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The Jewish Sport Report: Meet Harry Sheezel, who could be the ‘greatest ever male Jewish athlete in Australia’
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Good afternoon! It’s a big day for Jewish baseball players and fans.
The Chicago Cubs have called up top prospect Matt Mervis, a power-hitting first baseman who represented Israel in this year’s World Baseball Classic. Mervis, who hit 36 home runs in the minors last year, is making his MLB debut today.
Over in Atlanta, Braves ace Max Fried squares off against Dean Kremer and the Baltimore Orioles. I say the losing pitcher has to wear the winner’s jersey next time they go to synagogue.
According to the Jewish Baseball Museum’s Bob Wechsler, there have been four previous instances of Jewish opposing starting pitchers. Can you name any of the matchups? Email us at sports@jta.org with your answer! (Hint, it’s been a while).
A star in the making
Harry Sheezel celebrates with Melbourne Kangaroos fans at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, March 18, 2023. (Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
Harry Sheezel is on a path to greatness. The 18-year-old Jewish day school grad has quickly become a star in his first season in the Australian Football League, where he was drafted as the third overall pick last fall. (Australian rules football, or footy, is very different than American football.)
Sheezel is only the 11th Jew in the sport since 1897, and he’s not wasting any time. Since debuting in March, Sheezel has ranked in the AFL’s top 10 in disposals — a stat referring to legal touches of the football, which indicates how involved one is in a game. He set an all-time record for most disposals for a player in their first four professional games, with 127.
His team, the North Melbourne Kangaroos, already extended his contract. And he was nominated for the AFL Rising Star award.
“You don’t want to get too excited too early, but Harry has the potential to perhaps be our greatest-ever male Jewish athlete in Australia,” said Ashley Browne, an Australian sports journalist who wrote a book about Jewish Australian athletes called “People of the Boot.”
Read more about the Australian star right here.
Halftime report
WELCOME BACK. Jewish outfielder Harrison Bader returned to action this week after an oblique injury kept him out of the New York Yankees lineup for the first month of the season. In his first game back, the Gold Glove winner made an impressive diving catch. (Elsewhere, Philadelphia Phillies Jewish utilityman Dalton Guthrie was also recalled from the minors this week.)
CHOSEN ONES. The NHL began announcing its award finalists this week, and New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes is on the shortlist for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, awarded for sportsmanship. Adam Fox is a finalist for the James Norris Memorial Trophy for best defenseman, which the New York Rangers standout won in 2021.
PLAY BALL. Philadelphia 76ers owners Josh and Marjorie Harris are supporting a basketball initiative for girls in Israel, in partnership with the organization The Equalizer. Harris, who has been involved with other Israeli sports projects in the past, is also in the process of purchasing the NFL’s Washington Commanders from embattled owner Dan Snyder.
KING OF KINGS. Domantas Sabonis and the Sacramento Kings’ playoff run came to an end, but the soon-to-be member of the tribe is poised to stick around his team for the long haul. “Domas is a huge part of what we do,” said Kings general manager Monte McNair. “We’re going to do all we can to keep him here and build around him.”
STAY GOLDEN, PONYBOY. Team Israel won the PONY 19U European Championship in baseball this week, earning a spot in this summer’s Palomino World Series in Texas. Israel beat the Stuttgart Reds 8-2 in the title game.
Jews in sports to watch this weekend
IN HOCKEY…
Jack and Luke Hughes and the Devils face the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 2 of the second round of the NHL playoffs tonight at 8 p.m. ET. Carolina leads 1-0, with Game 3 set for Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. Zach Hyman and the Edmonton Oilers are down 1-0 in the second round to the Vegas Golden Knights, with Game 2 tomorrow at 7 p.m. ET.
IN BASEBALL…
Max Fried vs. Dean Kremer, AKA the Jewish World Series, is tonight at 7:20 p.m. ET. Matt Mervis and the Chicago Cubs host the Miami Marlins this afternoon at 2:20 p.m. ET. On the West Coast, it’s a battle of Jewish sluggers as Joc Pederson and the San Francisco Giants take on Rowdy Tellez and the Milwaukee Brewers at 10:15 p.m. ET tonight.
IN GOLF…
Max Homa is at the Wells Fargo Championship in North Carolina this weekend. Homa won the tournament in 2019, his first PGA Tour victory, and again last year.
IN RACING…
After finishing in seventh place in last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll looks to continue his strong season in the Miami Grand Prix, Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Boxing Day came early
(Peter Frutkoff/NY Boxing Hall of Fame)
Dmitriy “Star of David” Salita, a Ukrainian-born former professional boxer-turned-promoter, was inducted into the New York State Boxing Hall of Fame last weekend. Salita told JTA in 2009 that boxing is one way he expresses his faith.
