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Hello and happy Friday!
Jewish and Israeli athletes enjoyed considerable success at the Paris Olympics this summer, and starting on Wednesday, a new slate of world-class competitors will look to bring home hardware as the 2024 Paralympics get underway in the City of Light.
Read on for our Jewish preview of the Games — including the Oct. 7 survivor who will serve as one of Israel’s flag bearers for the opening ceremony.
The Jewish and Israeli Paralympians to watch in Paris
Top row, from left: Moran Samuel, Ian Seidenfeld, Guy Sasson and Ezra Frech. Bottom row, from left: Adam Berdichevsky, Mark Malyar, Asaf Yasur and Jody Schloss. (Getty Images; Design by Grace Yagel)
The 2024 Paralympics begin this coming week in Paris, with more than 4,000 athletes competing in 22 sports.
Israel is sending a delegation of 28 athletes — 14 men and 14 women — including several returning medalists in sports ranging from rowing to swimming. There are also Jewish athletes from the United States, Canada and Brazil.
One of those athletes is U.S. track star Ezra Frech, who broke his own world record in the high jump at the U.S. Paralympic trials last month. There are also Israeli gold medalist swimmers Ami Dadon, Mark Malyar and Iyad Shalabi. Shalabi, who is Muslim, is the first Arab-Israeli to win an individual medal in either the Olympics or the Paralympics.
Then there’s wheelchair tennis player Adam Berdichevsky, a three-time Paralympian who has won six national titles in Israel.
On Oct. 7, Berdichevsky and his family hid for 14 hours in their home at Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on the Gaza border while Hamas terrorists attacked the community, killing their neighbors and taking five living people hostage. Berdichevsky’s family was rescued and evacuated to Eilat.
Now Berdichevsky is serving as one of Israel’s flag bearers at the Paralympics.
Click here to read more about the Jewish and Israeli Paralympians we’re watching in Paris.
Halftime report
RADIO SHAQ. NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal recorded a video message for Israeli kids whose relatives were killed or taken hostage on Oct. 7. “I just wanted to give you guys a shoutout and let you know I love you,” Shaq said, before ending the video with a string of Hebrew messages including “Shabbat shalom” and “Baruch Hashem.”
SPORTS AS AN ESCAPE FROM WAR. Almost 200 Ukrainian Jewish kids between the ages of 10 and 17 spent two weeks at Ramah Yachad, the Ramah movement’s summer camp in Ukraine. Sports took center stage this summer, as the camp’s new collaboration with the Maccabi sports organization brought 20 campers from Maccabi Ukraine.
RUNNING TOWARD PEACE. My colleague Ron Kampeas spent the week in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, where he met up with Richard Goldwasser, an American Jewish lawyer, and Anan Abu-Taleb, a Palestinian-American former mayor of a Chicago suburb, who together led daily four-mile morning runs outside the convention to advocate for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
OF (P)INTEREST. Speaking of the DNC, when New York Sen. Chuck Schumer spoke in Chicago on Tuesday night, he donned the blue square pin that symbolizes the signature “#StandUpToJewishHate” campaign of Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. According to eJewishPhilanthropy, Schumer got the pin from the New England Patriots owner himself.
FLAGGING THIS. Israel’s men’s and women’s flag football teams will take the field in Lahti, Finland, on Tuesday in the Flag Football World Championships, organized by the International Federation of American Football. American football has been on the rise in Israel, and flag football is due to join the slate at the next Summer Olympics. Israel has its sights set on qualifying for the 2028 event in Los Angeles. Last year, Israel’s under-17 men’s team won gold in the European Junior Flag Football Championships — even after forfeiting a game scheduled on Shabbat.
OFF-PITCH. It’s been a rough start to the season for the two Jewish players in the English Premier League. Matt Turner, the goalkeeper for Nottingham Forest and the U.S. men’s national team, lost his starting job last season and could be on his way out. And Israeli star Manor Solomon, who missed most of last season with an injury, has also been rumored to be headed to other teams as his role with Tottenham appears to be in jeopardy.
