Stephen Curry’s Mother Says Israel Trip Transformed Her
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
The mother of Stephen Curry, the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, said a trip to Israel five years ago transformed her and sparked her interest in learning Hebrew.
Sonya Curry told Israel’s Sport 5 channel in an interview after Game 5 of the NBA Finals in Oakland, California, on Sunday night that her son’s basketball success is a result of “grace and favor.” She added that he was “made for this moment.”
Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors own a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are coached by Israeli-American David Blatt and led by four-time MVP LeBron James.
Sonya Curry showed the interviewer the Hebrew tattoo on the nape of her neck that reads “chen,” meaning grace.
She said that following a visit to Israel about five years ago, she “was just transformed spiritually.” Curry said she wanted to learn Hebrew because it is the language that Jesus spoke and she wanted to read the Torah in Hebrew.
Stephen Curry and his wife have matching tattoos in Hebrew, a translation of a passage from 1 Corinthians 13:8 in the New Testament that translates to “love never fails.”
The Warriors can take the title with a victory in Game 6 on Tuesday night in Cleveland.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
