Uncategorized
Team Israel is playing in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Here’s what to watch for.
(JTA) — The fifth edition of the World Baseball Classic is just days away, as players and fans across the globe prepare for two weeks of competition beginning on Wednesday.
Jewish fans may remember that Israel took the WBC by storm in 2017, winning four straight games as an underdog and advancing to the second round before being eliminated by Japan.
Team Israel is back for the 2023 WBC, with more current MLB talent on its roster than ever. It will also face its toughest competition yet.
First held in 2006, the WBC is a quadrennial World Cup-style international tournament that has exploded in popularity in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic postponed the event in 2021.
Ian Kinsler, Israel’s manager and a retired four-time MLB All-Star, is feeling good about his team’s chances. He played for Israel in the 2020 Olympics, and won the WBC with Team USA in 2017.
“In baseball, anything can happen,” Kinsler told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “This isn’t a five-game or seven-game series. This is one game [at a time], and if we can put together a really solid game, solid nine innings against these other teams, we have just as good a chance as anybody. I know the guys are fired up and ready to go and compete, so it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Read on for a guide to who’s starring on Team Israel, who the team will play and more on how the tournament works.
Join JTA’s Jewish Sport Report online and in Miami on March 9 for Jews on First: A Celebration at the World Baseball Classic. The panel conversation will feature ESPN’s Jeff Passan, former Team Israel player Jonathan de Marte and other Jewish baseball insiders.
Who is playing this year, and how did they qualify?
The Dominican Republic plays Italy at Marlins Park on March 12, 2013 in Miami, Florida. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
The 2023 WBC will feature 20 teams — up from 16 in 2017 — split into four divisions (or pools) that will play in four venues: Tokyo, Phoenix, Miami and Taichung, a city of nearly 3 million in Taiwan.
Two teams from each of the four pools will advance to a single elimination bracket including quarterfinals, semifinals and a championship, all of which will be held in Miami. The first round runs from March 8 to 15, with the elimination round following immediately after. The championship game will be March 21.
Fans will not be surprised to see countries such as the United States, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela on the list — those three account for about 90% of MLB players. But there are a few less obvious countries that have qualified, including Israel.
Here are the four groups and where they will play the first round.
Pool A (Taichung): Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Cuba, Italy, Netherlands, Panama
Pool B (Tokyo): Australia, China, Czech Republic, Japan, South Korea
Pool C: (Phoenix): Canada, Colombia, Great Britain, Mexico, United States
Pool D (Miami): Dominican Republic, Israel, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Venezuela
The qualification rules have changed multiple times over the years. For this year’s tournament, all 16 teams from 2017 automatically qualified, including Israel. The final four teams (Great Britain, Czech Republic, Panama and Nicaragua) earned a spot through a 12-team, two-pool qualifying tournament last fall.
Who is on Team Israel?
Joc Pederson was an MLB All-Star in 2022. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Team Israel is arguably the best embodiment of the WBC’s unique eligibility rules. To play in the WBC, a player does not need to have been born in or be an official citizen of the country he is playing for (as is the case in the Olympics). Simply being eligible for citizenship in a given country is enough.
So any person eligible for Israeli citizenship can play for Team Israel. Under Israel’s Law of Return, anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent is eligible for citizenship, as are the children and spouses of Jews.
In practical terms, these rules have meant that Israel’s baseball team, at least in international competitions, has historically been composed of mostly American Jews. Native Israelis are still adopting the sport, which lags far behind soccer and basketball there in popularity. But Israel’s success on the international stage has helped raise the game’s profile.
The difference this time around is the wealth of professional talent on Team Israel’s roster. In fact, it boasts the most major league talent it has ever had: half of the roster has MLB experience.
The best-known players on Israel’s roster are All-Star outfielder Joc Pederson, who slugged 23 home runs and 70 runs batted in last year; American-Israeli pitcher Dean Kremer, who posted a stellar 3.23 earned run average as a starting pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles in 2022; and veteran reliever Richard Bleier, who had a 3.55 ERA for the Miami Marlins last season.
