(JTA) — The 2023 MLB season is almost upon us, and it has the potential to be a historic year for Jews in professional baseball.
Notice to Our Readers
| As a public service, the Jewish News is providing free, unlimited access to all articles. Jewish News is a nonprofit publication that is owned by the community and relies on community support. Donate Now |
(JTA) — The fifth edition of the World Baseball Classic is just days away, as players and fans across the globe prepare for two weeks of competition beginning on Wednesday.
(JTA) — When a group of mostly American Jewish baseball players arrived in Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics, they had multiple responsibilities.
The NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury organization’s new majority owner Mat Ishbia’s press conference at the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix was a family affair, featuring his three children, parents Jeff and Joanne Ishbia and his brother, Justin. His new basketball family w…
The nostalgia of summer camp has been close to my heart lately. I’ve been filled with gratitude for parents who had the means to send me and saw the value of the camp experience in molding my character. If you have never been to camp as a kid, the good news for adults of all ages is it’s not…
Samantha Lehrman recently returned from the JCC Maccabi Games in San Diego. The Phoenix-based eighth grader at Pardes Jewish Day School is a passionate volleyball player and was excited to flaunt her skills at the event.
(JTA) — After two pandemic-altered seasons, a three-month lockout and a truncated free agent frenzy, the 2022 Major League Baseball season has finally arrived.
When Deni Avdija, the Washington Wizards’ Jewish and Israeli sophomore player, entered the first quarter of the game against the Phoenix Suns on Dec. 16, he was given the difficult assignment of guarding NBA All-Star Chris Paul. Avdija, the nearly 7-foot-tall forward, has developed a reputat…
Jewish ace pitcher Max Fried delivered his Atlanta Braves to their first World Championship since 1995 with six shutout innings in Tuesday’s Game 6 of a World Series heralded as the most Jewish in baseball history.
In 2016, Beatie Deutsch placed sixth in the Jerusalem half marathon. Watching Deutsch, an Israeli born in America, you would have never guessed that she had taken up running only four months earlier. The following year she ran the Tel Aviv Marathon while seven months pregnant with her fifth …
Connie Wolf, 76, swam competitively in high school. When she moved to Arizona 24 years ago, swimming became her go-to exercise, one she could do year-round in the desert. She would often be found in Martin Pear Jewish Community Center’s pool in Scottsdale. But as she got older, she swam less.
Joy Kerman spent 2020 in transition. The time had come for her to make a choice: Would she continue living on her own or move into a senior living community?
Liba Yoffe grew up watching “American Ninja Warrior” on TV, but she never thought she’d be on the show — and, certainly not as the show’s apparently first Orthodox Jewish woman.
Blake Gailen, center fielder for Team Israel, is a little superstitious. If he has a really good game one night, for example, he’ll probably eat the same lunch again before his next game. That type of ritualistic behavior is not unusual for baseball players, he joked, adding that some are ev…
By the time Neal Bendesky had his bar mitzvah, he knew that as much as he loved sports, he was better suited to sports management than as an athlete on the field of play. And while that saved him from the injuries prone to athletes, decades of working in a high-profile career in marketing an…
It took Ahron Cohen a few months to figure out his next move after leaving the Arizona Coyotes as its president and CEO in May. All he knew was that he “wanted to do interesting things with interesting people,” he said.
On Nov. 14, the Jewish National Fund held its annual Arizona Women for Israel luncheon. JNF leaders urged the 500 attendees to support the nonprofit’s development projects in Israel, and Paralympic swimmer Keren Leibovitch told her own story of perseverance and hope.
Born and raised in a country that adores soccer over most other sports, Israeli educator and sports coach Erez Lustig fell in love with American football from a young age. His improbable love for the game can be traced to his family in the United States, watching the sport on television, as …
For generations, children have spent their summers climbing trees, escaping on small adventures and meeting new friends. In addition to pure summer fun, these activities provided children with hands-on ways to develop life skills.
The 12 Valley athletes who made up part of Team USA at the 20th annual Maccabiah Games have brought home a total of 14 medals.
With two days to go before they board planes that will take them to the 20th Maccabiah Games in Israel, three young athletes with strong ties to the Valley are brimming with anticipation.
Six-time NBA All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire may soon be able to add another skill to his impressive resume: Hebrew. The 34-year-old basketball player, who moved to Israel after signing a two-year deal with the Israeli basketball team Hapoel Jerusalem in August, is now learning the aleph-bet, the…
In baseball, they say time begins on Opening Day. Everyone has a chance for a fresh start. Most of the old familiar names are back, although some have new addresses. If you count Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus, there are nine Jews who begin the year on Major League rosters. But then ther…
Ethan Cohen and Jack Ratterman, both 16, have devoted most of their lives to soccer, and now that devotion – and talent – has propelled the teens onto Team USA’s youth boys’ soccer team at the upcoming 20th Maccabiah Games in Israel.
