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.