Big leaguers Scott Effross and Harrison Bader, both members of the New York Yankees, had planned to play for Israel but dropped out due to injuries. Outfielder Kevin Pillar was previously rumored to be on the team but did not appear on the final roster. (Chicago White Sox ace Dylan Cease, whose father is Jewish, was also on the team’s initial list of possible players.)
Here is the full 30-man roster, with their current playing level — Triple-A being the top rung of the minor leagues, Single-A being the lowest.
Starting pitchers: Brandon Gold (Triple-A), Colton Gordon (Single-A), Dean Kremer (Baltimore Orioles), Robert Stock (Triple-A)
Relief pitchers: Jake Bird (Colorado Rockies), Richard Bleier (Boston Red Sox), Daniel Federman (Single-A), Jake Fishman (Triple-A), Andrew Gross (Double-A), Rob Kaminsky (free agent), Evan Kravetz (Double-A), Kyle Molnar (free agent), Bubby Rosman (free agent), Jacob Steinmetz (Arizona Diamondbacks organization), Joey Wagman (free agent), Zack Weiss (Los Angeles Angels), Josh Wolf (Single-A)
Outfielders: Alex Dickerson (free agent), Jakob Goldfarb (free agent), Spencer Horwitz (Triple-A), Joc Pederson (San Francisco Giants)
Infielders: Zack Gelof (Triple-A), Ty Kelly (free agent), Assaf Lowengart (College of William & Mary), Noah Mendlinger (Single-A), Matt Mervis (Triple-A), Danny Valencia (retired from MLB), Michael Wielansky (free agent)
Catchers: Ryan Lavarnway (free agent), Garrett Stubbs (Philadelphia Phillies)
Teams can also add relievers if they advance past the first round. For Israel, those extras are: Jake Kalish (Triple-A), Alex Katz (free agent), Adam Kolarek (Los Angeles Dodgers organization), Jake Miednik (Single-A) and Israeli Shlomo Lipetz.
Israel’s big-league experience extends to its coaching staff, too. Along with Kinsler as manager, Israel will have former MLB and Team Israel manager Brad Ausmus and former All-Star Kevin Youkilis in the dugout, along with veteran coach Jerry Narron.
How has Israel fared previously?
Israel team players celebrate their victory against the Netherlands after their first round game of the World Baseball Classic in Seoul, March 9, 2017. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images)
This WBC will be Israel’s second. Israel was not part of the 2006 or 2009 tournaments, and though it did play in qualifying for 2013, it did not make the cut. Israel’s 2012 qualifying team included Ausmus as manager and a young Pederson in the outfield.
In 2017, Israel entered the tournament as underdogs after sweeping the qualifying tournament in September 2016. ESPN called the team “the Jamaican bobsled team of the WBC.”
With their trusty Mensch on the Bench mascot, Israel won its first four games, sweeping the first round, including a 2-1 victory over the host country of South Korea. Israel also defeated Chinese Taipei and the Netherlands, and they opened Round 2 by beating Cuba.
The proverbial Hanukkah oil seemed to run out there. Israel lost 12-2 to the Netherlands and 8-3 to Japan in the second round, ending its Cinderella run with a sixth-place tournament finish.
Catcher Ryan Lavarnway earned Pool A MVP honors, and pitcher Josh Zeid was named to the All-WBC team after the tournament.
In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, played in the summer of 2021 because of COVID-19, Israel finished in fifth place, beating Mexico 12-5 in its lone victory.
Who is Israel playing, and what should fans expect?
Members of Team Israel react with dismay as a player from the Dominican Republic hits a game-winning single to knock Israel’s baseball team out of competition in the Tokyo Olympics, Aug. 3, 2021. (Yuichi Masuda/Getty)
Israel is in Pool D, which features some of the world’s best teams.
Here is Israel’s WBC schedule (All times EST.).
