For the 24 members of Israel's baseball team at the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo, their 25th player is – in their own words – the Jewish people.
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That sentiment reflects how this team is actualizing the potential of sports as the latest platform for strengthening the relationship between Israel and the American Jewish community. "We're united by this one goal, this one passion, this one shared identity," said Eric Brodkowitz, a Maryland native on the Israeli squad.
All of the players on the team are proud to represent the historical Jewish homeland, which positions them as a bridge for American Jewry and Israel. They are directly representing their Jewish heritage, which includes their role as de facto ambassadors who spread awareness about the true character of Israel.
"I feel it's my duty and obligation to be some sort of informer of what Israel is about," says team member Tal Erel. "We're about loving, we're about caring. We just want to unite everyone and give everyone a little more hope."
The team is made up of a diverse, eclectic group of players – including former Major League second baseman Ian Kinsler, a four-time All-Star. They are hardly the first baseball players to contribute to a broader sense of Jewish pride and peoplehood, as famously, Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg both declined to play on Yom Kippur.
Shlomo Lipetz, one of the team's Israeli-born players, describes baseball as "a common denominator between Jews and Israel" and expresses hope that the sport known as America's Pastime will give Americans "another reason to come to Israel." Israelis, in turn, will have a reason to root for a team playing such a traditional American sport during the July 23 - August 8 Olympics. This mutual opportunity for solidarity can only benefit the Israel-American Jewry relationship.
The narrative surrounding the team is also a powerful case study in resilience, based on how the players navigated and overcame the mental health challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid the delay of the Tokyo Olympics, originally scheduled to be held in 2020, the players could not see each other for 20 months – a time in which the pandemic took a toll on their mental health due to the requirements of isolation and social distancing.
Yet the Olympics continuously gave them something that they could look forward to – and the so-called light at the end of the tunnel was a future (and now present) period when they could reunite. They continued to build camaraderie as best as they could through Zoom, and now as what they describe as a "brotherhood" is back together in person while they prepare for Tokyo, it is as if they were never apart.
More broadly, this summer's Olympics will represent a large-scale global event that enables the world to essentially push through the pandemic and into a new era. Indeed, in these times, sports can be a more important outlet for unity, recovery, and resilience than the average person realizes.
Aiming to amplify the Israeli team's unique and inspiring journey, the Ruderman Family Foundation has produced and is currently promoting a series of short videos that tell the team's story. The narrative surrounding the team illustrates how, especially at a time when American Jews are increasingly divided over Israel from a political perspective, there is so much more to our relationship than politics and what we do not agree on
It is our hope that this campaign can contribute hopeful energy and shape positive attitudes surrounding the relationship between Israel and American Jewry. Israel's baseball team puts a human face on that relationship – something that everyone can relate to, regardless of their opinions on a range of issues. The videos also show that American Jews can take pride in the relationship between the world's two largest Jewish communities, through the vehicle of sports. This serves as an important paradigm for greater closeness in the Israel-American Jewry relationship.
Accordingly, regardless of the Israeli team's performance on the field in Tokyo, the Jewish people can only stand to win.
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