Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Forward 50 2013

Amar’e Stoudemire

While many NBA players choose to spend their summers vacationing on luxury beaches, New York Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire, 30, used his off time to strengthen his connection to Judaism.

In July, Stoudemire — who was in Israel serving as the coach for the Canadian men’s basketball team participating in the Maccabiah Games — applied for Israeli citizenship. He also met President Shimon Peres and became part owner of the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team.

“I’m not a religious person, I’m more of a spiritual person, so I follow the rules of the Bible that coordinate with and connect with the Hebrew culture,” Stoudemire told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency at the time.

Stoudemire first visited Israel in 2010. He grew interested in Judaism when he discovered his parents had Jewish roots. He frequently studies Torah with rabbis in New York and cites Passover as his favorite holiday.

Stoudemire has embraced becoming an ambassador for Israel. Aside from participating in the Maccabiah Games, in June, Stoudemire addressed the crowd at an exhibition soccer match in New York between Israel and Honduras.

Judaism is not a fad for the 6-foot-11-inch, six-time NBA All-Star. When Stoudemire was married in 2012, he included Jewish themes in the ceremony and wore tallit and a yarmulke. He has also donned a yarmulke during practices with the Knicks. Though he occasionally plays on Friday nights, Stoudemire’s family has said they hold Sabbath dinners whenever possible.

As Stoudemire says, “Sabbaths are awesome.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.