Sunday, March 12 at 12 p.m.: Israel vs. Nicaragua
Monday, March 13 at 7 p.m.: Israel vs. Puerto Rico
Tuesday, March 14 at 7 p.m.: Israel vs. Dominican Republic
Wednesday, March 15 at 12 p.m.: Israel vs. Venezuela
Before the tournament, Israel will also play two exhibition games against MLB teams, part of MLB’s effort to raise awareness for the WBC. Israel will face the Miami Marlins on March 8 and the Washington Nationals on March 9; the late Nationals owner Ted Lerner will be honored at the game.
Once the WBC begins for Israel on March 12, the team will face many of Major League Baseball’s top players, including Francisco Lindor and Edwin Diaz for Puerto Rico; Ronald Acuña Jr. and Jose Altuve for Venezuela; and a truly stacked Dominican team that features Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Rafael Devers and reigning National League Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara.
On paper, Israel is outmatched by its competition. But as Kinsler points out, “at the end of the day, baseball comes down to execution.” And if 2017 is any indication, opponents should never count Team Israel out.
—
The post Team Israel is playing in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Here’s what to watch for. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
The Jewish vote for NYC mayor went to Cuomo, but the Israel vote went to Mamdani, exit polls show
Zohran Mamdani clinched the New York City mayoral race in a decisive victory last night, but Jewish voters favored former Gov. Andrew Cuomo by a nearly two-to-one margin.
A CNN exit poll showed 63% of Jews voted for Cuomo, 33% for Mamdani, and 3% for Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
Those numbers suggest Cuomo performed better among Jewish voters than New York City voters as a whole, 41% of whom voted for Cuomo and 50% for Mamdani. Jewish voters make up an estimated 10% of the city’s electorate.
Mamdani won decisively in Brooklyn and in younger precincts across western Queens and parts of Manhattan. Cuomo carried Orthodox and senior-populated neighborhoods in Borough Park and Riverdale.
The Orthodox-populated Borough Park saw record turnout, as did New York City overall, with more than 2 million voters casting ballots.
An outspoken critic of Israel, Mamdani’s stance on the conflict in Gaza resonated with a majority of voters, according to public opinion polls taken after his primary win. Nearly half of Mamdani voters, 49%, on Tuesday said his position was a factor in their support, according to a CNN exit poll. For Cuomo supporters, only 44% said his position on Israel was a factor in their vote.
Cuomo had banked on strong turnout from Jewish voters to boost his momentum in the general election, a bet that ultimately didn’t secure the win. In July, Cuomo said a key factor in his primary loss was Mamdani’s support from young, Jewish and pro-Palestinian voters. “I would wager that in the primary, more than 50% of the Jewish people voted for Mamdani,” Cuomo said at the time.
Mamdani’s positions on Israel have roiled Jews across the country, and he’s often had to defend himself against allegations of antisemitism for: refusing to outright condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada;” reiterating support for Palestinians in his statement on the Gaza ceasefire; vowing to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York; and saying he doesn’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
Yet Mamdani simultaneously built a coalition of Jews who support him. That included a surprise last-minute endorsement from a faction of the Satmar Hasidic community, though Cuomo had the backing of most Orthodox groups that helped swing the 2021 mayoral race for Eric Adams.
Jacob Kornbluh contributed reporting and writing.
The post The Jewish vote for NYC mayor went to Cuomo, but the Israel vote went to Mamdani, exit polls show appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
The Problem with ‘Business as Usual’ in Philanthropy
The personal belongings of festival-goers are seen at the site of an attack on the Nova Festival by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Oct. 12, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Many of today’s non-profit humanitarian organizations — well-funded, well-staffed, and highly visible — aren’t built for crisis. Their models are too slow. Their structures are too rigid. Their priorities are often disconnected from the realities on the ground. Most critically, too many are consumed by internal processes and fundraising goals that make real-time agility almost impossible.
This isn’t a condemnation of every non-profit — many do vital work. But there’s a growing gap between donor intentions and impact. People give from their hearts, yet their money often fails to reach the people or places they hoped to help — or doesn’t arrive in time to make a difference.
