“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh parshas Korach
4 Tamuz 5786/ June 19, 2026
Avos perek 4
BE A SPORT
I distinctly remember two of my high school rebbeim rattling off the starting 5 players of the championship winning 1973 New York Knicks. It surprised me because neither of them seemed like the type to know much about sports. But I guess that 2 decades earlier they had other interests. Of course, right after recounting the starting 5, my rebbe quipped, “if only I remembered my Gemara as well as I remembered that nonsense.”
I didn’t think less of my rebbeim when I found out that they had followed sports back in their day. In fact, I felt they were more relatable and that I had more in common with them. At the same time, I am grateful that I also had Rabbeim who had no connection to professional sports and thought it a big waste of time. It gave me a sense of perspective and balance about priorities.
This week the New York Knicks won the NBA championship. To that end, I wanted to share some thoughts about following sports generally.
It’s been said that when Rabbi Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg heard that the Yankees won the World Series in 1996, he became excited. (I’ve often heard that he made a Kiddush, but I find that hard to believe. I imagine that at most he made a l’chaim.) His joy wasn’t in the fact that the Yankees won. But that the news meant absolutely nothing to him.
Rabbi Scheinberg had grown up on the Lower East Side and was somewhat of a Yankees fan. Decades after he made aliyah and was a well-known Rosh Yeshiva in Yerushalayim, he admitted that he still felt a tinge of happiness when he heard that the Yankees won. So, it was particularly exciting for him that he didn’t care that they won the World Series.
What I find most fascinating is that even after declaring that the Yankees didn’t mean anything to him anymore, he would still use them as a conversation piece. When my cousin came to him for a beracha, Rabbi Scheinberg asked him how the Yankees were doing. It may have personably meant nothing to Rabbi Scheinberg, but he didn’t shy away from using them as a way if connecting with a young American bochur.
My rebbe, Rabbi Berel Wein, was never hesitant to use sports analogies or to draw lessons from sports. Being a Chicagoan, in his speeches to us in yeshiva, he often took potshots at the New York sports teams. He wasn’t reticent to share how in his youth, he and his friends in yeshiva were planning on going to the Chicago Cubs double header on July 4. But in the end, they didn’t go simply because they didn’t want to upset their beloved rebbe.
There are pictures of Rabbi Wein wearing a cap sitting in the stands surrounded by talmidim at baseball games.
It made him relatable to us and helped him capture our attention for the far more profound and important life lessons that he wanted to convey.
In yeshivos, there is a concept of measuring a rebbe’s level of SBR (Shtark But Relatable). Shtark literally means strong and is used to refer to one who has strong religious devotion and commitment to serving Hashem.
It is considered a great compliment for a rebbe to have a high “SBR score”. A rebbe who has some familiarity with sports boosts his SBR greatly.
I believe it can be beneficial for a rebbe to have some knowledge of professional sports, particularly if it helps him connect with his students.
For a student or laymen, while there are more productive ways to spend one’s time, there are far worse ways as well. It’s fun and, when kept respectful, can be competitive in a productive and healthy manner.
Aye, but (for you Shakespeareans) there’s the rub…
Much of life is about balance. Too strict can be as damaging as too loose, too much can be as bad as too little. Finding the Goldilocks balance is precarious but important.
Sometimes we get too involved and too invested in things.
Personally, I never say “we” when referring to the team I root for. I’m not on the team’s payroll (yet) and they do not care about my opinion. For me personally, it’s a reminder to me that I may root for the team as a fan, but that’s where it ends. I have greater things that I identify myself with – Am Yisroel, Torah, etc.
The videos of the Knicks winning the championship and particularly of superstar Jalen Brunson hugging his father, is very touching. But I think it’s a bit much for a Jew to cry over the Knicks’ victory. The Jewish people have a lot more worthwhile things to cry about.
This is not a halachic matter. One who cries over the Knicks victory has not violated any Jewish law. But we put a heavy focus on outlook and attitude.
I conclude with an anecdote that Rabbi Yaakov Bender, Rosh Yeshiva of Darchei Torah of Fra Rockaway, related:
On one occasion, Torah Umesorah had a meeting for Roshei Yeshiva in an upscale hotel in Manhattan. When the general meeting was over, the leading Roshei Yeshiva stayed behind for an additional meeting. One of the Rosh Yeshiva asked me to wait for him downstairs because he needed to discuss something with me.
I went downstairs to wait by the entrance to the hotel. Standing next to me was a fellow with a sizeable beer belly wearing a baseball cap. He was holding a pad and a pen. Every few minutes a limousine would pull up to the hotel, and he would rush down and look inside the window. Then he would shake his head disapprovingly and come back up the steps.
After watching this happen a few times, I asked the man what he was doing. He replied that the baseball awards were being awarded in that hotel that evening and the best players were arriving. But he was only interested in getting the autograph of one player – the great pitcher, Roger “the Rocket” Clemens.
He ended up getting a few autographs, but when Clemens arrived, he was so excited to get his autograph, and he spoke to Clemens with reverence and wonder.
I suddenly had an idea. I always carry a small pad with me for any ideas or thoughts I think of during the day. I decided that I was also going to get Clemens’s autograph.
When it was my turn, I told Clemens I was the head of a major institution, and I asked him to personalize his autographed message: “To Rabbi Bender and the students of Darchei Torah (he needed help with the spelling). Best of luck, Roger Clemens”.
This happened on a Monday. I waited with anticipation until I gave my weekly schmooze to the entire Yeshiva on Erev Shabbos. I pulled out the paper that had the autograph on it and held it up. I asked the students who was interested in buying it. Almost every hand shot up. I told them we would start the bidding at two dollars. In a very short amount of time, it was up to twenty dollars. I told them to stop.
I then took out the paper and, in front of them, tore it to shreds.
“Listen to me,” I told them, “You are willing to pay money for the autograph of this person just because he can throw a ball. You learn Torah! You are princes! You work on self development! That pitcher should get your autograph! You are truly great people because you work on growing constantly. A person like Roger Clemens may pitch well, but he isn’t a great person worth having his signature. Appreciate who you are!”
Sports can be a decent outlet. But it should remain an outlet. When it becomes internalized and consumes us, we have to wonder if perhaps we might be too heavily invested.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum
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