Jews in the Gym

Description

For some, the connection between Jews and athletics might seem far-fetched. But in fact, as is highlighted by the fourteen chapters in this collection, Jews have been participating in-and thinking about-sports for more than two thousand years.

The articles in this volume scan a wide chronological range: from the Hellenistic period (first century BCE) to the most recent basketball season. The range of athletes covered is equally broad: from participants in Roman-style games to wrestlers, boxers, fencers, baseball players, and basketball stars.

The authors of these essays, many of whom actively participate in athletics themselves, raise a number of intriguing questions, such as: What differing attitudes toward sports have Jews exhibited across periods and cultures? Is it possible to be a "good Jew" and a "great athlete"? In what sports have Jews excelled, and why? How have Jews overcome prejudices on the part of the general populace against a Jewish presence on the field or in the ring? In what ways has Jewish participation in sports aided, or failed to aid, the perception of Jews as "good Germans," "good Hungarians," "good Americans," and so forth?

This volume, which features a number of illustrations (many of them quite rare), is not only accessible to the general reader, but also contains much information of interest to the scholar in Jewish studies, American studies, and sports history.

Acknowledgments

Editor’s Introduction

Contributors

Playing Roman in Jerusalem: Jewish Attitudes toward Sport and Spectacle during the Second Temple Period, by Loren R. Spielman

Sports and the Graphic Novel from Diaspora to Diaspora: James Strum’s The Golem’s Mighty Swing and JT Waldman’s Megillat Esther in the Tree of Contexts, by Ori Z. Soltes

The Jew in the Gym: Judaism, Sports, and Athletics on Film, by Nathan Abrams

Is Life a Game? Athletic Competition as a Metaphor for the Meaning of Life Steven J. Riekes

The Jewish Athlete of Faith: On the Limits of Sport, by Danny Rosenberg

Antisemitism and Sport in Central Europe and the United States c. 1870-1932, by Steven A. Riess

Cutting the Way into the Nation: Hungarian Jewish Olympians in the Interwar Era, by Mihály Kálmán

Grappling with Ghosts: Jewish Wrestlers and Antisemitism, by William Kornblum, Erin Sodmiak, and Phil Oberlander

Sporting a Nation: The Origins of Athleticism in Modern Israel, by Nina Spiegel

Gyms and the Academy: Professional and Personal Reflections on Stepping Up to the Scholarly Plate, by Jeffrey S. Gurock

Jewish Women in the American Gym: Basketball, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Early Twentieth Century, by Linda J. Borish

From Benny Leonard to Abi Olajuwon: Jews, Muslims, Evangelicals, and the Evolving Religious Challenges of being an American Athlete, by Ori Z. Soltes Buster Haywood and the Jews of Black Baseball, by Rebecca T. Alpert

A Global Game: Omri Casspi and the Future of Jewish Ballers, by David J. Leonard

Sujets

• Sport
• Autour du sport
• Sociologie du sport
• Jewish Studies
• Social Science