That gap became painfully clear after October 7, when Israel faced a national trauma that shook the Jewish world. Innocent civilians were attacked, families torn apart, and a nation’s very existence threatened. In those first few hours and days, the need for immediate aid — medical gear, protective equipment, trauma support — was overwhelming. And yet, the legacy systems of philanthropy couldn’t keep pace with the urgency of the moment.
The Jewish world, and Israel specifically, cannot afford to depend solely on these legacy systems. Too many aid dollars disappear into operations distant from the field and too removed from the moment. At a time when donor fatigue is real and scrutiny of nonprofits is higher than ever, transparency and efficiency aren’t just ideals — they’re survival tools.
This is not a call to tear down the existing ecosystem of aid organizations. It’s a call to evolve it. Large institutional NGOs play an important role, especially in the long-term recovery and rebuilding processes. But they cannot be the only model. The future of humanitarian response must include leaner, more nimble, and more accountable organizations that treat urgency as a core operating principle, not a marketing term.
Two years ago, when we launched Israel Friends, it wasn’t the result of a lengthy strategic planning process or a carefully crafted brand vision. It was a reaction and a necessity. A response to an absolute crisis. Our guiding question was simple: What can we do that will matter right now?
We come from the world of supply chains and logistics, not traditional philanthropy. Before starting an NGO, we used those skills in the private sector, and later, during moments of crisis, to get personal protective equipment to hospitals during COVID-19 and deliver trauma kits to frontline medics during the invasion of Ukraine. Those experiences shaped our approach: keep overhead low, move fast, cut red tape, and deliver aid directly where it’s needed most, as quickly as possible.
After October 7, that meant getting gear, medical supplies, and protective equipment to soldiers on the front lines — not months later, not after a funding cycle or committee review — immediately. We even invested our own money into purchasing aid at the start, and didn’t expect or want anything in return. Today, those needs have shifted. Mental health has become one of the most urgent and overlooked aspects of recovery, and we’ve shifted with it. Flexibility and responsiveness aren’t just features of our model; they are the model.
Operating this way isn’t easy – it runs counter to the grain of much of the nonprofit world, where large infrastructure and high administrative costs are often seen as signs of sophistication rather than inefficiency. But when lives are on the line, we believe the opposite is true: the ability to act quickly, with minimal overhead and maximum impact, is the defining measure of success.
We didn’t plan to build a new non-profit. We built it because, at that moment, it felt like we had no other choice. But now, two years in, we see this is bigger than one crisis. It’s about changing how we think about aid altogether. The future of philanthropy depends on the willingness to act first and fundraise later — to measure success not by size, but by speed and impact.
The next time tragedy strikes — whether in Israel or somewhere else — we hope there are more organizations ready to act without delay, to deliver without waste, and to serve without ego. Because that’s what the moment demands. If October 7 taught us anything, it’s that bureaucracy saves no lives. Agility, compassion, and courage do.
Teddy Raskin and Jordan Fried are co-founders of Israel Friends, a grassroots organization founded in the aftermath of October 7th, which has raised tens of millions in direct aid with minimal overhead since its launch.
Uncategorized
Mamdani’s victory worries many Jewish leaders
דער אַרטיקל איז אַ פֿאַרקירצטער נוסח פֿונעם ענגלישן אַרטיקל, וואָס געפֿינט זיך דאָ.
ווען זאָכראַן מאַמדאַני, אַ שאַרפֿער קריטיקער פֿון ישׂראל, האָט דינסטיק געוווּנען די ווײַלן פֿאַר ניו־יאָרקער בירגער־מײַסטער, האָבן אַ צאָל ייִדישע פֿירער אויסגעדריקט זאָרג בעת אַנדערע האָבן רעאַגירט מיט באַגײַסטערונג און אָפּטימיזם.
