The First Temple was built by King Solomon and was the most important place in ancient Judaism. It was destroyed when the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. - a tragedy that is commemorated every year on Tisha B'Av, which took place earlier this month.

Now a Brazilian Pentecostal church named The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God is rebuilding Solomon's Temple in Sao Paulo. "We are preparing ourselves to build the temple, in the same mold as Solomon's," said Bishop Edir Macedo, the church's founder.

The 10,000 seat building will be designed by Brazilian architect Rogerio Silva de Araujo and will be made of imported Jerusalem stone, which was used to construct the original Temple. It will also house a replica of the Ark of the Covenant, 36 bible schools and spaces for radio and television shows.

Bishop Macedo posted a promotional video about the project on his blog, which can be seen by clicking here.

Solomon's Temple To Be Rebuilt... in Sao Paulo [Forward]
Solomon's Temple in Brazil would put Christ the Redeemer in the shade [Guardian]
Rebuilding Solomon's Temple, in São Paulo [NYT]

On Monday the Jerusalem District Court sentenced 30-year-old Sabar Kashour to 18-months in prison after he told a Jewish woman that he too was Jewish before they had consensual sex. When it was later revealed that Kashour was a married Arab man the woman called the police. The case ended up in court where Kashour was convicted of rape and ordered to pay NIS 10,000 (about $2,800) to the woman as compensation.

Judge Tzvi Segal said that the situation was not a case of  "classical rape by force," but added that if the woman "hadn't thought the accused was a Jewish bachelor interested in a serious romantic relationship, she would not have cooperated."

Kashour's sentence has prompted some to ask: Since when has consensual sex by deceit been rape? "If any married man who has ever lied in order to get sex would be charged with rape, there would be no room in our prisons," wrote Sima Kadmon, who later added, "What if someone... told a woman that he is a wealthy single man, while he was in fact poor and married? Would he too be convicted of rape?"

Gideon Levy, a liberal Israeli commentator, has also taken issue with the verdict, saying: "I would like to raise only one question with the judge. What if this guy had been a Jew who pretended to be a Muslim and had sex with a Muslim woman?"

What do you think about this case?

And if he were Jewish? [Ynet]
Arab guilty of rape after consensual sex with Jew [Gaurdian]

The town of Dothan, Alabama is offering Jewish families $50,000 to move to the town in an effort to revive a once thriving Jewish community.

"Dothan was just like so many small towns in the South that had thriving Jewish communities in the 1800s and the 1900s," said Rob Goldsmith, who runs the Family Relocation Project, but since then the Jewish population has withered and synagogue members are mostly elderly.

Enter Larry Blumberg, a Dothan native who runs more than 60 hotels. He suggested the town convince 20 young families to move to the Alabama town, offering 1 million dollars in incentive funds that would equal $50,000 per family.

"It's a pretty interesting idea," says Dr. Stuart Rockoff, head of the history department at the Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson, Miss. "Dothan is a pretty small community, and if they are even able to attract a handful of Jewish families it is going to have a transformative effect on the congregation."

So far Goldsmith has met with seven families. Three of them have moved to Alabama and three out of the other four are seriously interested in transplating their lives to Dothan.

Any other takers?

$50,000 offered to Jewish families to move to Alabama town [National Post]

According to a recent article on the Huffington Post, "a huge outdoor art poster that blends Mickey Mouse's image with that of a swastika and a nude woman's body is causing a stir in Poland." The poster is artist Max Papeschi's interpretation of the "'horrors' of the American lifestyle" and is displayed near a synagogue as part of an art exhibit opening in the fall. Although the piece has angered many and even been vandalized twice, lawmakers have decided that the poster - titled "NaziSexyMouse" - does not violate Poland's laws against glorifying the Nazi party.

Mickey Mouse With Nazi Symbol Causes Anger In Poland [Huffington Post]