Between Saturday's Kentucky Derby, Sunday's Star Wars Day, and today's Cinco de Mayo celebrations, Americans will co-opt any event to give themselves an excuse to dress up and get twisted.
Because we're Americans and we're awesome, we wear fake mustaches and rip tequila shots for Cinco de Mayo thinking it's Mexican Independence Day (a holiday the Mexicans actually celebrate in September). The nation that does celebrate its freedom on May 5th is actually Israel. The Helmsley Trust did its part in raising the awareness of Israeli Independence by taking out two-page ads in both USA Today and the New York Times by publishing Israel’s Declaration of Independence.
It would be a shame if most Americans missed out on May 5th's true significance. Fret not gentle readers, I’ll take this moment to celebrate Israeli Independence in this here Editor's Blog with some photos of Israeli swim smoke Bar Refeali frolicking in Israel.
Perhaps next year someone can print the Israeli Declaration of Independence on Bar.
Who's a better representative for Israel in America than the first Israeli SI Swim smoke? You can make a persuasive argument for Natalie Portman, but I'll just stick with Bar.
Perhaps if bira shechora was on special for Happy Hour celebrating Israel's birthday, it'd get more run in the States. Israeli beer can't be much worse than Coronas without the lime.
For as much fun it is to celebrate Israel by celebrating Bar, Bar herself caught some flack over the weekend for honoring her country by the same anti-Semitic crew who got their knickers in a twist over Scarlett Johansson selling SodaStreams.
Different strokes, haters, but I think Bar's serving her country just fine.
Happy Birthday, Israel!