictures and Video Clips

To Raise Money for Sandy Relief Tzvee Will Swim With Diana Nyad in Herald Square - Please Help

I'm swimming 8 PM Wednesday night 10/9/2013 at Herald Square in NYC with Diana Nyad to raise money for Sandy relief.

Please make a donation to sponsor our efforts.

See the webcam here.

Diana Nyad wrote -

48 Hour Swim for Hurricane Sandy Recovery via AmeriCares

To mark the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad - fresh off her landmark swim from Cuba to Florida - helps power disaster recovery efforts through a 48-hour test of mental, physical and emotional endurance: the Nyad Swim for Relief. With the strength and support of P&G brands at her side, Diana Nyad swims for 48 continuous hours in the heart of New York City to raise funds for the AmeriCares Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund.

Fundraising Websites - Crowdrise
The Nyad Swim for Relief reflects the emotional and mental strength it takes to overcome adversity and restore a sense of normalcy to lives disrupted by disasters. P&G brands Duracell, Tide and Secret are underwriting all production costs for the Nyad Swim for Relief, maximizing the donated funds that directly support Sandy recovery activities. In the months following Hurricane Sandy, AmeriCares distributed more than $6.4 million in aid to help survivors, including $3.5 million for medicines and relief supplies and $2.9 million in grants to community organizations providing services such as storm clean-up and mental health counseling. And the recovery efforts continue with so many storm survivors still in need of help.

Hurricane Sandy caused approximately $70 billion in damage across the Eastern seaboard, destroying 12,500 homes in New Jersey alone. To-date, in Ocean County, NJ, more than 25,000 residents are still displaced from their homes and in New York FEMA has again extended its deadline for Transitional Sheltering Assistance -- demonstrating the continued need for these recovery efforts.
A 40-yard, two-lane pool is installed in Herald Square for the event, allowing the public to witness Diana’s incredible display of perseverance while learning about AmeriCares important work of rebuilding lives.

How you can help:

Make a donation to AmeriCares Sandy Relief Fund.

Share the word with friends and family about this important event and fundraising effort (social media links are located above) and encourage them to join in.

Cheer on Diana by sending words of encouragement using the hashtag #SwimForRelief. Submissions may be showcased at the pool, shared with media and featured across Nyad Swim for Relief activities.​
- See more 

Is Diana Nyad Jewish?

No, as best as we can determine, endurance swimmer Diana Nyad is not a Jew and does not practice any religion. She professes to be an atheist. Diana discussed her atheism with Oprah (10/2013), "Oprah tells atheist swimmer Diana Nyad that atheists don’t believe in ‘awe’ and ‘wonder’".

She is one tough and determined woman. And she is an inspiration to us all to persevere. Even after having to abandon her goal to swim in open waters 103 miles from Cuba to Key West Florida several times, first more than thirty years ago, she returned to the water to try again. Her blog is here.

She finally did it 9/2/2013! "Diana Nyad completes Cuba-Florida swim." We identify so strongly with Dina Nyad because we swim over 400 miles a year. True, we don't swim 103 mile open water courses from Cuba to Florida all at once. We swim in a pool, one mile and a half a day. It took us all summer to swim 103 miles (and we did that! including one harrowing mile in the Hudson River!)

Diana claimed at age 62 to be in the best shape of her life. What an inspiration. And we mean this personally. Diana set a goal years ago and could not reach it. She tried again in 2011 and 2012 and had to stop. But that did not deter her from her determination to try once again.

She did it in 2013 at age 64 and the message she sends to us is loud and clear and utterly simple. If you have a goal that is worthy, keep at it. There is no shame in failure. Get up. Try to meet your challenge again.

God bless you Diana for your example of grit and determination. Godspeed to you. Swim on.

(Hat tip to Yitz who found out about the swim in Israel.)

Caroline Kennedy: the Daring Swimmer

The Times profiled Caroline Kennedy on the occasion of her nomination as ambassador to Japan, "Caroline Kennedy, Catching the Torch".

In the article we read about a surprising facet of her life. She is an avid open water swimmer.

...A few years ago, Mr. Hughes made an offhand comment that he and his partner, Dr. Richard Friedman, a psychiatrist who directs the psychopharmacology clinic at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital, made a ritual of competing in Swim for Life, a 1.25-mile event in Provincetown, Mass, that raises money for AIDS and women's health charities. "She said, 'Oh, I'd really like to do that,' " Mr. Hughes said.

And so, Ms. Kennedy did. "She just showed up and changed in a gas station and came out and did the race," Mr. Hughes said. "It was pretty choppy, and she did a terrific job. I'm happy to say I beat her. But just barely."

Last year, Mrs. Kennedy and her daughters Tatiana and Rose joined Mr. Hughes and Mr. Friedman in Turkey for another swim, this time a 3 1/2-mile race across the Hellespont, which takes entrants from Europe to Asia.  "Lord Byron went in with a disabled leg and came in with a much faster time than we did," Mr. Hughes said. "But it was extraordinary. It was one of the most terrifying things I've ever done."

Times: Lap Swimming in the NYC Outdoor Public Pools

From The New York Times: "The Water's Fine, and So Is the Competition - Lasker Pool is part of the city's Lap Swim program, where outdoor swimmers can compete."

...It’s no secret that New York has outdoor public pools that are open throughout the five boroughs in July and August. What you generally find are parents and young children, and teenagers horsing around. Lesser known is the Lap Swim program, open from 7 to 8:30, a.m. and p.m. for Early Bird and Night Owl sessions. It’s a quiet, orderly affair, where adults swim laps in roped-off lanes in otherwise empty pools...

Dear Rabbi Swims in Hudson River on a Triathlon Relay Team

It happened on Sunday, July 14! We did it!

And believe me - it was tough!

Update: Yitz's dad (that's me) swam 1500 meters in the Hudson as part of a relay for Team One with teammates Harvey (bike) and Leiba (run).

Yitz completed all three legs of the tri in excellent time.

Yitzhak Zahavy's Team One Family Fundraising Triathlon Event. Help Celebrate Three Lives with Three Sports.

Yitz Tells What Happened
On October 27, 2002 my platoon in the IDF was attacked by a hamas suicide bomber outside the city of Ariel. Three soldiers, Amihud Hasid, Tamir Masad and Matan Zagron, where killed saving my life and the lives of my fellow soldiers. The One Family Fund is helping their families cope with the difficulties of life without their loved ones.

Amazing Shanghai glass bottom swimming pool in the sky

Rooftop pools are nothing new. But now CNN reports on a 24th floor pool that juts out and has a glass bottom. Quite awesome and breathtaking. Makes us want to take another trip to Shanghai.

CNN also reports on the worlds 15 most spectacular swimming pools.

Now that the weather has moderated, we continue on our incredible summertime 100-laps-a-day-program.

Israeli swimmer Yakov Toumarkin finished seventh in the final in the 200 meter backstroke

Israeli swimmer Yakov Toumarkin advanced to the final in the 200 meter backstroke in the London Olympics.

He finished seventh. We are proud of this achievement.