4 | SEPTEMBER 16 • 2021 

wise and otherwise
That’s a Slap in the Face
S

ixty-five years ago, in 1956, the 
rabbis who taught Hebrew sub-
jects at the Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, 
then located on Dexter and Cortland, 
were allowed to slap male students for 
not behaving properly 
during class. 
Each teacher had a dif-
ferent type of slap. Most 
slapped across the face, 
some harder than others. 
Two longtime teachers were 
different kinds of hitters. 
Rabbi F. would walk behind 
the seated student and deliver a hard slap 
across the back. Rabbi Z., who hailed 
from Germany, would ask the student to 
come up front to his desk and open their 
hand and while seated he slapped the 
open hand with his clear plastic ruler. 
Once he asked me to come up front 
and meet his ruler. He didn’t notice that 
behind my back I had my baseball field-
ers glove. As he raised his rulered hand, I 
switched hands and the ruler came down 
on my mitt and broke. After the class 
finished erupting in laughter, Rabbi Z. 
announced he would slap each hand the 
next day with his new ruler. He did.
I received a slap across the face on Oct. 
8, 1956, that I never forgot and never 
deserved. 
It was Game Five of the 1956 World 
Series between the Brooklyn Dodgers 
and New York Yankees, and each team 
had won two games. Don Larsen, 27, 

who didn’t last through the second 
inning in Game Two was pitching for 
the Yankees, and Sal Maglie was on the 
mound for the Dodgers.
The odds favored the latter as the 
39-year-old veteran posted a 13-6 record 
with a nifty 2.89 ERA in 1956. It was 
the seventh straight winning season for 
Maglie, who won 108 career games at the 
time and lost 49 times. Larsen’s career 
record was 30-40. 
Between classes, I raced across the 
street to the gas station for updates. 
During the last break, the attendants 
were huddled around the radio, and it 
looked like something important hap-
pened. I soon learned that nothing of 
importance happened for the Dodgers. 
Larsen was pitching a perfect game, no 
runs, no hits, no errors, and I was able to 
hear the end of the historic game that the 
Yankees won 2-0.
I ran back to the YBY and headed to 
the classroom. I encountered my next 
Hebrew studies teacher in the hallway. 
Rabbi K. was a street-smart New Yorker 
and a big Yankees fan. “How’s the game 
going?” he asked. “The Yankees won. 
and Larsen pitched a perfect game,” I 
answered. Rabbi K. responded by slap-
ping me across the face and said, “Don’t 
lie.”
I assume he found out the truth after 
school, but he never said anything to me 
and never apologized. New Yorkers are 
not known for apologizing. 

Fast forward some 20 years, and I 
headed a national baseball monthly at 
the time. I was schmoozing with United 
Press International’s baseball writer 
Milt Richman prior to a game at Yankee 
Stadium. Milt told me that he forged 
a friendship with Larsen several years 
before he was traded to the Yankees. 
Richman often invited Larsen to his par-
ents’ home on Tremont Avenue in the 
Bronx and enjoyed the kosher cuisine. 
The night before the perfect game, 
Larsen dined with the Richmans and 
told the writer to expect a no-hitter. He 
punctuated his prediction by pulling out 
a dollar and instructed Richman to give 
it to his mother for a donation to her 
synagogue. 
So armed with confidence and a 
donated dollar to receive help from 
above, Larsen took the mound in front of 
65,419 paying fans and pitched the only 
perfect game in World Series history.
And it was the only time in my history 
that I didn’t deserve a slap in the face. 

Author, columnist, public speaker Irwin J. Cohen

headed a national baseball publication for five years 

and earned a 1984 World Series ring while working in 

a front office position with the Detroit Tigers. He may 

be reached in his dugout at irdav@sbcglobal.net.

Irwin J. 
Cohen

Thanks for the Recognition
Awards and commendations are vehicles 
of encouragement to do more activism.
Those contributing to the successes are 
the indispensable value and inspiration.
My achievements for Volunteers for 
Israel, Zionist Organization of America, 
Michigan Jewish Action Council, 
CAMERA, Adat Shalom Synagogue, 
StandWithUs, Walk for Israel and others 
have only been possible with the myriad 

help of extraordinary, selfless team mem-
bers I have been privileged and grateful to 
work with.
I thank those team members, the 
Detroit Jewish News, those that nomi-
nated me for the Volunteer of the Year 
Award and my Volunteers for Israel team 
congratulating me in the Detroit Jewish 
News.

— Ed Kohl

West Bloomfield

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The Baroque

9.29.21 6:00p FIA Theater

