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Fast Forward Maccabiah Games Draws Record 10,000 Athletes
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The 20th Maccabiah Games, known as the “Jewish Olympics,” will open with a record 10,000 athletes. The start of the games will be marked on Thursday with the opening ceremony at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem. Some 30,000 people are expected for the opening, and it will be nationally televised on Israel’s Channel…
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Fast Forward Israel-Born T.J. Leaf Drafted By Indiana Pacers
T.J. Leaf the Israeli-born (but not quite Jewish!) former UCLA basketball star was drafted by the Indiana Pacers in the first round of Thursday’s NBA Draft. Leaf was the 18th pick overall. Leaf, who played on an Israel under-18 national team, was noted by commentators for having a European-style game, including good passing skills and…
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Fast Forward Meet The Israeli Star Of The NBA Draft — He’ s Not Quite Jewish
He may not be Jewish, and he may not live in Israel, but we’ll take it: tomorrow T.J. Leaf will become the second Israeli-born player drafted to the NBA, the only one since Omri Casspi 2009. Leaf is expected to go in the middle of the first round of the draft, which is being held…
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Community The Secret Jewish History of Boxing
A version of this piece originally appeared in Plus61J. Boxing and I have a love-hate relationship. A keen tournament competitor as a kid, I was besotted with the fighters and wallowed in their stats, especially those of the Jewish boys. Later I shrank from the corruption, the sleaze and brutality of most of it. But…
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Opinion Why Israel’s Sudden Baseball Prowess Actually Means Something
No, there are no Sabras on the team. In fact, most Israelis are unaware they even have a national baseball team. Or how the game is played. Unlike American football, which attracts a small but growing fan base, baseball is for Israelis what cricket is for Americans: not a thing. Yet suddenly, the Star of…
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Fast Forward Aly Raisman Still Enjoying Victory Lap — With Eye On Tokyo 2020
Aly Raisman has been caught up in a whirlwind since helping the United States to its golden haul in Rio — and has her sights on the 2020 Tokyo Games. Raisman, who captained the ‘Final Five’ U.S. women to the most dominant Olympic victory in the team event six months ago, will be 26 when she…
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Fast Forward 2 Jewish Football Owners Square Off in Super Bowl
(JTA) — Super Bowl LI will feature teams with Jewish owners for the first time since 2012. Robert Kraft will see his New England Patriots, the American Football Conference champions, in the big game for the seventh time since 2000. Arthur Blank will watch his National Football Conference-winning Atlanta Falcons playing in their first Super Bowl…
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Community Is the Jewish Body Fit for Sports?
A version of this piece originally appeared in Plus61J. Jews can’t fight, fence, ride, run or swim. That was the conventional wisdom of earlier centuries. By contrast, some time in the 1930s, the Russian–Jewish writer Isaac Emannuilovich Babel, a one-time Cossack (in an administrative capacity) alerted his readers: ‘beware a Jew on horseback’. So which…
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News Jews paused Indiana’s abortion ban — by turning a religious freedom law against the evangelical right
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Culture In 1989, Harold Pinter and Jerry Schatzberg made the perfect Holocaust movie for 2026
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Culture 70 years ago, this Jewish choreographer predicted our epidemic of loneliness and isolation
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Fast Forward Connecticut Catholic school punishes students who targeted ‘Jew Canaan’ rivals on social media
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