“I have no problem with this,” I admitted with ‘tude as I stared down into my Cobb salad.

It was day two of Passover, and, having stopped for lunch at a neighborhood eatery, I had opted for the salad (hold the bread on the side, please) instead of the usual K-for-P-violating sandwich.

Now, there I sat.  With bacon on my fork.

As many times as I’ve had to explain to my non-Jewish friends that kosher for Passover doesn’t mean kosher, they still don’t seem to get it.  Luckily, I have most of the Jewcy staff to back me up on this one.

I am about to let you in on a little secret that is shocking, but true.  Jewcy people love bacon.  So, so much. 

I’d estimate that a whopping 10% of my own posts have had something to do with bacon, but aside from that, you have no idea how much time I have spent skyping with fellow Jewcers about the treif delight.  I don’t know how it got started, but, long ago, in a time before Swine Flu, every time something bacon related showed up in a Jewcer’s Google reader, the rest of the staff knew about it within approximately 30 seconds.

And let me tell you, we have discovered some amazing things.  Some of them have made it on to the site.  But there is also a whole reserve of products that has thus far gone unmentioned, and that continue to be unearthed.

Take, for instance, two weeks ago, when Lilit took it upon herself to post a story about bacon-flavored lube on my Facebook wall.  Or that time before our winter holiday party, when we found ourselves sort of bummed out about our incredible deal with Embittermints upon our discovery of bacon-flavored mints.  At one point, Todd and I stumbled upon a purely bacon-themed news site to keep ourselves in the bacon-themed loop (this site also happens to have apparel that rivals the sexiness of the Jewcy thong.)  We’ve found gummy bacon, gourmet bacon cocktails, even bacon dental floss. (it exists, you guys.  I saw it at Ricky’s.)

A limit was reached recently when Lilit discovered Meatpaper, a magazine specifically designed for the carnivore. Get this: it recently ran a “Pig Issue” which included an article that suggested that bacon can cure a rare disease called furuncular myiasis.  Hear that world?  Bacon. Can. Cure. You.  Cure! You!

Screw the what-if-I-have-to-get-a-pig’s-heart-valve-implanted-in-my-chest debate, this is taking it to the next level.  Then again, not many people have problems with invasive fly larvae.  But still.

So what is it about bacon, specifically?  As a culture, we seem to be obsessed.  The truth is, bacon represents a perfect extreme: a completely gratuitous and delicious rebellion from a defining tenet of Judaism.  Bacon is hillarious in its offensiveness.  And it just tastes so good.

Even my own family, which does not keep kosher, but won’t keep pork products in the house out of some sort of hereditary guilt will make an exception for bacon and a very scarce selection of pig-based foods.  I have a vivid memory of my dad holding up a fried pork dumpling in his chopsticks and saying, “Well, if this is going to send me to hell, then I’d say it’s worth it.” 

The truth is, bacon is irresistible.   In the “so wrong, it’s right” kind of way.

So the next time you need a mildly offensive gag gift for your Jewish friend, or need additional ways of incorporating bacon into your life, just ask a Jewcer.  They’ll have you violating biblical codes in no time, and they’ll do it with a smile.

The post Exposed: The Jewcy Bacon Fetish appeared first on Jewcy.

This week, we were challenged by the good folks over at P4CM.com, otherwise known as the Passion for (4?) Christ Movement, who have launched what they are calling the "Ex-Shirt" campaign, featuring solid colored shirts with bold text written across the front announcing what you quit doing for Christ’s sake.

Now, I’m willing to admit that the Ex-Hustler and the Ex-Diva are a little bit cool. I’m even willing to ignore how much the Ex-Homosexual shirt makes me want to vom. But who, for the love of God, would want to wear this shirt?:

Well, those kids, I guess. It’s not for the faint of heart though. As the Ex-Masturbator introductory video tells us:

We want you to rock it. You gotta have confidence though ’cause cats are gonna be clowning you. We already talked about, you know, you walk into the 7-11 and people are gonna be joking and snickering, and you almost want to direct it to those people and tell them you know, you all laughing probably because y’all still masturbating!

Yes, that’s definitely why they’re laughing. Well, to each his own.

P.S. Someone needs to gently explain to the girl in that video that, in this context, the word "bondage" doesn’t mean what she thinks it means.

The post Former Masturbators Get T-Shirt, Jesus as Consolation Prize appeared first on Jewcy.

Anyway, luckily for the misinformed and the confused, the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs has produced a rap, or "wrap," if you will, about tefillin — complete with a catchy chorus, hot midwestern accents, and even (spoiler!) a sentimental reprise at the end.  It’s fun and educational, and here it is:

The post Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs Takes Tefillin 2 Da Streets appeared first on Jewcy.

The post Jewcy Holiday Party appeared first on Jewcy.

• In: Semi-ironic Hannukah-themed graphic tees. Urban Outfitters has taken its trendiness to a new level by marketing not one, but two (TWO!) Hannukah-inspired t-shirts. Then again, they are also single handedly trying to bring back the black mesh bodysuit, so we’ll see how far this goes.

