Sports: Jordan Farmar, Shawn Green
Jordan Farmar
Jordan Farmar revived and updated the tradition of the Jewish point guard this year as he led the UCLA Bruins into the National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball?hampionship game in April. The product of an interfaith family, Farmar was bar mitzvahed at Temple Judea in the Tarzana section of Los Angeles. Seven years later, as a college sophomore, he was in the NCAA title game, leading his team in scoring and assists in what turned out to be a losing effort. Farmar decided to leave school early and wound up drafted in the first round by his hometown Los Angeles Lakers. In his first game as a pro last week, the 19-year-old knocked down all three of his shots, displaying the poise that has served him well from the synagogue podium to the basketball court. He arrives in the National Basketball Association just in time to give Los Angeles a new Jewish sports idol as Shawn Green resurfaces in New York.
Shawn Green
Two years ago, Shawn Green, 34, made the Forward 50 for a single act: sitting out a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game on Yom Kippur. Fans rhapsodized that his no-show had earned him a spot in an honor roll of Jewish sports heroes stretching back to Sandy Koufax in the 1960s and Hank Greenberg in the 1930s — genuine stars who remember their roots. That was when he was one of the game’s star sluggers. This past August, after a year and a half with the Arizona Diamondbacks, he was traded to the New York Mets, part of general manager Omar Minaya’s strategy of building fan loyalty by appealing to New York’s ethnic groups. It quickly became evident that Green’s best years were behind him. Still, his reception in the Big Apple was one of the strongest of his career. “The messiah has arrived,” read a fan’s hand-made sign at Green’s Shea Stadium debut. He didn’t lead the Mets to the promised land of the World Series, but traditional success was never really the point. With Green at the plate, the game had a new urgency for Jewish fans: It was as though we were standing right there with him. Not even a box seat can bring you that close to the action.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
