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The Jewish Sport Report: A deep dive into Jewish memory with Rocky Balboa
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Happy February, readers! This month brings us the Super Bowl, baseball’s Spring Training, and the NBA, NHL and NFL All-Star games.
This weekend, you can catch Jack Hughes (New Jersey Devils) and Adam Fox (New York Rangers) in the NHL All-Star Game on Saturday afternoon.
There are no Jewish players participating in the NFL Pro Bowl this weekend (a shanda), but you can always rewatch this amazing 61-yard field goal from Greg Joseph on Dec. 24.
Finally, you can still vote for Orthodox prospect Ryan Turell to appear in the G League Next Up game during NBA All-Star Weekend.
A deep dive into Jewish memory with Rocky Balboa
Paul Farber is the creator and host of a new podcast about the Rocky Balboa statue in Philadelphia. (Gene Smirnov)
Rocky Balboa is a fictional character, and his statue in Philadelphia was first made as a movie prop. So why do millions of people from around the world visit the monument every year?
That’s the question monuments expert Paul Farber sets out to answer in his new NPR podcast “The Statue,” which explores the history and significance of the statue dedicated to “the most famous Philadelphian who never lived.”
Farber also learned some fascinating Jewish nuggets from the “Rocky” franchise. Not only is there the Jewish funeral scene in “Rocky III” — which he has thoughts about — but Rocky’s love interest Adrian was originally supposed to be Jewish.
I caught up with Farber this week to hear about how he got into the project — it started with a scolding from his mother, of course — and what Rocky, and sports fandom in general, can teach us about collective memory.
I found the conversation fascinating. Read it here.
Halftime report
A HOMA RUN. Golfer Max Homa won the Farmers Insurance Open last weekend, his first PGA Tour victory since becoming a father last year. Heralded for his humor and down-to-earth online persona, Homa is also helping the PGA step up its TV game, serving as a consultant of sorts. During the tournament last week, Homa conducted a live interview while playing.
THE JEWS OF FENWAY. Team Israel pitcher and veteran big leaguer Richard Bleier was traded to the Boston Red Sox this week. He is the second reliever, and second Team Israel member, that Boston baseball boss Chaim Bloom acquired in the past two weeks, joining Ryan Sherriff.
VROOM VROOM. Robert Schwartzman will begin the upcoming Formula One season as Ferrari’s reserve driver, just one step away from having his own seat in F1. The 23-year-old was born in Tel Aviv and spent the first three years of his life in Israel before moving to Russia and eventually Italy. He told Jewish Insider that he got his passion for racing from his father, who died in 2020.
KEEPING THE FAITH. The Forward talks to Ze’ev Remer, a point guard who plays basketball at California Lutheran University, about his experience as an Orthodox Jew at a Christian school. “If you just continue being stuck in an echo chamber, in Jewish day schools and with Jewish friends, you’re never gonna reach out and educate other people,” he said.
MENSCH ON THE BENCH. Journeyman catcher Ryan Lavarnway will head to Miami next month to play for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic. “Through this team, I kind of found my place in the community,” Lavarnway told sportswriter and baseball historian Gordon Edes. “The worldwide Jewish community embraced me, and I embraced it.”
HONORED, AGAIN. In 2021, Holy Cross basketball legend Sherry Levin had a mezuzah hung in her honor. Now the school has retired her jersey, too.
Meyers Leonard opens up about his antisemitic mistake
Meyers Leonard of the Miami Heat warms up before a game against the Washington Wizards in Washington, D.C., Jan. 9, 2021. (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
In March 2021, Miami Heat player Meyers Leonard made a life-altering mistake: he used an antisemitic slur while livestreaming on the video game platform Twitch. Leonard would be suspended and fined, traded and ultimately released.
Leonard apologized at the time, and immediately began a journey of learning and engaging with the local Jewish community in South Florida — a process known in Jewish tradition as teshuva.
The 7-footer spoke to Jewish ESPN reporter Jeremy Schaap, in an interview that was featured this week on the ESPN Daily podcast and the “Outside the Lines” program.
As he eyes a return to the NBA, Leonard is opening up about the incident and how the Jewish community welcomed him in and helped him begin to heal.
Jews in sports to watch this weekend
IN HOCKEY…
Jack Hughes and Adam Fox are both representing the Metropolitan Division in the NHL All-Star Game tomorrow. Their squad takes on the Atlantic All-Stars at 4 p.m. ET on ABC.