מאַמדאַני, וואָס וועט ווערן דער ערשטער מוסולמענישער בירגער־מײַסטער פֿון ניו־יאָרק, האָט באַקומען 50.4% פֿון די שטימען. דער געוועזענער ניו־יאָרקער גובערנאַטאָר אַנדרו קואָמאָ, וואָס האָט קאַנדידירט אומאָפּהענגיק פֿון קיין פּאַרטיי, איז געקומען אויפֿן צווייטן אָרט מיט 41.6%. דער רעפּובליקאַנער קאַנדידאַט קורטיס סליוואַ האָט געקראָגן 7.1% פֿון די שטימען.
לויט די לעצטע אַנקעטעס דינסטיק בײַ נאַכט האָבן 60% ייִדישע וויילער געשטיצט קואָמאָ.
אַ צאָל ייִדישע כּלל־טוער האָבן אויסגעדריקט זאָרג וועגן דער צוקונפֿט פֿאַר ייִדן אין ניו־יאָרק איבער מאַמדאַניס מיינונגען וועגן ישׂראל. ער האָט למשל זיך אָפּגעזאָגט צו פֿאַרדאַמען די לאָזונג „זאָל די אינטיפֿאַדע זיך פֿאַרשפּרייטן איבער דער וועלט“ און האָט געוואָרנט אַז דער ישׂראלדיקער פּרעמיער בנימין נתניהו וועט אַרעסטירט ווערן אויב ער קומט קיין ניו־יאָרק. ער האָט אויך דערקלערט אַז ער אָנערקענט נישט ישׂראל ווי אַ ייִדישע מדינה.
דער פֿאַקט אַז מאַמדאַני איז נישט געווען גרייט אָפּצוּוואַרפֿן דאָס באַצייכענען די ישׂראל־מחלמה אין עזה ווי „אַ גענאָציד“, ווי אויך זײַן באַשלוס זיך נישט צו באַטייליקן אינעם יערלעכן ישׂראל־פּאַראַד, האָבן אַרויסגערופֿן כּעס בײַ אַ סך ייִדן אין דער שטאָט.
בעת זײַן נצחון־רעדע האָט מאַמדאני אָבער צוגעזאָגט אַז אונטער זײַן קאַדענץ וועט די שטאָט־רעגירונג „שטיצן די ייִדישע ניו־יאָרקער און וועט זיך נישט וואַקלען צו באַקעמפֿן די מכּה פֿון אַנטיסעמיטיזם.“
אַ צאָל ייִדישע וויילער, בפֿרט בײַם ייִנגערן דור, האָבן אָבער געשטיצט מאַמדאַני מיט באַגײַסטערונג. רעאַגירנדיק אויף זײַן צוזאָג צו באַקעמפֿן אַנטיסעמיטיזם, האָט דער שרײַבער מאיר לאַבין געשריבן אויף „עקס“: „דאָס איז בײַ מיר ווי מוזיק אין די אויערן. מזל־טובֿ, מעיאָר זאָכראַן מאַמדאַני!“
אַ טייל קאָמענטאַטאָרס האָבן ספּעקולירט אַז צוליב מאַמדאַניס נצחון וועלן אַ סך ייִדישע אײַנוווינער זיך אַרויסציִען פֿון ניו־יאָרק. ראַבײַ מאַרק שנייער, למשל, וואָס דינט ווי דער גײַסטיקער פֿירער פֿון דער האַמפּטאָן־שיל, אַן אָרטאָדאָקסישע סינאַגאַגע אין לאָנג־אײַלאַנד, האָט שוין געמאָלדן אַז ער האָט בדעה דאָרט צו גרינדן אַ ייִדישע טאָגשול — די ערשטע אין די האַמפּטאָנס.
„איך ריכט זיך אַז טויזנטער ייִדישע משפּחות וועלן פֿאַרלאָזן די שטאָט ניו־יאָרק און זיך אַריבערקלײַבן אין די העמפּטאָנס און דעם ראַיאָן פֿון סאָפֿאָלק־קאַונטי, כּדי צו אַנטלויפֿן פֿונעם אַנטיסעמיטישן קלימאַט פֿון מאַמדאַניס ניו־יאָרק,“ האָט שנייער געזאָגט.
The post Mamdani’s victory worries many Jewish leaders appeared first on The Forward.