Friday, October 7, 2011

IN THE REGULAR SEASON IT IS WRITTEN, AND IN THE PLAYOFFS IT IS SEALED. BUT STARTING PITCHING, SOLID DEFENSE AND TIMELY HITS CAN ANNUL THE STERN DECREE:  The Philadelphia Inquirer recounts a tale told by deli manager Harry Zeisler:
"I have this customer," begins Zeisler. "He calls his Rabbi and says, 'Rabbi? I have a problem. I have tickets to the Phillies/St. Louis game and it's Yom Kippur. What should I do?'"

"No problem," says the Rabbi. "You can record it!"

"Oh!" the customer cries. "That's great! I didn't know you could record Kol Nidre!"
Forgive us, pardon us, grant us a slot in the League Championship Series. HT: #yomkippurbaseball.

Related: FanGraphs on Jews playing baseball on Yom Kippur.

Added:  My Rabbi speaks:
Rabbi Avi Winokur, of Society Hill Synagogue, says American Jews have a rich history with baseball.

“The relationship of Jews to baseball is a really fascinating one. Baseball was for Jews, and for many immigrant groups in those days, a way that they learned how to become American,” Winokur said.

Winokur says he will not be policing his congregation to make sure they are not checking the baseball score but he hopes they will have their minds in the right place.

“I hope and pray that the members of my synagogue, while they’re in synagogue, will keep their mind on their prayers,” Winokur said.

16 comments:

  1. JosephFinn9:01 AM

    Good luck to the Phillies tonight!  (And also, a good Yom Kippur to everyone.)

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  2. Chuck9:20 AM

    Those tweets are great.

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  3. Andrew Borys9:21 AM

    Hope Ryan Braun isn't devout....

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  4. See the second link; he's not.  

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  5. Well, game time is 4:00 PM local time, and sunset isn't until 6:23, so the Hebrew Hammer should be able to get 5-6 innings in before he has to make a decision.

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  6. Fred App10:47 AM

    With the Mets taking October off (and having little chance of playing in October in the forseeable future), my baseball/Yom Kippur dilemma is a little different: My kids. Both my 10-year-old and my 8-year-old have games scheduled for tonight and tomorrow afternoon. My wife and I debated briefly whether a 4:30 p.m. start time Saturday was close enough to sundown to let us push the enevelope, but ultimately decided that we'd skip all four games.

    Needless to say, the kids are not happy. They wonder why, of all the religions, they have to be part of the one whose most important holiday is also the most painful.

    And while my Jewish guilt says we made the correct decision, my rational mind isn't sure. What's the point of being an observant Jew only three days a year?

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  7. Genevieve12:31 PM

    I'm enjoying them so much (especially the alphabetical sins) - thank you, Adam!

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  8. Marsha3:10 PM

    My husband tells the story of the year the Cubs were in the playoffs during his teen years (I'm guessing 1984). The Cubs played games on the holidays that year, and the kids (and grownups) were dutifully, but unhappily, in synagogue. My husband says that about every 20 minutes during the service, the door on the right side of the bimah would open, and Eddie, the shabbes goy, would walk in, walk across to the rabbi and whisper something in his ear, then walk out again. At the next break in the cantorial singing, the rabbi would announce something like, "Friends, we continue on page 127 and the Cubs are up 3-2 in the bottom of the third, first and third, two outs."

    Those whose parents were too strict to allow them to hide transistor radios in their tallis bags were very grateful.

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  9. GoldnI4:56 PM

    On Rosh Hashanah it was written,
    On Yom Kippur it will be sealed,
    Who will advance in the playoffs,
    And who will be sent home,
    Who will be cheering at the end of the night,
    And who will be wondering what might have been,
    Who will rejoice in their team's success,
    And who will post angry comments on message boards demanding someone be fired,
    Who will lose by striking out,
    And who by grounding out,
    Who by fly balls,
    And who by errors.

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  10. GoldnI6:07 PM

    I forgot to add--But HALLADAY, HOWARD, and VICTORINO temper October's severe decree.

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  11. JosephFinn6:53 PM

    Checking for my own amusement, Yom Kippur in 1984 would have started on October 6th; on that day, the game was in San Diego (game 4).  Interestingly, there was a 3-2 Cubs score at one point after the bottom of the third, though the Cubs lost 7-5 (and went on to lose the series 3-2, may Tony Gwynn's name be forgotten).

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  12. Benner11:35 PM

    Gentile here from time stamp of posting -- I am upset I had to watch that Phillies offense, but the sight of the Cardinals cheering on the field while Howard was injured for more than a minute makes me glad I'm not in Philadelphia either because right now I really want to flip over a police car and set it on fire.

    As this year's football season never happened, the Sixers season won't happen, the NHL doesn't exist, college isn't worth watching until December (football) and March (basketball), that leaves just the EPL and the UNION.

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  13. Anna Weber11:35 PM

    So.....has God spoken?

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  14. Anna Weber11:36 PM

    <-----------Missouri girl.

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  15. JosephFinn12:57 AM

    So what you're saying is you're waiting for Jon Bon Jovi & The Soul in March or so?

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  16. Marsha10:22 AM

    Damn - I was just making that up!

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