Informations

• Publié par: Purdue University Press
• Date de parution: 15 septembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781612492407
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Jews in the Gym
Studies in Jewish Civilization Volume 23
Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual Symposium of the Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization and the Harris Center for Judaic Studies
October 24-25, 2010
Other volumes in the Studies in Jewish Civilization Series Distributed by the Purdue University Press
2010 - Rites of Passage: How Today s Jews Celebrate, Commemorate, and Commiserate
2011 - Jews and Humor
Jews in the Gym: Judaism, Sports, and Athletics
Studies in Jewish Civilization Volume 23
Editor: Leonard J. Greenspoon
The Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization
Purdue University Press West Lafayette, Indiana
Copyright 2012, by Creighton University
Published by Purdue University Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Paper ISBN: 978-1-55753-629-7
ePDF ISBN: 978-1-61249-239-1
ePUB ISBN: 978-1-61249-240-7
No part of Studies in Jewish Civilization (ISSN 1070-8510) Volume 23 may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Dedicated to
Rev. John P. Schlegel
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Editor s Introduction
Contributors
Playing Roman in Jerusalem: Jewish Attitudes toward Sport and Spectacle during the Second Temple Period
Loren R. Spielman
Sports and the Graphic Novel from Diaspora to Diaspora: James Strum s The Golem s Mighty Swing and JT Waldman s Megillat Esther in the Tree of Contexts
Ori Z. Soltes
The Jew in the Gym: Judaism, Sports, and Athletics on Film
Nathan Abrams
Is Life a Game? Athletic Competition as a Metaphor for the Meaning of Life
Steven J. Riekes
The Jewish Athlete of Faith: On the Limits of Sport
Danny Rosenberg
Antisemitism and Sport in Central Europe and the United States c. 1870-1932
Steven A. Riess
Cutting the Way into the Nation: Hungarian Jewish Olympians in the Interwar Era
Mih ly K lm n
Grappling with Ghosts: Jewish Wrestlers and Antisemitism
William Kornblum, Erin Sodmiak, and Phil Oberlander
Sporting a Nation: The Origins of Athleticism in Modern Israel
Nina Spiegel
Gyms and the Academy: Professional and Personal Reflections on Stepping Up to the Scholarly Plate
Jeffrey S. Gurock
Jewish Women in the American Gym: Basketball, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Early Twentieth Century
Linda J. Borish
From Benny Leonard to Abi Olajuwon: Jews, Muslims, Evangelicals, and the Evolving Religious Challenges of being an American Athlete
Ori Z. Soltes
Buster Haywood and the Jews of Black Baseball
Rebecca T. Alpert
A Global Game: Omri Casspi and the Future of Jewish Ballers
David J. Leonard
Acknowledgments
The Twenty-Third Annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium took place on October 24 and October 25, 2010, in Omaha, Nebraska. The title of the Symposium, from which this volume also takes its title, is Jews in the Gym: Judaism, Sports, and Athletics.
All of the presentations made at the Symposium appear, in revised form, in this volume. In addition, Ori Z. Soltes composed a second article for this collection.
For many people in the academic as well as the general community, sports are a topic of perennial interest. In addition to tapping into this overall interest, we selected sports and athletes as our theme for two additional reasons: first, the year 2010 witnessed the very exciting Winter Olympics in Vancouver and was only two years away from the next Summer Olympics in London. In short, we were experiencing Olympic fever (to be fair, it s difficult to find a year or perhaps even a season lacking in this malady ). Second, and closer to home, in the fall of 2010, the Omaha Jewish community hosted the JCC Maccabi Games, during which hundreds of Jewish teens met, competed, and had a great time. At least some of this enthusiasm, we reasoned, would survive the games themselves and give a boost to our admittedly more cerebral, but not entirely sedate, activities.
We were not disappointed. Enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and appreciative audiences greeted all of our presenters. Far be it from me to attempt to appropriate sports language, but I think it s safe to observe that each of our participants hit a homer, with nary a strike out or a walk in sight.
Although it is indeed the case that some athletic events favor or reward individual achievement over group effort, when it comes to planning and implementing a Symposium, success is definitely a team effort. Our successful team once again included my two colleagues, Dr. Ronald Simkins, director of the Kripke Center for the Study of Religion and Society at Creighton University, and Dr. Jean Cahan, director of the Harris Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. We also had some outstanding assistance from Fran Minear, who worked with both Ron and me, and Mary Sue Grossman, of the Jewish Federation of Omaha s Center for Jewish Education. Although we did not know it at the time, this was to be Fran s last Symposium. Were she a player, we would retire her number. As a valued associate, we wish her and her family all the best in retirement.
This volume is the third in our collaboration with the Purdue University Press, all of whose staff, under Director Charles Watkinson, has made us feel welcome in every possible way.
In addition to the Harris Center, the Kripke Center, and the Jewish Federation of Omaha, this Symposium is nourished and supported by the generosity of the following:
The Ike and Roz Friedman Foundation
The Riekes Family
The Creighton College of Arts and Sciences
The Gary Javitch Family Foundation
The Center for Jewish Education
The Henry Monsky Lodge of B nai B rith
The Dr. Bruce S. Bloom Memorial Endowment and Others. This volume is dedicated, with sincere thanks, to Father John P. Schlegel, S.J. As Creighton s twenty-third president, from 2000-2011, Father Schlegel was a steadfast supporter of the annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium.
Leonard J. Greenspoon Omaha, Nebraska May 2012 [e-mail]

