Israel Business Management

Though the title of the blog is Israel Business Management, I reserve the right to bring up other topics and today is one of those days.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the induction ceremony at the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (IJSHOF). The IJSHOF is located on the campus of the Wingate Institute in Netanya, Israel.

The ceremony is held every four years to coincide with the Maccabiah Games, currently going on all over Israel (and adding to the traffic that is just typically a part of life.) So, the honorees could really have been inducted from 2006 until now. The inductees included Jason Lezak, the swimmer that gave Michael Phelps a huge assist in the quest for 8 gold medals in Beijing by overtaking the French swimmer in the anchor leg; Mitch Gaylord, the gold medal gymnast from the 1980s; Maury Allen, the famed sportswriter.

So, where does the pride come in?

First, I, personally, get a special feeling of pride when Jews accomplish feats outside of academia. Sure, I also feel pride when a Jew wins a Nobel Prize, but there is something added when the accomplishment is not tied to books. So, when there are famed Jewish athletes being honored for their sports accomplishments, I get a special feeling of pride.

Second, one of the inductees was Keren Leibowitz, a gold medal Paralympic swimmer. A clip was shown of her winning one of her gold medal races in Sydney and the awarding of her gold medal with the Hatikva, Israel's national anthem, being played in the background. Each time I hear the song at a sports event, again, that feeling of pride swells inside of me.

Third, on a personal note, my maternal grandfather, Haskell Cohen, was very involved in sports and Israel. He is also enshrined in the IJSHOF himself. It always gives me a sense of pride seeing what he worked for during his life and how much things continue to flourish in Jews, sports and Israel.

There were two athletes in attendance yesterday that I had to meet (though one I had met before):

Tal Brody, the legendary Israeli-American basketball player, who made aliya from the US and led the Maccabi Tel Aviv team to its first European title. There is not a middle aged or older Israeli who does not recognize Tal's famous quote, after beating the Russian basketball team. "We are on the map and we will stay on the map. Not just in sports, but in everything." This quote continues to be paraphrased or quoted, even as recently as last weekend by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Dolph Schayes, the Hall of Fame NBA player, who had retired as the leading scorer of his era. Dolph is famous for his two handed set shot, at a time when the NBA was moving to jump shooters. He later became the supervisor for the referees in the NBA. Dolph also coached the USA Maccabiah team in 1997, when his son, Dan (later an NBA player himself) played center.

Separately, both of these men referred to my grandfather as the reason they got involved in the Maccabiah and, ultimately, with Israel.

As an American who has chosen to live in Israel, I know that my grandfather, though he passed on 9 years ago, looks down and feels pride at his grandson's home in the Holy Land.