IN BASKETBALL…
Two Jewish players will take on the Nets tomorrow in New York. Deni Avdija and the Washington Wizards play the Brooklyn Nets at 6 p.m. ET, and former Yeshiva University star Ryan Turell will play his first game back in the Empire State at 7 p.m. ET when his Motor City Cruise take on the Long Island Nets. Y.U. fans plan to show up in full-force for Turell’s New York homecoming.
IN GOLF…
Jewish golfers David Lipsky and Ben Silverman are at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this weekend in California — a tournament that pairs pros with amateurs (including big-name celebrities). Silverman, who won the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic last week, will pair up with none other than Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Fool me twice…
Perhaps the biggest story in sports this week was the (second) retirement of legendary quarterback Tom Brady, who ends a 23-year career with seven Super Bowl rings. Reactions poured in from around the league, including from Jewish New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Brady’s former teammate Julian Edelman.
The timing is auspicious — the star-studded film “80 For Brady” hits theaters today. The movie has been panned already, but I’m not convinced Brady’s retirement isn’t just a marketing ploy. Oh well. I’ll still see it.
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The post The Jewish Sport Report: A deep dive into Jewish memory with Rocky Balboa appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Denmark Unveils $18 Million Plan to Combat Rising Antisemitism Amid Surge in Attacks
People take part in an anti-Israel demonstration in Copenhagen, Denmark, Oct. 4, 2025. Photo: Ritzau Scanpix/Emil Nicolai Helms via REUTERS
Denmark’s government on Tuesday unveiled an $18 million, five-year plan to combat antisemitism through 2030, focusing on security, education, and research, as the country’s Jewish community continues to face a wave of targeted attacks and hostility.
“Following Hamas’s terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza, there has been a flare-up in antisemitism in Denmark,” the Danish Justice Ministry said while announcing the new plan.
Building on Denmark’s first national plan to combat antisemitism from 2022, the new initiative will focus on boosting security for Jewish institutions, combating online hate, and introducing programs for children and young people.
As a new addition to the previous plan set to expire at the end of this year, the newly released program will appoint an Education Ministry coordinator to fight antisemitism in schools and establish an association to combat antisemitic hate crimes.
Other measures will include expanded educational programs, giving all upper secondary schools the opportunity to apply for study trips that teach students about the Holocaust and antisemitism.
“Jews in Denmark should neither feel persecuted, harassed, nor receive death threats,” Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said in a statement.
“Fighting antisemitism must be done through education and prevention, as well as tough and firm consequences towards those who spread antisemitism and hatred against Jews,” he continued. “Jews in Denmark must be able to live and move freely and safely.”
The new plan also includes the creation of the Weinberger Institute, a research center focused on hate crimes, led by Jonathan Fischer, a former vice president of the Jewish Community of Denmark.
The government’s new initiatives come amid a startling rise in anti-Jewish hostility in the country, with attacks that include vandalism of businesses, murals, and memorials, as well as physical assaults and death threats targeting Jews and Israelis.
According to the Danish Jewish Community’s Department for Mapping and Registering Antisemitic Incidents, the country recorded 207 antisemitic incidents in 2024, up 71 percent from 121 the previous year and up sharply from just nine before the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
Over the last few years, the local Jewish community in Denmark has experienced a sharp rise in antisemitic bullying, violence, and death threats.
“Danish Jews are part of our common culture, history, and soul, and we as a society have a responsibility to surround our Jewish fellow citizens when antisemitism rears its ugly face,” Hummelgaard said.
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More Than 200 Celebrities Join Campaign Calling for Israel to Release Convicted Terrorist Marwan Barghouti
Marwan Barghouti gestures as Israeli police bring him into the District Court for his judgment hearing in Tel Aviv, May 20, 2004. Photo: Reuters / Pool / David Silverman.
Paul Simon, Sting, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, and Margaret Atwood are among the more than 200 cultural figures who have backed a campaign calling for Israel to release Palestinian terrorist mastermind Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences plus an additional 40 years in prison for orchestrating deadly terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada.
The celebrities who support the campaign are recognizable in the music, film, music, literature, and sports industries. They include actors Ian McKellen, Mark Ruffalo, Cynthia Nixon, Simon Pegg, Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem, Stephen Fry, Hannah Einbinder, and Ilana Glazer. Others who have joined the campaign include author Sally Rooney; broadcaster and former footballer Gary Lineker; and the musicians Annie Lennox, Brian Eno, Fontaines D.C, Massive Attack, and Mabel.