• Out: Celebrity-designed vegan footwear. Back in February, we let y’all know about Natalie Portman’s line of cruelty-free, no-animals-included shoes. Now, less than one year later, we have to let you know that all that vegan accesorizing is over. According to E! Online, it isn’t any fault of Natalie’s, or of her brand, but rather the folding of its parent company, Té Casan. Damn you, economic crisis!

• In: Bacon-flavored makeouts. Buzzfeed has found us the perfect holiday item to keep in your purse, or to share with friends. Introducing: bacon mints! The perfect treify breath freshener for popping under your traditional Hannukkah mistletoe.

• In: Walruses with saxophones. Finally, one of the largest of animals are free to embrace the smallest of instruments. Not really Jewish, but we just couldn’t resist!

The post This Week in Jew(ish) Accessories appeared first on Jewcy.

1. The Sims version

2. The one which is just disco lights spinning in circles.

The post Spooky, Scary: Top Five Werewolf Bar Mitzvah Videos appeared first on Jewcy.

Surprisingly, we are not talking about the Like a Prayer video.

As it turns out, once upon a time, before the kind of raunchy, pseudo religious music videos, and before all that Kabbalah stuff, Madonna was merely a dancer with aspirations of breaking into the music biz, and was living in the basement of a synagogue in Queens.

This week, The Daily Beast broke the story of a lost Madonna tape, recorded in said basement, where you can hear Madonna’s first song, and some pillow talk between her and her now ex-boyfriend, Dan Gilroy. You can listen to the tape bellow, with present-tense interjections by her Madgesty about her life, religion, and the Talmud.

The post Lost Madonna Tapes Reveal Time Spent in Synagogue appeared first on Jewcy.

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and Farah? Where did you two grow up? What did you study? What were you guys doing in Rome when you met?

I grew up in Tel Aviv, Israel until I was almost 10 years old. I then moved to Toronto with my family because my mom is Canadian. I began studying Philosophy and English Lit at The University of Toronto and decided to leave when I got accepted into the Communication Design BFA Program at Parsons School of Design.

My father is a Libyan Jew who grew up between Rome and Tripoli so my family has a big connection with Rome. I have been going there twice a year since I was born to visit my family and get connected with Libyan Jewish culture. Farah happened to be living in Rome last year – she was there taking a Goldsmithing course (the only one in the world that resuscitates ancient Roman and Etruscan techniques.) We met outside the Tempio Maggiore where my family decided to carry out my brother’s wedding last summer. This Sephardic Synagogue is one of the most exquisite in Italy.

Farah was born in Surrey, England about 30mins outside London. She lived between England and Pakistan until she was 15, when her family decided to move to Canada. She did her undergrad at McGill coming up around all that Indie music action. She studied Gender and Cultural Studies there. She later lived in Barcelona before going back to London to get a Master’s in Media and Communications at the London School of Economics. After her Masters she moved to NY to work for a Human Rights organization managing multimedia communications campaigns. After she got burnt out trying to "create change" in a horrible political climate she took off to Rome to pursue her more creative dreams.

What is Farah’s and your collaboration process like? How do your stories and ideas turn into scarves?

Farah and I work well together because we represent two different sides of personal style. Farah is more of a vintage/ do it yourself kind of gal when it comes to fashion and I am more on the avant garde, designer label fashion side.

There are two things that drive our process, which is pretty organic. We are usually doing 100 things at once since it is just the two of us handling everything. I usually get an idea in my head of what I would want to see people in, or something that I am lusting over that I have not yet seen anywhere. I then sketch it out for Farah and we start building on that one idea. Following that we pursue production with artisans in a region that has been overlooked. Each country/region that we aim to produce in informs and influences our ideas according to the antique and traditional artisanal trades that particular country/region has to offer. They are often trades that are dying out because of industrialization and competition with factory-based manufacturing. With Farah’s background in International Development and my lineage from a highly philanthropic family, we really have developed first hand knowledge of what beautiful things certain regions have to offer. Once we have come up with that place we start researching the type of handicrafts that one particular region has to offer; or the types of colors and patterns are used within that county’s aesthetic culture. Once we do our research we make boards to inspire us and start thinking of interesting ways to modernize what that country has to offer by injecting the inspiration into that one great accessory.

We both bring design, production and business strengths to our process- it’s really magical how we compliment each other’s strengths and shortcomings. While we are incredibly obsessive about design, research, and development, a lot of design also ends up happening in spontaneous ways once we are on the ground in the actual country.

What kinds of materials do you use at A Peace Treaty? How are the scarves "ethically produced"?

For the current collection we chose to work in Pakistan. We worked with artisanal hand-weavers of lunghi fabric. Lunghis are pieces of tartan and plaid pieces of cloth that are handloomed in vibrant colors. Lunghis are becoming harder and harder to find as the country is becoming more and more industrialized (meaning handlooms are being shut down and replaced with electrical power loom factories.)

