This is one of my favorite scenes from the classic 1980 movie “Airplane” (and a I have a lot of favorite scenes): Elaine Dickinson: Would you like something to read?Hanging Lady: Do you have anything light?Elaine Dickinson: How about this leaflet, “Famous Jewish Sports Legends?” Okay, so maybe there aren’t many Jewish sports legends, but…
Jacob Wertheimer becoming a bar mitzvah this past April at Philly’s Congregation Rodeph Shalom synagogue doesn’t sound like a newsworthy story. It does make news when the proud grandfather is The Champ. Muhammad Ali’s grandson Jacob Wertheimer was called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah at a small service of only about 150 people….
I couldn’t resist making this movie spoof poster with Mel Gibson and Delmon Young: Mel Gibson’s name was brought up repeatedly after the news broke about the Detroit Tigers’ outfielder Delmon Young getting arrested in Manhattan for second-degree aggravated harassment and uttering an anti-Semitic slur while he was intoxicated. Young has been given a 7-game…
I already had a blog post planned for today. I was going to write an open letter to David Stern, the commissioner of the National Basketball League (NBA) in which I was going to publicly criticize him for allowing the NBA to only give Ron Artest (er, sorry Metta World Peace) a slap on the…
For some reason NASCAR racing has never been a popular sport for the Jewish people. While kosher food and minyans (prayer groups) are common at many baseball, football and basketball games around the country, one would be hard pressed to locate the same at a NASCAR race. I think this has more to do with the…
Tamir Goodman, known as “The Jewish Jordan,” made national headlines in the late 1990s when he decided not to play for the University of Maryland because they wouldn’t adjust their schedule to meet his Sabbath observance. Sports Illustrated even reported on Tamir’s decision to play for Towson State in 1999. However, a few years later…
As a rabbi blogger who writes about sports, I’m always interested in the values that can be learned from watching sports. There are many situations in which the players, coaches, management or fans will do something that leads us to discuss how the situation was values driven. In Detroit, there are three situations that occurred…
This past Friday evening I sat with my family at Adat Shalom Synagogue as we watched a performance by Storahtelling, which is known for its innovative and arts-focused take on the Torah. The Storahtelling performers interpret the themes from the Torah in new ways, acting out a theatrical midrash. In “Like a Prayer,” Storahtelling veterans…
When Hank Greenberg walked down the long aisle of Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Detroit on September 20, 1934 on Yom Kippur, he received a standing ovation. That day, the Detroit Tigers faced the New York Yankees in a key game late in the season. Despite the pennant race, Greenberg sat out the game and went…
Ryan Braun, known as the “Hebrew Hammer”, is having a remarkable year. The Milwaukee Brewers’ All-Star left fielder, who was the National League’s Rookie of the Year in 2007, has 25 home runs so far this season. He’s also on his way to becoming one of the best Jewish players Major League Baseball has ever…