Bethany, in the Bible, was the name of a village near Jerusalem - see Bethany (Biblical village) - mentioned in the New Testament as the home of the siblings Mary, Martha, and Lazarus and, according to the Gospel of John, the site of a miracle in which Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. This village is commonly identified with the present-day West Bank city of al-Eizariya, located about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Jerusalem on the south-western slope of the Mount of Olives. During the Crusades, al-Eizariya was still referred to as Bethany by Christians.

The Raising of Lazarus episode, shortly before Jesus enters Jerusalem for the last time, takes place in Bethany. Bethany near the River Jordan in John 1:28 refers to the town Bethany, further north in Perea, i.e. Bethabara.

Bethany is very cold and the temperatures can drop below zero but in the summer can get to a whopping 95 degrees.^{[citation needed]} Many places are named for the biblical village of Bethany. Bethany is also used as a female given name. It is of Aramaic origin.^{[citation needed]}

Jessica Marie Alba (born April 28, 1981) is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994). Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel (2000–2002). Alba later appeared in various films including Honey (2003), Sin City (2005), Fantastic Four (2005), Into the Blue (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Good Luck Chuck both in 2007.

Alba has been called a sex symbol. She appears on the "Hot 100" section of Maxim and was voted number one on AskMen.com's list of "99 Most Desirable Women" in 2006, as well as "Sexiest Woman in the World" by FHM in 2007. The use of her image on the cover of the March 2006 Playboy sparked a lawsuit by her, which was later dropped. She has also won various awards for her acting, including the Choice Actress Teen Choice Award and Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television, and a Golden Globe nomination for her lead role in the television series Dark Angel.