“God wants us to work hard,” he said. “While I wouldn’t recommend a rabbi’s son become a boxer, it fits in with my background. In my way, I’m spreading my Judaism.”
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Palestinian Terrorists Hand Over Body of Another Gaza Hostage
Palestinians walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, November 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad handed over the body of a deceased hostage on Friday as part of the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday it had confirmed the body was that of Lior Rudaeff following an identification process.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that a coffin carrying the remains of a hostage had been handed over to Israeli security forces in Gaza via the Red Cross.
Islamic Jihad is an armed group that is allied with Hamas and also took hostages during the October 7, 2023, attack that precipitated the Gaza war. It said the hostage’s body was located in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
Under the October ceasefire deal, Hamas turned over all 20 living hostages still held in Gaza since the group’s attack on Israel, in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian convicts and wartime detainees held in Israel.
The ceasefire agreement also included the return of remains of 28 deceased hostages in exchange for the remains of 360 militants.
Including Rudaeff, taken from the Kibbutz Nir Yitzchak, 23 hostage bodies have been returned in exchange for 300 bodies of Palestinians, though not all have been identified, according to Gaza’s health authorities.
The tenuous ceasefire has calmed most but not all fighting, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the ruins of their homes in Gaza. Israel has withdrawn troops from positions in cities and more aid has been allowed in.
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Iran’s Severe Water Crisis Prompts Pezeshkian to Raise Possibility of Evacuating Tehran
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – As Iran is experiencing one of its worst droughts in decades, President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that the capital of Tehran might have to be evacuated if there were no rains in the next two months.
“If it doesn’t rain, we will have to start restricting water supplies in Tehran next month. If the drought continues, we will run out of water and be forced to evacuate the city,” the leader was quoted as saying.
Pezeshkian described the situation as “extremely critical,” citing reports that Tehran’s dam reservoirs have fallen to their lowest level in 60 years.
According to the director of the Tehran Water Company, the largest water reservoir serving the capital currently holds 14 million cubic meters, compared to 86 million at the same time last year.
Latyan Dam, another key reservoir, is only about nine percent full. “Latyan’s water storage is just nine million cubic meters,” Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Javanbakht said recently, calling the situation “critical.”
On Saturday, Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi said “we are forced to cut off the water supply for citizens on some evenings so that the reservoirs can refill.”
The ongoing crisis is giving rise to increasing speculation that further shortages could trigger nationwide protests and social unrest.
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US Forces Working with Israel on Gaza Aid, Israeli Official Says
A Palestinian carries aid supplies that entered Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
US forces are taking part in overseeing and coordinating aid transfers into the Gaza Strip together with Israel as part of US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan, an Israeli security official said on Saturday.
The Washington Post reported on Friday that the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) will replace Israel in overseeing aid into Gaza. It cited a US official and people familiar with the matter as saying Israel was part of the process but that CMCC would decide what aid enters Gaza and how.
The Israeli security official said that Israeli security services remain part of policy, supervision and monitoring with decisions made jointly, and that the integration of the CMCC was already underway.
A spokesperson for the US embassy in Jerusalem told Reuters that the US was “working hard, in tandem with Israel and regional partners, on the next phases of implementing” the president’s “historic peace plan.” That includes coordinating the immediate distribution of humanitarian assistance and working through details.
The US is pleased by the “growing contributions of other donors and participating countries” in the CMCC to support humanitarian aid to Gaza, the spokesperson said.
TOO LITTLE AID GETTING IN
Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed a month ago to a first phase of a peace plan presented by Trump. It paused a devastating two-year war in Gaza triggered by a cross-border attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and secured a deal to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
The CMCC began operating from southern Israel in late October, tasked with helping aid flow and stabilizing security in Gaza, according to the U.S. Central Command.
While the truce was meant to unleash a torrent of aid across the tiny, crowded enclave where famine was confirmed in August and where almost all the 2.3 million inhabitants have lost their homes, humanitarian agencies said last week that far too little aid is reaching Gaza.
Israel says it is fulfilling its obligations under the ceasefire agreement, which calls for an average of 600 trucks of supplies into Gaza per day. Reuters reported on October 23 that Washington is considering new proposals for humanitarian aid delivery.
The Israeli official said that the United States will lead coordination with the international community, with restrictions still in place on the list of non-governmental organizations supplying aid and the entry of so-called dual-use items, which Israel considers to have both civilian and military use.