Editor s Introduction
Okay, so I m not a sports fan. But even I have a sports-related memory involving a Jewish athlete. This is what I remember: it was the summer of 1965, and I was still a teenager. Somehow or other, I was in New York City, with a choice: go to the World s Fair or go see Sandy Koufax pitch. Without hesitation, I chose the latter: Koufax vs. Tug McGraw, Dodgers vs. Mets. I went to Shea Stadium for what was surely my first Major League game. I watched it all. There wasn t too much scoring. Koufax lost. I may have been disappointed, but I never regretted the choice. After all, World s Fairs come and go, but there was only one Sandy Koufax!
Just this past year, I was telling a friend of mine this story. He objected: Tug McGraw was a relief pitcher, not a starter. We looked it up: McGraw was indeed a starter early in his career. I felt vindicated. Could we push it further? Yes, we found the exact date of the game, Thursday, August 26, 1965. Koufax vs. McGraw; final score 5-2, in favor of the Mets, who had, we discovered, won only forty-two games up until that point. Koufax pitched seven innings, giving up three runs (two of which were earned). Only one more detail was needed to cinch the deal: yes, indeed, the 1964 World s Fair had been an option for me, running as it did until October 17, 1965.
I still have no recollection of how I got to New York, where I was staying, and when I returned to my home in Richmond, Virginia. This was the summer between my sophomore and junior years as an undergraduate. Maybe that was the same summer I went to Italy. Who knows? Right now, who cares? I saw Sandy Koufax pitch, all of seven innings-a dream come true!
With these thoughts, as well as many others, in mind, I have decided in this introduction to highlight some of the memories that readers will come away with as they look through each chapter:
From my perspective, it is always memorable when an author succeeds in challenging long-held perspectives. Loren Spielman s efforts in this regard are evident from this statement of his: Arguing for a more nuanced interpretation I hope to demonstrate that Jewish attitudes toward spectacle entertainments were complex and variegated through Antiquity . I offer contrasting evidence for Jewish contact and interest in Greek and Roman theater and athletics during the Second Temple period.
Is it then possible that Jewish attitudes on related issues presented themselves in a more varied way than is generally recognized? Indeed so, argues Ori Z. Soltes in his first chapter for this collection: In both cases, although this is not the norm in the Jewish tradition, the physicality of those saviors [the Golem and Esther] is emphasized, even as physicality alone does not drive the salvational course of either narrative. And that physicality may be seen not only as an adjunct to skill in sports, but in part, as a metaphor for Jewish visual artistic activity.
But isn t it the case, we may ask, that Jews as athletes are invariably a source of derision in films? Not so, Nathan Abrams effectively argues: While cinema frequently depicts Jews playing sports, this is often for fun and not in any seriously competitive and/or professional sense . There have been exceptions, however, and key and serious Jewish characters have been defined by their athleticism. For example, sport has been used in many films as a means for Jews to assimilate, charting the clash between ethnic specificity and the mainstream culture and the struggle to pass from the former to the latter.
Jews like a good fight, and wagering on a fight, as much as anybody else. Isn t that true? Emphatically no, stresses Steven J. Riekes, basing his contention largely on the work of the Anglo-Jewish writer Maurice Samuel: Samuel argues that the Greek idea