Let’s cut right to the chase, like a group of athletic men running after one another, risking permanent brain damage— last night’s sports-ball game (Piggers are gonna go all the way this year!) had undeniably Jewish moments or elements. Enough for a (relatively) unforced list of five:

1. Obviously, Julian Edelman: the wide receiver for the Patriots (who won last night) is on the official list of the greatest Jewish football players of all time. It was kind of a kick (pun most definitely not intended— does he even kick the ball?) hearing announcers keep saying a name that you would expect in your summer camp roll call.
2. Both team owners: Robert Kraft has been a bit of an embarrassment this year; the well-known Jewish philanthropist has also been a Trump supporter; it was a factor in the controversy of the Patriots playing (and winning) last night. But Arthur Blank, the owner of the Falcons, is a Member of the Tribe as well; he grew up in an observant family in Queens. He’s also a Democrat, so maybe the owners’ conflicting politics counter the uncomfortable risk of it seeming like Jews are secretly running the NFL.
3. The commercials— If you kept your eyes open, you could spot both men in kippot and a mezuzah in two different ads (Coke and Google, respectively). Plus, Gal Gadot (soon to be Wonder Woman) kicked ass in an ad for Wix.com (well, you’ve heard of it now).
4. Lady Gaga— OK, she’s not Jewish, she’s Italian-American Catholic. But she certainly brought “New York values” to the halftime show (Woody Guthrie + and LGBT anthem in Texas = New York infiltration, my friends).
5. It was Super bowl LI— This means Roman numeral 51, but I have at least one friend whose mother thought it meant “Super Bowl Long Island.”Once again guys, it was in Texas.

I’m looking forward to next year, when Barbra Streisand can do the halftime show, the ads will be for Kars 4 Kids, and Sandy Koufax will somehow be a player, despite his age and the fact that he’s retired from a different sport.

Image via Wikimedia

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Katy Perry’s yarmulke-inspired dress* (the “bramulke,” if you will) won the Super Bowl last night, obliterating all other competitors—including Perry herself, who put on a pretty good show.

But Idina Menzel (AKA Adele Dazeem) was a close second with her stunning rendition of the national anthem, which had just the right amount of theatrical trilling and drama. Love how she punches the air at the end! She knows she’s nailed it. Take that, Alicia!

http://youtu.be/_OM56DiHGUo

Comedian Billy Eichner received an honorable mention for a series of perfectly executed tweets:

At the end of the game they will announce who gets Israel

— billy eichner (@billyeichner) February 2, 2015

What if this whole game is just someone’s bar mitzvah party — billy eichner (@billyeichner) February 2, 2015

My wife and I LOVED that Scientology ad.

— billy eichner (@billyeichner) February 2, 2015

And apparently a bunch of dudes played a football game? I have no idea what the outcome was; sorry. I’m Australian.

This concludes your coverage of Super Bowl XLIX—and your sports news for 2015. See you next year!

(Main image: Timothy A. Clary/Getty)

* Editor’s note: You guys, for real, we know it’s beachball-inspired.

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When actress Scarlett Johansson signed on as spokesperson for the Israeli company SodaStream in January, a P.R. battle of epic proportions erupted. Supporters of BDS pressured her to step down because the company has a factory in the West Bank, and Israel advocates urged her to stay on, citing the company’s favorable standing with its Palestinian employees and commitment to “doing the right thing and helping people.”

The upshot: Johansson stuck by SodaStream and ended her eight-year relationship with the charity Oxfam, which opposes trade from Israeli settlements.

Now the actress has spoken out in support of SodaStream, highlighting their environmental credentials and assiduously steering clear of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

“I’m not an expert on the history of this conflict, and I’ve never professed to be. But it is a company that I believe in, that I think has the ability to make a huge difference, environmentally. [SodaStream’s CEO] Daniel Birnbaum has said many times that this factory is one he inherited, and that he doesn’t want to fire people – the majority of those people being Palestinian.”

Johansson has been quietly but firmly reiterating this stance since the controversy first erupted in January, but this is her most lengthy statement yet. In the lead-up to her appearance in SodaStream’s Super Bowl commercial, she told the Huffington Post that the company was “building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine.” And in an interview with Dazed Magazine in February, she alluded to her discomfort with her default position a “role model,” saying she “never wanted to step into those shoes.”

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Scarlett Johansson’s controversial SodaStream ad made its official debut, and—politics aside—it was kind of… uninspiring. Here’s the uncensored version with a shout-out to Coke and Pepsi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxq4ziu-wrI

The hotly anticipated Seinfeld reunion turned out to be an ad for Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Others thought it was meh; I thought it was kind of cute. (The subversive master-bathroom sneak is a particular pleasure of mine. (TMI?))

The main takeaway here? Seinfeld is rich beyond compare if he can afford a Super Bowl ad slot. (But I guess we already knew that.) Also, Wayne Knight and Jason Alexander look exactly like they did in 1998, minus a bit of hair. What is their fountain of youth?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhmpTxLhqzU

The Coke ad was culturally diverse and surprisingly lovely, and featured two guys wearing kippot (at 0:34). It goes without saying, but don’t read the (racist) comments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8iM73E6JP8

Our favorite? The trailer for Noah, which looks awesome and thrilling and a little bit ridiculous and unlike anything we learned in Hebrew school:

The post Scarlett Johansson’s Super Bowl SodaStream Debut Is Official appeared first on Jewcy.

All hail Jesse Heiman. The Jewish actor plays nerdy computer guy Walter and makes out with Jewcy mascot Bar Refaeli, loudly and sloppily, in the new GoDaddy Super Bowl ad.

This isn’t Refaeli’s first foray into acting—she plays a Mossad agent in the upcoming film Kidon, and showed off her sense of humor (among other things) in the sex tape kickstarter campaign she filmed for Funny or Die. Refaeli doesn’t have any lines in the new ad, but she definitely gets her point across.

She even posted a picture of the moment before her epic smooch on Instagram—though we’re not sure during which of the 45 (45!) takes it was snapped.

What do you think of the commercial? Funny or tasteless?

Previously: Bar Refaeli Wants To Have Sex With You On Camera

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