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Ramah initiates new program with Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School of Chicago. 'Jewish Jordan' gives aliya a sporting chance
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Last year, three Major League baseball players from the Cubs visited Rachel Barch's school in Chicago. But that was nothing compared to meeting Tamir "the Jewish Jordan" Goodman here on Sunday. "It wasn't special because they weren't Jewish," said the eighth-grader of the Cubs stars' appearance at Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School. "This is – especially because we're in Israel. That's an experience all in itself." She added that Goodman's message resonated more than the Cubs players' push for literacy. "If he can come here and make a stir and be a big success, it definitely leaves an impression on us that it's possible to follow your dreams." That's what Tamir Goodman, who spent the current season on the sidelines with an injury, was hoping for when he arranged to meet with Barch and 29 of her classmates during their two-week visit. He wants to use sports as a means of encouraging Jewish youth to make aliya. He showed the students a video about his own story: an Orthodox student from Chafetz Chayim Talmudical Academy of Baltimore, dubbed "The Jewish Jordan" by Sports Illustrated, who went on to play NCAA ball and ultimately landed a contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv. Goodman then gave the teens some tips on how to improve their game and ran drills with them. This summer he will collaborate with former Maccabi star Aulcie Perry to set up a summer basketball camp that will bring 50 American and 50 Israeli students together for three weeks of training and touring the country. "Every Jewish soul loves Israel. A path for opening that soul for some kids can be through sports," Goodman, 23, said in between signing autographs and posing for photos with the students. "The message I try to let kids know is that they can reach all their dreams in Hashem's land," he said, noting how his own experience can be a model and how he wishes he had been exposed to American Jewish athletes in Israel when he was younger. "If I knew when I was younger that I could play in Israel and not worry about [keeping] Shabbat and the holidays, I would have been so excited," he said. Barch was pleased to know that "there are a lot more opportunities" in Israel than she had imagined. For one, she pointed out, "I had no idea about Americans playing in Israeli leagues." Mulling over the idea, she said, "I think it's cool. People say it's not just for people who didn't get into the NBA. But I think it's a good thing for people who are Jewish and want to play sports." While Barch is a dedicated softball, soccer and basketball player and sailor, she noted that she doesn't have any immediate plans to become a professional athlete or move here – though she wouldn't rule it out. Many students on the trip are less sports-oriented than Barch, according to school head Alyson Horwitz, but she said Goodman's pitch was still an important one for them to hear. "I think it certainly says to kids that you don't need to limit your world. It's not saying that it's necessary to come to Israel to be athletes. It's saying, 'Think about your world. Think about your choices,'" she explained. The aim is that they will "have great pride in being Jewish and [understand] they can be Jewish and can be athletes." |