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The MLB has more Jewish players than ever — but none of them will face a Yom Kippur dilemma this year
(JTA) — For Jews and baseball fans, this is one of the most important weekends of the year.
Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day, begins Sunday evening. That day will also kick off the final week of the MLB regular season, when the fight to make the playoffs comes down to the wire.
For some Jewish players, the overlap between these two events brings conflict. In a few famous examples, players have put their faith first. Sandy Koufax is still celebrated for declining to pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur, but he’s not the only one to make that choice. Hank Greenberg, Ken Holtzman and Shawn Green — to name a few — have also sat out on the Jewish High Holidays. On Sept. 26, 2001, Green ended a streak of 415 consecutive games played — the longest active streak at the time — by sitting on Yom Kippur.
This year, the decision was made easy for two of the game’s best Jewish players, Max Fried and Dean Kremer — each of whom has struggled with how to deal with the High Holidays in the past. Fried is scheduled to pitch Thursday night for the Atlanta Braves, while Kremer takes the mound tomorrow for the Baltimore Orioles, meaning neither will be asked to play on Yom Kippur this year.
In 2019, Fried’s Braves faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series, and the decisive Game 5 fell on Yom Kippur. Fried, who grew up in L.A. and idolized Sandy Koufax, was torn about whether he would pitch that night. Since he was not scheduled to start the game, he decided to fast for the holiday. But when the Braves starting pitcher was quickly pulled from the game, Fried was asked to pitch — and so he did, during a win-or-go-home playoff game, on an empty stomach. The Braves lost 13-1, and Fried surrendered four runs — though he did get fellow Jewish player and St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Harrison Bader to line out.
Kremer, who has played for Team Israel and spoken about his proud Jewish identity, has not been faced with that kind of decision yet in his young career, though he has previously said he would not pitch on Yom Kippur.
Eighteen Jewish players appeared in MLB games this season, a likely record. But aside from Fried and Kremer, it’s unclear if any would sit out a game on a High Holiday. MLB.com reporter Jonathan Mayo, who himself is Jewish and produced the 2018 “Heading Home” documentary about Team Israel, said he thinks players sitting is “an exception, and far from the rule.” He guessed most, if not all, Jewish players would play on the holiday if faced with the decision. (Not all 18 are currently in the big leagues.)
As it turns out, because most teams play afternoon games on Sundays, only one Jewish player, San Francisco Giants outfielder and Team Israel alum Joc Pederson, is scheduled to play this year during Kol Nidre — the service, starting on Yom Kippur just before sundown, in which many Jews take part.
The Giants, who are managed by another Team Israel alum, Gabe Kapler, play the Los Angeles Dodgers at 4:10 p.m. PT. Sunset in L.A. on Sunday is 6:47 p.m., meaning Jews across the city will be taking their seats in synagogue as the game winds down. Pederson has played on Yom Kippur in the past.
Monday, a common off-day for MLB teams, only features four games, all of which begin around 6:40 p.m. or 7:40 p.m. local time.
The topic of Jewish players choosing whether or not to sit on Yom Kippur has intrigued Jewish fans and writers for years. In 2020, Howard Wasserman published an extensive study on the so-called “Koufax Curse,” seeking to determine once and for all whether Jewish players who do play on the holiday perform worse, possibly because they didn’t follow Koufax’s lead.
Wasserman’s conclusion: yes and no. He found that Jewish players who play on Yom Kippur do not necessarily play worse — in fact, some, like Alex Bregman, seem to perform especially well on the holiday — while teams with Jewish players do see a drop in results.
“Perhaps the solution is that no one should play on Yom Kippur, at least not teams with Jewish players…. Jews can recommit to their faith. And everyone can be ready to play the following day,” Wasserman wrote. “I make both suggestions with tongue in cheek, of course. MLB should not stop playing on Yom Kippur, nor should it urge Jewish players not to play. But these numbers might relieve Jewish players of the belief … that they lack the leverage to request the day off.”
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The post The MLB has more Jewish players than ever — but none of them will face a Yom Kippur dilemma this year appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.