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The Jewish Sport Report: Why this sport is all the rage at Jewish summer camp
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Hello! Tuesday is the MLB trade deadline, so the next few days will be like Hanukkah for people who love trade rumors and tweets with “BREAKING” in all caps.
Here’s a quick and nonexhaustive cheat-sheet on the important Jewish characters to keep an eye on:
Several of the teams expected to be active have Jewish executives: Jed Hoyer (Chicago Cubs), Chaim Bloom (Boston Red Sox), Steve Cohen (New York Mets), Sam Fuld (Philadelphia Phillies), Andrew Friedman (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Eve Rosenbaum (Baltimore Orioles).
Many of the top baseball reporters chronicling all the drama are also Jewish. Give a follow to ESPN’s Jeff Passan (to whom we wish a speedy recovery from his frightening back injury), The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, to name a few.
The pickleball fever has spread to Jewish summer camps and sports tournaments
Pickleball has exploded in popularity at Jewish summer camps. (Courtesy of Camp Avoda; design by Mollie Suss)
Pickleball is the United States’ fastest-growing sport, and the Jewish world has come along for the noisy ride.
The popular racket sport will be played for the first time at the Pan American Maccabi Games in Buenos Aires this December. Maccabi USA’s Shane Carr said he got “tired of saying no” to the many requests that have poured in over recent years.
Pickleball has also taken off at Jewish camps across the country.
At Camp Avoda, a Jewish sports camp about 50 miles south of Boston, director Ronni Guttin estimated that about 40 of the camp’s 140 campers are playing pickleball. At Camp Bauercrest, A Jewish sports camp 40 miles north of Boston, they added more courts for this summer. And at Camp Ramah in California, it’s become “the sport of the summer,” according to program director Molly Auerbach.
Click here for more on the Jewish pickleball craze.
Halftime report
ON TOP OF THE WORLD. Jewish fencer Eli Dershwitz became the first American man to win an individual sabre world championship this week in Milan, Italy. Dershwitz is a two-time Olympian and a Maccabiah gold medalist.
MEANT TO BE. New Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris opened up about the experience of buying his hometown NFL team this week, saying the opportunity was “bashert.” He also called himself a “man of faith.”
PAC-ING THEIR BAGS. UCLA and USC recently announced they would leave the Pac-12 Conference to join the Big Ten next year. As the Jewish Journal points out, that means the two LA schools will join the athletic conference representing the largest population of Jewish students, with more than 58,000 in total.
CRUSHING IT. Team Israel alum Spencer Horwitz was named International League Player of the Week after he slashed .536 with three home runs and nine runs batted in. Horwitz appeared in three games for the Toronto Blue Jays last month before being sent back down to Triple-A.
HISTORIC. A new exhibition at Vienna’s Jewish museum spotlights the history of the city’s Jewish football clubs. Austria Vienna, one of the country’s oldest football clubs, was once called “Judenklub,” or “Jewish club,” because of its rich Jewish connections.
HE’S GOING PLACES. Pitcher Harrison Cohen, who signed with the New York Yankees as an undrafted free agent last year, is making a name for himself in the minor leagues. In his first 20 relief appearances this season in High-A, Cohen is 2-1 with a 2.81 earned run average.
THE FALL OF THE ‘ROMAN EMPIRE.’ Early on in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Jewish oligarch Roman Abramovich was in the spotlight, as countries placed sanctions on him and he sold his Premier League club Chelsea. The Athletic takes a deep dive on what the billionaire has been up to since.
Jews in sports to watch this weekend
IN BASKETBALL…
Abby Meyers is back with the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. They’re in action tonight at 8 p.m. ET against the Dallas Wings — the team that originally drafted Meyers — and Sunday at 3 p.m. ET against the Atlanta Dream.
IN BASEBALL…
Dean Kremer, who has reached double-digit wins for the first time in his career, takes the mound for the Baltimore Orioles against Harrison Bader and the New York Yankees Sunday at 7:10 p.m. ET. Rookie Zack Gelof and the Oakland A’s face Jake Bird and the Colorado Rockies this weekend, while Joc Pederson and the San Francisco Giants host Richard Bleier and the Boston Red Sox. Gelof has three steals and four doubles in his first 11 games in the big leagues.
IN SOCCER…
Steve Birnbaum, a defender and the captain of D.C. United, leads his team against the Mexican Liga MX Club Universidad Nacional, or UNAM, Saturday at 9 p.m. ET. It’s part of the joint Leagues Cup involving the MLS and La Liga. Daniel Edelman and the NY Red Bulls play the Mexican club Atlético San Luis Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
IN GOLF…
David Lipsky is in Minnesota this weekend for the 3M Open. Max Homa and Ben Silverman are off this weekend, but both are coming off impressive tournaments last week: Homa finished 10th at Open Championship, his first career top-10 finish in a major tournament, and Silverman tied for second place at the Price Cutter Charity Championship in Missouri.
IN RACING…
Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll picked up another point with his 10th-place finish at last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix. The Belgian Grand Prix is Sunday at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN.
Jews down under
After getting a visit from Jewish second gentleman Doug Emhoff, the U.S. Women’s National Team was joined by Jewish Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week in New Zealand. The U.S. team has one win and one draw so far in the World Cup.
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The post The Jewish Sport Report: Why this sport is all the rage at Jewish summer camp appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.