Hoops Star Amar’e Stoudemire Is Studying Hebrew
Amar’e Stoudemire Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — 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 Hebrew alphabet.
Stoudemire —who isn’t Jewish but identifies with the Hebrew Israelites, African-Americans who believe they are connected to the biblical Israelites — shared a photo of himself on Twitter studying Hebrew. A menorah graces the table where he is studying.
Studying the language of Hebrew. Reading ? and writing ✍?. #Yahosaphat pic.twitter.com/x1WM4LcuU8
— Amar’e Stoudemire (@Amareisreal) April 25, 2017
Stoudemire has raved about his “adopted homeland.”
“I’ve never felt more at home, more tied to a place where I’m playing,” Stoudemire told a Sports Illustrated reporter in January over a Hanukkah meal in his Jerusalem home, which is located just blocks away from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
