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The Jewish Sport Report: How the MLB’s Jewish players will handle Yom Kippur this year
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Hello, Jewish sports fans!
What’s your most prized sports possession? For one fan, it’s this insanely cool ticket from Game 1 of the 1965 World Series, signed by none other than Sandy Koufax, who famously did not pitch in that game. More on that below.
The Yom Kippur game, signed by Koufax for my mom at the National 25 years ago. pic.twitter.com/e1ss6a4vqD
— DR (@davidwrubin) February 5, 2023
Do you have any rare or special Jewish sports keepsakes? Reply to this email or drop us a line at sports@jta.org to show them off!
The MLB has more Jewish players than ever — but none of them will face a Yom Kippur dilemma this year
Dean Kremer, left, and Max Fried, right, are among the best Jewish players in the MLB. (Getty Images)
If you’re reading this newsletter, chances are you’re familiar with the Sandy Koufax Yom Kippur story — that time the best pitcher in baseball sat out a World Series game that fell on Judaism’s most important holiday.
But Koufax is far from the only Jewish MLB player to have made that choice. Hank Greenberg and Shawn Green have done it, too, plus several others. (Green even sacrificed an impressive streak to sit for the High Holidays).
This Yom Kippur, two of baseball’s best Jewish players — Max Fried and Dean Kremer, each of whom have wrestled with this issue in the past — lucked out: Fried pitched last night, and Kremer toes the rubber tonight.
Click here for more on how the MLB’s Jewish players are navigating the holiday this year.
Halftime report
THIS ONE’S FOR YOU. Chelsea Football Club has announced the creation of a Jewish fan group, becoming the second Premier League Team to do so this year, following Arsenal. Chelsea has long been active in efforts to combat antisemitism, especially under former owner Roman Abramovich.
YEEZY MAKING ME WHEEZY. Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden defended former collaborator Kanye West, who the sportswear giant dropped last year amid the fallout from West’s antisemitic tirades. “I don’t think he meant what he said and I don’t think he’s a bad person,” Gulden said. “He just came across that way. And that meant we lost that business, one of the most successful collabs in the history. Very sad.”
NEW BOSS IN MOTOWN. The Detroit Tigers hired Jeff Greenberg as their new general manager. Greenberg has years of experience as an executive with the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Blackhawks and is the son of former Texas Rangers owner Chuck Greenberg.
VOTE EARLY AND OFTEN. “The Franchise: Jews, Sports, and America,” the excellent podcast from Tablet Studios and friend of the Sport Report Meredith Shiner, is a finalist for the Signal Awards’ best limited series in the sports documentary category. Check out the pod here and vote for it here.
Jews in sports to watch this weekend
IN BASEBALL…
Dean Kremer takes the mound for his Baltimore Orioles as they face Eli Morgan and the Cleveland Guardians tonight at 7:10 p.m. ET. Team Israel is in Prague for the European Baseball Championship, where they face Switzerland Sunday at 5 a.m. ET and Germany Monday at 2 p.m. ET. Streaming information can be found here.
IN FOOTBALL…
Week 3 of the NFL season is here. Here’s the Jewish schedule:
Sunday at 1 p.m. ET: Greg Joseph and the Minnesota Vikings host the Los Angeles Chargers, A.J. Dillon and the Green Bay Packers face the New Orleans Saints and Michael Dunn and the Cleveland Browns take on the Tennessee Titans.
Sunday at 4 p.m. ET: Jake Curhan and the Seattle Seahawks host the Carolina Panthers — though it is unclear if Curhan will play on Kol Nidre.
IN SOCCER…
In the Premier League, Matt Turner and Nottingham Forest play Manchester City Saturday at 10 a.m. ET, while Manor Solomon and Tottenham play Arsenal Sunday at 9 a.m. ET. Over in the MLS, Daniel Edelman and the New York Red Bulls host Steve Birnbaum and DC United Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
IN GOLF…
Jewish Canadian golfer Ben Silverman is at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship at Ohio State University this weekend — sorry, THE Ohio State University.
G’mar Chatima Tovah
Whether you plan to spend your weekend watching sports, observing Yom Kippur, or somewhere in between, we wish you a good weekend, an easy fast and a happy new year! And don’t forget, if you made any ill-advised sports bets in the past year, now’s your chance to atone!
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The post The Jewish Sport Report: How the MLB’s Jewish players will handle Yom Kippur this year appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Treasure Trove: How a Polish-Jewish artist told Canadians about the horrors of Nazi Germany and produced beautiful illustrations
Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) was a Polish-Jewish artist whose work reflected the historic times he lived: the two world wars, the rise of totalitarianism in Europe and the birth of the State of Israel. In 1940, with the support of the British government and the Polish government-in-exile, he visited Canada to popularize the struggle against Nazism. […]
The post Treasure Trove: How a Polish-Jewish artist told Canadians about the horrors of Nazi Germany and produced beautiful illustrations appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Biden hits Fundraising Trail in Show of Strength after Dismal Debate Performance
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., June 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
President Joe Biden embarks on a series of fundraising events across two states on Saturday as he works to stamp out a crisis of confidence in his re-election campaign following a feeble debate performance that dismayed his fellow Democrats.
Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will visit the upscale New York beach enclave known as the Hamptons for a campaign fundraiser hosted by hedge-fund billionaire Barry Rosentein. Later in the day, he will travel to New Jersey for a fundraiser hosted by wealthy New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat.
Fellow hedge-fund founder Eric Mindich and his Tony Award-winning producer wife Stacey, celebrity couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, and actor Michael J. Fox are all listed as members of the host committee at the New York event, according to an invitation seen by Reuters.
Biden told a rally in North Carolina on Friday he intended to defeat Republican rival Donald Trump in the November presidential election, giving no sign he would heed calls from Democrats who want him to drop out of the race.
Biden‘s verbal stumbles and occasionally meandering responses during Thursday night’s debate heightened voter concerns that the 81-year-old might not be fit to serve another four-year term.
The Biden campaign on Saturday boasted it had raised more than $27 million between debate day through Friday evening, but questions remain about whether the debate performance will hurt fundraising, at least in the short term.
The post Biden hits Fundraising Trail in Show of Strength after Dismal Debate Performance first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Arab League Rescinds the Classification of Hezbollah as a Terrorist Group
Mourners carry a coffin during the funeral of Wissam Tawil, a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces who according to Lebanese security sources was killed during an Israeli strike on south Lebanon, in Khirbet Selm, Lebanon, Jan. 9, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Aziz Taher
i24 News – The Arab League no longer defines Hezbollah as a proscribed terrorist group, an official said on Saturday.
Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Shiite militia and a proxy of the Islamic regime in Iran, boasts the world’s largest rocket arsenal of any non-state actor. It is animated by the antisemitic ideology of jihad and is committed to the destruction of Israel.
“In earlier Arab League decisions, Hezbollah was designated as a terrorist organization, and this designation was reflected in the resolutions,” Hossam Zaki, the assistant secretary-general of the Arab League, was quoted in Arab media as saying.
“The League’s member states concurred that the labeling of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization should no longer be employed,” Zaki said, adding that the regional body “does not maintain terrorist lists and does not actively seek to designate entities in such a manner.”
Hezbollah has unleashed numerous rockets, mortars and drones on northern Israel in the past eight months starting on October 8, a day after the Jewish state suffered the worst antisemitic massacre since the Holocaust at the hands of the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas.
The post Arab League Rescinds the Classification of Hezbollah as a Terrorist Group first appeared on Algemeiner.com.