Ryan Braun is NL MVP; last Jewish player to earn this distinction was Koufax in '63

Here's how the Forward put it:

Ryan Braun Named National League MVP

'Hebrew Hammer' Is First Jew To Win Since Koufax in 1963

 

Ryan’s the MVP: Slugger Ryan Braun scores during a playoff game. The Milwaukee Brewer became the first Jew in nearly a half-century to win the Most Valuable Player award.

By Nate Lavey

Published November 22, 2011.

Ryan Braun, the slugging outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers, became the first Jewish Most Valuable Player in nearly five decades.

Braun, the son of an Israeli-born Jewish father and a Catholic mother, was named the National League MVP on Tuesday. He received 20 of 32 first-place votes and 388 points in voting announced by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Los Angeles center fielder Matt Kemp was second with 10 first-place votes and 332 points.
In an era when Jewish baseball players are remembered as heroes from another time, Ryan Braun ranks among the very best current players of the game — of any religious persuasion. As a big hitter for the Milwaukee Brewers, the 27-year-old Braun has consistently broken team records. And his huge, 450-foot home run on September 23 clinched the Brewers’ spot at the top of the National League’s Central Division, giving the team their first division title in nearly 30 years.
Braun, who batted .332 and hit 33 home runs this season, is being seriously considered for the National League’s Most Valuable Player, an honor that will be announced in late November. Braun plays on the Sabbath, but his Jewish identity runs deep. His father’s family was nearly destroyed in the Holocaust, and Braun has said that he is “proud to be a role model for young Jewish kids.” They have good reason to look up to him: In 2007, he became the first Jew ever to be named Rookie of the Year, and he has often been compared to such Jewish baseball greats as Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg and Al Rosen. Braun even shares a nickname with Greenberg and Rosen — “The Hebrew Hammer.”

This year, for the fourth consecutive year, Braun was selected to play in the All-Star Game. Even though his long-ball hitting and speed weren’t enough to power the Brewers into the World Series, it’s likely he’ll be wearing that World Series ring one day.
Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1963 was the last Jewish player to win the award. Other Jewish players who have been named MVP are Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers in 1940 and Al Rosen of the Cleveland Indians in 1953.
Braun this season batted .332 this season with 33 home runs, 111 RBI and 33 steals to help lead the Brewers to the Central Division title.
Some have taken to calling the Los Angeles-reared Braun “The Hebrew Hammer.”
“I am Jewish,” Braun said last year. “It’s something I’m really proud of. But I don’t want to make it into something more than what it is. I didn’t have a bar mitzvah. I don’t want to pretend that I did. I didn’t celebrate the holidays.
“It’s a touchy subject because I don’t want to offend anybody, and I don’t want groups claiming me now because I’m having success. But I do consider myself definitely Jewish. And I’m extremely proud to be a role model for young Jewish kids.”

It's Been Over a Month... Baseball in Israel

That sound of silence on my blog after the High Holidays should not be mistaken for lack of activity.  In fact, I am having a hard time remembering a period of time so active in our congregation.  Here's a quick sample (in no particular order):

* Temple Emanuel held its Third Jewish Festival.  Thousands from our area attended.  Yashar koach and Todah Rabbah to the 500+ volunteers who made this possible.

* Yevgeny Kutik performed a beautiful concert, the proceeds of which benefitted our local March of the Living scholarship fund.  You can view clips from his performance on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=429RWS0t1QM AND http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6H35n9PQTw)

* Tal Becker delivered a talk about the changing landscape in the Middle East and its implications for Israel.  This event, sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), was a showcase of pro-Israel activism and concern from our congregation and community.

* Speaking of AIPAC, I recently took three students from our area to Washington for AIPAC's annual High School Summit.  While in DC, they learned about the importance of the US-Israel relationship.  They also went to the office of Representative Brad Miller where they spoke with Ashely Orr, one of Representative Miller's Legislative Assistants about supporting the Foreign Aid bill, increasing sanctions on Iran to impede their nuclear ambitions, and standing by Israel by supporting calls for direct negotiations (instead of appeals to the UN).

* LGBT Shabbat which featured a talk by Joanna Blotner of the Human Rights Campaign as well as music from Noteworthy (a sub-group of the Triad Men's Choir).

* Local candidates for Greensboro Mayor and District 4 representative to City Council appeared at our Candidates Forum in advance of our recent elections.

* A successful launch of our second year of Melton adult mini-school classes in Greensboro.

* Pet-A-Palooza - a Sunday morning gathering in our outdoor chapel as we held our morning Religious School assembly and blessed our pets.  We did this on the Sunday morning immediately following Shabbat Noach, the Shabbat when the weekly reading includes the story of Noah's Ark.

I am sure that I am missing many things on this list.  Suffice it to say, we have been a beehive of meaningful and engaging Jewish activities.  What a blessing!

I will conclude this posting with a piece that I saw from the Forward:

Jewish Players Aim to Boost Israel Baseball Team

You can view the article here: http://forward.com/articles/146099/ or below where I have posted it in its entirety:

 

Three Jewish former major leaguers will help Israel field a competitive team in next year’s World Baseball Classic.

Shawn Green, Brad Ausmus and Gabe Kapler met this week in Los Angeles with Israeli baseball officials and promised to help out, the players told The Associated Press.

 

It is unclear whether any of the three would play for Israel themselves, the A.P. reported, though Green said that he would help “in any capacity.”

 

“If I felt like that was a role that the team needed, I would prepare for it…,” he told the A.P., adding: “I feel a strong connection to Israel and it would be an honor to put on the uniform.”

 

Peter Kurz, the Israel Association of Baseball’s secretary-general, told the A.P. that one of the three former ballplayers will likely be the Israeli team’s manager, and that all of them will help with coaching, recruiting and fundraising.

 

Israel will be one of 16 countries invited to play in next year’s qualifying round, and the top four teams advance to the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

 

“Today, the idea of bridging the gap between the generations of American/Jewish baseball fans and baseball fans in Israel is an enticing prospect,” Ausmus wrote in an e-mail cited by the A.P. “Hopefully, this is the beginning of renewed and long interest in baseball in Israel.”