A Change Up

The current news cycle has been utterly brutal. The unspeakable tragedy at Lac Mégantic, the Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco, the deaths of the Arizona firefighters, new violence and unrest in Egypt, and the continuing tragedy in Syria, to name just a few recent events, all make us want to disconnect from our computers, televisions, radios and smartphones.

So for a change-up (note the baseball segue), I thought I would write about baseball. Not about the current season, or my (now again beloved) Orioles, but about the game of baseball itself. Apart from my stated need to get a break from current events, my inspiration comes from watching the documentary Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story. Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, the documentary contains much familiar material, such as an examination of Hank Greenberg’s role as the first Jewish sports superstar in American professional sports to the exploits of Sandy Koufax, one of the greatest pitchers of all time regardless of religion. Other players, perhaps lesser known to the casual fan, are covered as well – such as Al Rosen (AL rookie of the year in 1950, and AL MVP in 1953, and later a baseball executive), Moe Berg (“he spoke seven languages, and couldn’t hit in any of them”), Moe Solomon (“The Rabbi of Swat” – with a nickname like that, who cares if he only played part of one season in 1923), Ron Bloomberg (the first designated hitter) and Elliott Maddox (an African-American who converted to Judaism).

Much more importantly however, and the point of this post, is to note that the documentary traces the intersection of baseball and the story of how huge numbers of Jewish immigrants to the United States overcame bigotry and antisemitism, and successfully became fundamental and vitally important members of American society. Hockey probably played a somewhat similar role in helping integrate Jewish immigrants to Canada into Canadian society.

In any event, I think that sometimes we forget that the Canadian Jewish community is a longstanding and integral part of Canadian society as a whole. Indeed, as part of our ongoing advocacy work, CIJA seeks to facilitate and maximize Jewish engagement in Canadian civil society and Jewish contributions to Canadian public policy.

Now, let’s Play Ball!

Source: A Change Up – CIJA Website