These family looms are all over villages in the Punjab and are usually set up with wood handlooms run out of people’s courtyards/verandahs in their houses. Older highly-skilled men usually weave the cloth. Then we bring together collectives of women in villages to work on hand-finishing each scarf with various types of tassels. We also get some of the fabric hand-dip dyed for particular styles.

We’re pretty much getting access to some of the last woven supply of lunghis in Pakistan and actively working towards creating an infrastructure to pump back into the looms and get the trade burgeoning again. By sourcing fine voiles, muslins and some sturdier cottons from small batch producing handlooms we aim to brin
g fabric production back into the hands of the original artisans that formulated the methodology for so much of textile production. So far we have traveled to eight cities, villages and towns in completely distinct regions, to bring together hand-woven textiles from small batch weaving family businesses. Each region has a style of weaving that’s specific to it- and this is evident in the heavier gauge cottons and some finer and lighter weaves that we have presented thus far.

We are also now working between Afghanistan and Pakistan and have designed block printed scarves that embody the art of carpet weaving and present the color combinations and patterns that are traditionally found in these carpets. We used the technique of hand carved- block printing because it is an old world technique that has been overlooked as other more modern printing methods have become commonly and cheaply available. Farah spent time in the workshops of some of Pakistan’s best block-printers and we enlisted one of the best carving workshops in Pakistan to hand-carve our designs.

The work is ethical because we make sure no one is exploited in production- that is why we don’t believe in factories and mass production. We also pay 3-4 times the local wages to the people we employ. These are also people that have been out of work for months or years at a time.

What other kinds of social projects is A Peace Treaty involved in?

We donate a percentage of our proceeds to an international Aid Organization named Counterpart International. Counterpart is a really amazing organization that has done some serious work in many different areas across the globe. Proceeds from our first collection went to bringing medical supplies to Darfur, from the second went to bringing medical supplies to Palestinian children, and the last collection went to the Coral Gardens coral reef reconstruction program (which also employs local communities to rebuild coral reef in the Pacific). We will be partnering with a different organization and cause each year- next up we are looking into an organization that helps build schools for girls in Afghanistan.

What kinds of press has A Peace Treaty been getting?

We have been lucky and very thankful for the press that we have gotten thus far. What really helped us get recognized in the first place was an article written about us in Daily Candy. This article was written two weeks after we launched and it really gave us a great customer and fan base in a short amount of time. Blogs really were our bread and butter when we started and we love the way that blogs reach people in an instant. The first blogs which gave us love were: Worship Worthy, Daily Candy, Hypebeast, Nylon Magazine, JC Report, Heeb Magazine, Refinery 29, Mens.style.com and Teen Vogue. We have also been written up and featured in Magazines such as Instyle, Marie Claire, Fader, Anthem, Complex, Tokion, Time Out NY, Theme, and we will be in Wallpaper and Flaunt next month. We were also just interviewed by New York Magazine for their online The Cut/Tastemakers blog section which we are so grateful for.

What can we expect from A Peace Treaty in the future?

We hope that we can travel and find new places to start sourcing our production from. We want to try to help as many countries/ places in need that have dying methods of artisanal work that we could help re-structure and re-build.

We are looking into developing leather goods within some regions in North Africa and South America. We don’t want to jump into too many things all at once. We believe in projects evolving organically and in a not so forced way. While we will always try to stay ahead of the curve and even start trends in some cases, ultimately we are trying to elevate certain overlooked accessories to a higher status- and that is really more about creating classic goods.

Every year we hope to move our production to another place in need of production. Our first year, we produced everything in Pakistan. We want to give each country enough time to be recognized and enough production to hopefully make money for the next year coming.

The post Must Have: Scarves with Stories from A Peace Treaty appeared first on Jewcy.

• 20 Israeli contracters are being held hostage by a group of Chinese construction workers on the British-owned Caribbean island of Caicos. The dispute reportedly surrounds the abandonment of a resort-building project, and involves more nations and ethnic groups than any other news story ever.

• Guess what: the Obama campaign wants your Jewish vote!

• TIME magazine reviews a book about the "Jesus’s Brother" controversy, involving reliquaries, archaologists, believers and court cases.

• The Swiss banking industry may be shady, but at least that $60 billion supply of Nazi gold will help stabilize the world economy. 

The post Jewcy Zeitgeist: MacDonald’s Removes Transfat, Gayness From its Menu appeared first on Jewcy.

Bruno was spotted last week at Milan’s fashion week attempting to crash the Versace tent, and also somehow managing to infiltrate a runway show by Spanish designer Agatha Ruiz de la Prada. His puzzling, multi-layered ensemble (think bag-lady-meets-Voldemort) were reportedly met by screams of shock and horror, and ended in police intervention. 

See the video:

The post VIDEO: Sacha Baron Cohen Wreaks Havoc at Milan Fashion Week appeared first on Jewcy.