A-Rod To ESPN: Cousin’s Visit Is ‘Very Kosher’
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Perhaps Michele Bachmann should ask Alex Rodriguez for some help with her Jewish jargon.
Say what you will about the scandal-tainted Yankees third baseman — when he borrows a word, he uses it properly… sort of. Asked yesterday about his cousin’s visit to his hotel in San Francisco — a visit that could cause problems with Major League Baseball — Rodriguez pronounced it halachically sound. “There’s nothing to talk about,” he told ESPN. “Everyone’s kosher with everything. There’s nothing to investigate. Very kosher.”
And why might anyone consider a visit by a supportive cousin to be, um, trayf? Because the cousin in question, Yuri Sucart, previously provided A-Rod with steroids. Sucart has been banned from the Yankees locker room and other team-controlled areas, notes sports blog Deadspin, but he can’t be barred from public areas such as hotel lobbies.
Deadspin reported A-Rod’s “kosher” ruling with amusement, but should anyone be so surprised? In addition to his relationship with famed Jewish mystic Madonna, A-Rod grew up in Washington Heights, the upper Manhattan neighborhood once known as “Frankfurt on the Hudson” because of its sizable community of German-Jews.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
