glees

fori e sigel

GLATT KOSHER

Shiva Dinners & Trays
Under the Supervision of the
Council of Orthodox Rabbis

Help Us
Fight Cancer
In Michigan.

25270 Greenfield, Oak Park

967-1161

Sweets and Sympathy
from

- Order Holiday
Greeting Cards.

GAIL GLICKMAN WHITE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Cookies Etc.

Baskets and trays of
gourmet
cookies and brownies
delivery available

A Tree Has Been Planted
In Honor Of
or
In Memory Of
A Loved One
By
A Friend, Relative or Admirer

(810) 557-6644
moo W. 10 Mile

855-9463

Heartfelt wishes
sent with delicious
gift baskets from...

BERG AND
URBACH

A TISKET A TASKET
(810) 661.4789

. 1
- . FINE
A MONUMENTS
SINCE 1910

Packaged
and
Delivered
7 Days a Week

New Location

14441 W. 11 Mile Rd.
Oak Park, Mich.
544-2212

1 (800) 507.4438 (GIFT)
Outside of Michigan

Rodnick Bros., Inc.

MONUMENT CENTER

INC.

CANCER INSTITUTE

32418 Northwestern, Bet. Middlebelt & 14

:11,1ff.

1
,..,„,„

MONUMENTS BY

"Same Location
45 years"

KARMANOS

ALL FOOD PREPARED IN
SHIRLEE'S OWN PERSONAL KITCHEN

gg

Southfield, MI 48075

BARBARA ANN

SHIRLEE
BLOOM

TO ORDER YOU 2 TREE
CERTIFICATES CALL THE
JEWISH NATIONAL FUND
81T1 1 7 11P

at

For a FREE color brochure,
call: (810) 294-1140

855-1605

Shiva Trays
and
Dinners
Meat or Dairy

FRUIT & GIFT BASKET SPECIALISTS

rr-7.--i
r

Have you

ever given a gift

so wonderful,

someone carries it

with them the

rest of their life?

• Monuments and
Markers
• Bronze Markers
• Memorial Duplicating
• Cemetery lettering
& Cleaning

- CEMETERY INSTALLATION
ANYWHERE IN MICHIGAN

DELIVERY
NATIONWIDE
* JUST CALL *

-

Call 542-8266

810
772-4350

FERNDALE
661 E. 8 MILE ROAD
1 1/2 blocks East of Woodward

Please give blood.
There's a life to be saved right now.

Call 1-800 GIVE LIFE

T H E D E T R O I T J E W IS H N E W S

NIBBLES &NUTS

114

When So Sorry is not enough.
Send a tray of candy, nuts & fruit.
po,
7374088
occAsID"
33020 NORTHWESTERN

Outside Of Michigan

1.800-752-2133

Special Candy & Sugarfree Available

ArrISTiCell Red Cross

A Thoughtful Expression...

With a
Cookie or Candy Tray

Local & Nationwide Delivery

• GIFT BREAD BASKETS •

Award-Winning Natural Handmade Breads

/472

Cookies

6879 Orchard Lake Rd. • W. Bloomfield

au oee4Je-,la

Muffins • Jams

at 1-8884-BREADS Elj

'Fa! Delivery ANYWHERE! • T

Why Not Kerri
A Torch For Judaism?

354-3499 or
474-3312

WE
DELIVER!

[

hree weeks ago, I watched
gymnast Kerri Strug fall
on her rear end. With the
rest of the country and
much of the world, I then held
my breath while she successful-
ly executed her second vault, se-
curing the team gold for the
United States.
The 18-year-old from Tucson,
Ariz., then was carried out of the
arena with an injury — not her
first — that would cause her to
miss the remaining days of com-
petition.
At the time, I thought I knew
'a great deal about Kerri Strug.
What I didn't know is that she is
Jewish. In fact, when a story on
the subject came to light, I was
no less than shocked.
It seems I am living in the
dark ages, believing that Jewish
families still value athletics as a
pastime, not a livelihood, cer-
tainly not something for which
one risks a child's life.
A few nights earlier, a survey
had been posted on America On-
line's Jewish Community Forum
asking, "Do you think Jews un-
dervalue sports?" My immediate
reaction was, "No, Jews value
sports just the right amount."
Meaning, the rest of the world
values it a bit too much. Now, I'm
not so sure this is the problem.
How did it all begin? Histori-
cally, Jews avoided sporting are-
nas in order to separate
themselves from idol worshipers.
The ancient Greeks, in particu-
lar, worshiped the human form
and fashioned their gods in the
human image. Jews were con-
spicuously absent from the naked
wrestling events, abhorring its
base nature.
The modern day Olympics do
not have a naked wrestling
event, but Jews are still rather
conspicuously absent. Appar-
ently, even the Jews who are
there are absent. How is it that
Kerri Strug's Jewishness was
kept a secret? Are we still avoid-
ing the arena, afraid of the se-
duction of pagan rituals?
Probably not. But Jews are
somehow reluctant to use the
magnificent global forum of ath-
letic competition to display Jew-
ishness, and perhaps this is an
opportunity missed. I mean, if
Michael Johnson can run that
fast with a heavy gold necklace,
couldn't Kern Strug don a tiny
chai, or Magen David earrings?
I found it sad to learn that the

T

rabbi of the synagogue in Tuc-
son where Strug's parents be-
long has never met her. She
never went to religious school,
never had a bat mitzvah. She
was too busy training. This
might explain why her identity
as a Jew was lost to us. Perhaps
it is lost to her as well.
This makes me particularly
sad because her career as a gym-
nast will be over within a few
years; her identity as an Olympic
athlete inevitably will fade. What
will she have to replace this? The
moment she fell on her tush, all
she could think about was get-
ting up and going on with the
next vault. In an earlier fall,
when she broke her back and
might never have walked again,
was she thinking, "What will I be
now?"

Jewish?
Athletes?

The question is, are sports and
Judaism mutually exclusive as
forms of identity and expression?
I don't think so. Mark Spitz was
never shy about his roots. Sandy
Koufax wouldn't pitch on Yom
Kippur. There was an Israeli bas-
ketball team that got turned on
to Moshiach and brought this
message to every game (and they
won a lot, too!).
I think it is clear that sports,
like any high-profile social phe-
nomenon, can serve as a vehicle
for Jewish pride. In our Massa-
chusetts town, as in many towns
in America, soccer and Little
League compete with religious
school and Shabbat.
Ideally, of course, this would
not have to be a competition, caus-
ing a family to choose between
Jewish education or observance
and a practice or a game. Instead
of placing the family in an impos-
sible situation, facing resentment
for either choice, this predicament
could be an opportunity to en-
hance Jewish identity.
The issue of safety for Jewish
athletes rings in our ears, and
this will never cease to be an is-
sue. However, since this will al-
ways be an issue, there seems no
reason to hide now. Whether it
be in Little League or the big
leagues, whether it be in Rome
or the Georgia Dome, Jews can
choose to embrace Judaism and
carry its message of light to the
world only if we are willing to let
Gail Glickman White is co-
publisher of the Jewish News of it shine from within us, and to
stand like a burning torch for the
Western Massachusetts, where
world to see. ❑
this article first appeared.

C/\