When Israeli athletes arrive for the start of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing this week, their home in the Olympic Village will be graced by a mezuzah on its doorpost.

A delegation of VIPs attended the ceremony, where Rabbi Shimon Freundlich, co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Beijing, helped affix the traditional case that holds a biblically-mandates scroll containing verses from the Torah.

At the ceremony, which counted Israeli Ambassador Amos Nadai, and Olympic Committee of Israel officials Zvi Varshaviak and Efraim Zinger as guests, Freundlich blessed the arriving 43 athletes with health and peace.

In related news, visiting Israeli President Shimon Peres is expected to attend the reading of the Book of Lamentations with Freundlich Saturday night as part of the observance of Tisha B’Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the Holy Temples in Jerusalem. …