High-scoring hora: NBA star Embiid hoisted at Jewish wedding
When you’re getting lifted. Courtesy of Gabby Blauner/Instagram
By Louis Keene July 18, 2022
As the face of the downtrodden Philadelphia 76ers’ arduous reclamation project, Joel Embiid popularized the slogan “Trust the Process.” But it was the 7-foot-2, 280-pound Embiid who needed to trust everyone else when he was hoisted up on a chair at a star-studded Jewish wedding in Napa, California, over the weekend.
Embiid, apparently sharing a chair with the mother of the bride, looked both delirious and terrified as the tuxedoed masses pumped them up and down.
Video of the notoriously mischievous and Shirley Temple-loving Cameroonian indulging in a tradition usually reserved for bride and groom was devoured by Jewish basketball fans, with one video of the two-time most valuable player runner-up hopping around with the hora circle watched over 3 million times on Twitter.
EMBEDCODE Joel Embiid dancing the Hora is the only thing I want to see on social media this week. pic.twitter.com/4HLXEaw2bj
Celebrities from across the sports and entertainment industry descended upon Napa to see Lauren Rothberg, brand director of Rhode, a skincare line, and Michael Ratner, a director and producer, get hitched. Joining Embiid in the human giant category were fellow basketball stars Blake Griffin and Chandler Parsons (both 6-foot-9). All-NBA first-teamer Devin Booker and his on-again, off-again partner Kendall Jenner turned heads at the ceremony, as did Justin and Hailey Bieber.
But the show-stealer was Embiid, whose celebration embodied the mitzvah of hachnasat kallah, or welcoming the bride.
It’s been a banner season for NBA star cameos at Jewish weddings. In May, LeBron James dapped up kabbalist Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto at a wedding in New York. Two weeks ago, former UCLA big man Kevin Love married Jewish model Kate Bock under a chuppah — and signed a ketubah to boot. (Last summer, the ever-considerate Charles Barkley said he lost weight knowing the hora was coming at his daughter’s wedding.)
Sixers fans may have held their breath when they saw Embiid, whose career has been beset by injuries, several feet above the ground with no control over his landing. But Embiid’s trust in the folks lifting him up was not let down, and he emerged from the reverie unscathed.
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.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
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 the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
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.