They are all urging the United Nations and governments around the world to pressure Israel to free Marwan, 66, who has so far spent 23 years in Israeli prison. They also condemn what they describe as Barghouti’s “violent mistreatment and denial of legal rights whilst imprisoned.”
According to Israeli officials, Barghouti co-founded Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a US-designated terrorist group that carried out suicide bombings and shootings attacks during the Second Intifada from 2000-2005, and formerly was the head of Fatah’s Tanzim armed wing. Barghouti, who denied having such a leadership role, was arrested in 2002 and convicted for helping to plan terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada that killed five civilians. He has been nicknamed the “Palestinian Mandela” by his supporters.
“Everyone that believes in freedom and dignity for the Palestinian people should join in the call for his immediate release” said Scottish actor Brian Cox from “Succession.” French writer Annie Ernaux claimed Barghouti “embodies the possibility of peace which [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu refuses, determined as he is to continue with the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.”
The International Campaign to Free Marwan that was launched on Nov. 29 is spearheading the efforts, which they claim resemble the cultural movement that helped secure the freedom of Nelson Mandela and ended apartheid in South Africa. Others who are backing the campaign to secure Barghouti’s freedom include billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, journalist Peter Beinart, Israeli architect Eyal Weizman, author and speaker Gabor Maté, and activist and author Angela Davis.
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StandWithUs Legal Team Requests Florida Investigate Guinness World Records for Anti-Israel Policy
In 2019, students, faculty and parents from the San Diego Jewish Academy broke the Guinness World Record for most sandwiches made in under three minutes, all of which were donated to San Diego’s Alpha Project, an organization dedicated to helping the homeless achieve self-sufficiency. Photo: Courtesy.
StandWithUs, the international nonprofit organization that fights antisemitism and promotes education about Israel, has called on the state of Florida to investigate Guinness World Records (GWR) over its ban on applications from Israel and to ensure that public funds do not support companies engaged in such a “discriminatory policy” against the Jewish state.
StandWithUs Saidoff Law, which carries out legal action for the pro-Israel group, sent a letter on Thursday to members of the Florida State Board of Administration (SBA) following the revelation this week that GWR has enforced a policy since 2023 not to accept submission applications from Israel and the Palestinian territories. Saidoff Law formally requested that the board investigate GWR and its affiliate Guinness World Records North America regarding the “boycott policy” to see if they should be included on Florida’s official list of “Scrutinized Companies or Other Entities that Boycott Israel” in accordance with Florida law. Guinness World Records North America is registered in Florida as a foreign profit corporation.
Created in 2016, the list currently includes 109 companies or entities that participate in a boycott of Israel, including actions that limit commercial relations with Israel or Israeli-controlled territories. The SBA is prohibited from acquiring direct holdings of the companies on this list, which is updated and published every quarter following review and approval by SBA trustees. In late September, 91 new entities were added to the list.
StandWithUs Saidoff Law is urging the Florida State Board of Administration to review GWR’s actions to see if they can be added on the list. “We hope that prompt action from the SBA will reaffirm Florida’s strong commitment to opposing discriminatory boycotts and upholding the integrity of the state’s investment and contracting policies,” the letter stated. It was signed by StandWithUs Saidoff Law Director Yael Lerman and Assistant Director Gadi Dotz.
Guinness World Records recently rejected a submission application by an Israeli charity that is organizing an event where a record-breaking 2,000 kidney donors will gather in one place. GWR said that since November 2023, “we are not generally processing record applications from the Palestinian Territories [sic] or Israel, or where either is given as the attempt location, except those done in cooperation with a UN humanitarian aid relief agency.” The policy was enforced shortly after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, which began with the Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
GWR said it is “monitoring the situation carefully” and its policy is subject to a monthly review. “We hope to be in a position to receive new inquiries soon,” it noted.
StandwithUs Saidoff Law wrote in its letter to Florida’s State Board of Administration that GWR’s “refusal to engage in commercial relations with entities in Israel and Israeli-controlled territories … appears to be intentional, discriminatory in that it singles out Israel and Israeli-controlled territories despite its political neutrality policy, and is not based on neutral business criteria. Also, it squarely falls within Florida’s definition of a boycott of Israel.”
According to Florida law, a boycott of Israel means “refusing to deal, terminating business activities, or taking other actions to limit commercial relations with Israel, or persons or entities doing business in Israel or in Israeli-controlled territories, in a discriminatory manner.”