WHEN RABBIS FLY

Dr. Eli Landau has written "The White Book." It is a pork cookbook. Landau is an Israeli Jew.

Pork is not kosher. It's not even legal in some parts of Israel. You can't raise pigs in Israel, except for scientific purposes. But you can then eat them after you study them. Sort of like the Japanese and whaling.

Israeli butchers have had their shops burned down for selling pork. That's what's known as Israeli barbecue.

To order pork in a restaurant, you have to ask for "the white steak."

Reviews for "The White Book" are rolling in. Here are a couple.

• Rabbi Shimon Felix: "There's something childish to being so naughty. It's more mature and adult to look at this as an ancient tradition."
• Rabbi Yuval Cherlow: I'm very disappointed by this book. I'm very sorry and it hurts me."

Yes, but it tastes so good.

The book, published in Tel Aviv, has sold about 2,000 copies, not bad in a country of 7.6 million. Why so much acceptance? Rabbi Felix says, "It's perceived as being from Tel Aviv, and what goes on in Tel Aviv, nobody cares."

Sort of like Americans and Las Vegas.

(NYT)