At least seven Jewish community centers in the United States and Canada received bomb threats while they were hosting Purim events.
Team Israel saw its Cinderella run at the World Baseball Classic end with a loss to Japan in Tokyo.
Israel’s first professional golfer is in the Valley this week to compete in the Bank of Hope Founders Cup Tournament March 16-19 at Wildfire Golf Club in Phoenix.
“No matter what age you are, you can be bullied. A lot of that has to do with a lack of confidence and knowing how to respond,” says Derrek Hofrichter, founder and chief instructor at EVKM Self Defense & Fitness.
JERUSALEM — Team Israel blasted Chinese Taipei in its second game of the World Baseball Classic.
TEL AVIV – Noah Roth likes to recall two moments from Israeli marathons in which he’s raced: a competitor in Jerusalem breezing by him in 2010 wearing all-black, haredi Orthodox garb but for a white athletic shirt; and a Russian woman on this city’s Allenby Street who last year handed sprin…
JERUSALEM – Former NBA All-Star Amar'e Stoudemire was honored with the Martin Luther King Jr. Award in Israel for his philanthropy and leadership in building bridges among communities.
Team Israel will play in the World Baseball Classic for the first time ever, and last weekend, before heading to games in Seoul, South Korea, the team held a mini-camp in Scottsdale.
PGA Jewish golfer Daniel Berger, 23, from Plantation, Florida makes his putt on the ninth hole at the Waste Management Phoenix Open course, Pro Am, on Feb. 1 at the TPC Scottsdale. He placed seventh, winning $216,075. Attendance for event set a record of 655,000 for the week.
Kosher food will be available at two basketball games at Arizona State University on Feb. 26, as part of a Jewish community day hosted by Chabad at ASU and ASU athletics.
Registration is underway for the third season of the Jewish Youth Group Sports League (The League), for members of BBYO, NCSY, NFTY and USY. The seven-week basketball season, plus one week of playoffs/championship game), runs Feb. 12-May 7 (no games during spring breaks or Passover).
PETACH TIKVAH, Israel – For questions about Israeli food and culture, Corey Baker and Jeremy Bleich were their teammates’ go-to guys.
Rabbi Leib Bolel is preparing for the Ironman Arizona triathlon.
After a recent move to Arizona, Rabbi Leib Bolel will be toeing the starting line at Ironman Arizona on Nov. 20. The Ironman is a triathlon race totaling 140.6 miles consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and culminating in a marathon, 26.2-mile run, all within a 17-hour window.
web only
For years, I've told anyone who would listen that the Cubs were the team of the Jews. I've written two blog posts about it during the past month alone.
web only
KARNEI SHOMRON, West Bank -- The Chicago Cubs are facing the Cleveland Indians in a historic World Series, and most of Israel could not care less. This Jewish settlement is different.
web only
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer stepped up to an 800-pound gjallarhorn and exhaled with all he had to launch the festivities that officially inaugurated the team’s $1.1 billion stadium.
web only
JERUSALEM — The coach of Israel’s rhythmic gymnastics team said that she never expected to win a medal, citing poor training conditions and politics as two reasons.
web only
RIO DE JANEIRO — Gilbert native Larry Slater didn’t always have a passion for sports photography. It wasn’t until he took a trip to the NCAA wrestling championship in Las Vegas in 2005 that his interest in photography was sparked.
web only
OMER, Israel — Shaul Ladany, a two-time Olympian, acknowledged that he was “very happy” that the International Olympic Committee finally held an official memorial for the 11 Israelis who were killed in a terrorist raid at the 1972 Munich games.
web only
Jordan won its first-ever Olympic medal thanks to the performance of a Palestinian taekwondo fighter whose family left Israel 20 years ago.
web only
Hundreds of fans showed up at Ben-Gurion Airport to welcome home Israel’s Olympic medal-winning judokas Monday night (Aug. 15).
Team Phoenix brought home 15 medals from the JCC Maccabi Games held in St. Louis July 29-Aug. 5.
Yarden Gerbi became the first Israeli to medal at the Rio Olympics, bringing home a bronze in the women’s 63-kg judo competition.
web only
More than 11,000 world athletes have converged on Brazil’s second largest city, Rio de Janeiro, for the 2016 Summer Olympics, which began on Aug. 5. Despite the problems that led up to the games, such as Rio’s issues with pollution and crime, and the threat of the Zika virus, many have also …
