Shabbat Shalom!
Those
of you who know me know that I have a real passion for basketball. So before I
even get started, I need to give a big shout out to the UCONN Mens and Womens
basketball teams for making Connecticut so proud and especially to the Men for
winning back to back championships! Now,
how many of YOU know that former NBA player Moses Malone was named after our
very own Moshe from the Torah. JUST KIDDING. But how many of you ACTUALLY do know
that in 1979, the top rebounder in the NBA was Moses Malone? At the ripe age of 10 I knew this and that’s
how passionate I am about basketball.
But
there’s another reason I love basketball, and, it has to do with my Torah
portion, Tazria.
Yes,
Tazria is all about leprosy! But the
beauty of Torah study is that you can find interesting things to say even about
a portion that is all about the grossness of leprosy. Not only that, but it even ties into my
special interest – basketball.
Yes,
I know leprosy is kind of disgusting and not everyone’s favorite topic, but I ended
up with the portion that deals with disease. For anyone who doesn’t know,
leprosy is sort of like Covid before Covid or AIDS before AIDS. Very scary.
Very deadly. Very mysterious and very contagious. Just like with both of these diseases, it’s
the unknown that scares people so much and often drives people apart.
Basketball,
on the other hand, brings people together.
So often, it has proven to be the cure for the disease – not necessarily
in a medical sense but in many other ways. I love how basketball has done that,
and it’s even done that for me.
Any
old pick-up game brings people together who might not have known each other
beforehand, and who might have very different backgrounds. Many times I have
been on a court and asked people to play… people I don’t know, or don’t know
well. I can just tell they share my love
of basketball. It doesn’t matter whether
you are Black or white, American or European, Asian or African – Australian or even
Antarctican, young or old, tall or short…
Well,
it helps to be tall – but there are some really great short players too.
But
with all this good, there are situations in the world of basketball that has
had to deal with disease and isolating people, just like in Tazria.
When
Magic Johnson told the world that he was HIV positive in 1991, it shocked
everyone, but the NBA stood behind him, just like the Kohen in ancient Israel.
We learn in the Torah, that one of the jobs of the Kohen was to integrate the
sick into the community. According to Eytz Chaim commentary, religion looked to
include an inflicted person, not isolate them. Many people were scared of Magic
Johnson at the time of his diagnosis. Much like one would be afraid to be
around someone inflicted with leprosy. But eventually he was able to play in
the 1992 Olympics on the Dream Team. Basketball acted as the Kohen for Magic
Johnson, allowing him to integrate back into society.
In
2020, when Covid hit, the NBA was the first league to cancel its season, but
they also were very quick to find a solution, by creating a bio-secure bubble
to protect their players from catching and spreading this horrible virus.
In
ancient Israel, the Kohen would care for the leprosy patient and bring that
person back into society. The Torah
teaches us that we heal by not isolating people or treating them like
strangers.
Basketball
creates an ideal universe. On the court, everyone shares love for the same
thing. The beautiful game. Sure there might be fouls and arguments but when you
step off that court you shake hands like nothing but a good game happened. When the messiah comes, I believe everyone
will play basketball all the time. Even the mashiach will play basketball.
And
you won’t even have to be tall!
I
wanted to take my love for basketball and do something good. For my mitzvah
project, I’m collecting basketballs and monetary donations to give to the Boys
and Girls Club of Stamford. They are always in need of equipment and I want to
help keep their sports bins full. Every day, too many kids in Connecticut and
around the country leave school with nowhere to go. The Boys and Girls Club of
Stamford makes sure that the kids in our city ALWAYS have a place to be with
people that care for them.
Thank you everyone for being here today to celebrate.
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