GREENY’S DAY. Jewish ESPN personality Mike Greenberg will take over as the host of the network’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” program. “I’m not a particularly religious person but my connection to Jewish-ness is stronger than my connection to Judaism,” Greenberg said in 2014 ahead of a fundraising event with a local Jewish federation in New Jersey. “I’m very culturally Jewish. I use Yiddish words on the radio all the time…. That’s just part of who I am.”
The Hughes brothers make history again
From left to right: Luke, Quinn and Jack Hughes pose for a photo before their NHL game at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Dec. 5, 2023. (Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)
Jewish hockey stars Jack, Luke and Quinn Hughes are no strangers to firsts. Their family is the first from the United States to have three siblings picked in the first round of the NHL draft. In December, they became the first trio of Jewish brothers to play in the same NHL game.
Now they’ve broken new ground again, as they were named Thursday as the cover athletes for EA Sports’ 2025 NHL video game. They are the first brothers to earn cover honors on the NHL series, and are believed to be the first family featured on the cover of any sports video game franchise.
“I think all of us are just honored because it’s a hard thing to be on the cover and there’s so many great players in the league,” Quinn Hughes, who is coming off an award-winning season, told ESPN. “For them to decide to attach their brand with the three of us was pretty cool.”
Click here to read more about the brothers Hughes.
Jews in sports to watch this weekend (all times ET)
🎾 IN TENNIS…
The main stage of the U.S. Open begins Monday, and Jewish tennis star Diego Schwartzman has made it out of the qualifying round. Schwartzman announced earlier this year that he plans to retire after his hometown Argentina Open in February, making the U.S. Open his final Grand Slam. Other players to keep an eye on in the tournament include Elina Svitolina, the Ukrainian star who had a Jewish grandmother, and Denis Shapovalov, who was born in Tel Aviv to a Ukrainian Jewish mother. Shapovalov often wears a cross when he plays, but his mother considers him Jewish.
⚾ IN BASEBALL…
Dean Kremer takes the mound for the Baltimore Orioles at 7:10 p.m. on Sunday as the Birds host Alex Bregman and the Houston Astros. Spencer Horwitz and the Toronto Blue Jays host Kevin Pillar and the Los Angeles Angels in a three-game series this weekend, while Rowdy Tellez and the Pittsburgh Pirates host the Cincinnati Reds in a four-game set.
⚽ IN SOCCER…
Tai Baribo and the Philadelphia Union host the Colorado Rapids Sunday at 4:30 p.m. in the third-place match for the Leagues Cup tournament. In regular season MLS play, Liel Abada and Charlotte F.C. host Daniel Edelman and the New York Red Bulls Saturday at 7:30 p.m. At the same time, DeAndre Yedlin and F.C. Cincinnati face Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. Zac MacMath and Real Salt Lake host the San Jose Earthquakes Saturday at 9:30 p.m.
🏈 IN FOOTBALL…
A.J. Dillon, Greg Joseph and the Green Bay Packers host the Baltimore Ravens Saturday at 1 p.m. Anthony Firkser and the New York Jets host the New York Giants Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Michael Dunn and the Cleveland Browns face the Seattle Seahawks Saturday at 10 p.m.
⛳️ IN GOLF…
The two Jewish golfers named Max on the PGA Tour — Homa and Greyserman — are competing at the BMW Championship in Colorado this weekend.
🏎 IN RACING…
Formula One returns from its summer break this weekend with the Dutch Grand Prix Sunday at 9 a.m. Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll currently sits 10th in the driver standings with 24 points on the season.
One small step for man, one giant step for (Jewish) baseball history
Eitan Levine threw out the ceremonial first pitch — his 40th this season — at Citi Field, Aug. 21, 2024. (Courtesy of Levine)
When Jewish comedian Eitan Levine threw out the first pitch Wednesday at Citi Field, he followed through on his goal of setting the Guinness World Record for most ceremonial first pitches thrown in one baseball season, with 40. And he’s not done yet: Levine says he’s going for 50.
If the Mets hadn’t turned things around lately, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Levine pitch during the game!
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