Has there ever been so many Jewish NHL players of this caliber?

[Green]

Whatever happened to David Levin, surprised to see an OHL #1 not even get drafted

 

[FoSotC]

Legitimately curious why a player's faith is important/significant?

I'm not trying to dunk on the thread, I'm just trying to understand. I understand there is a lot of pride/community around Judaism, but do Jewish people really feel as that much 'apart' from the rest of society that there is a running tally of all the famous/successful people that share the same faith as some sort of connection to them?

Although hopefully someday it will seem equally bizarre, with race/nationality it makes more sense. People of colour in NA have been disproportionately disadvantaged (putting it lightly) and still working towards being seen as equal. Hockey being the most inaccessible sports there is, more people of colour playing at the highest level in some ways signifies progress for the sport and society. By the same token, players that have grown up in untraditional hockey markets (i.e. places without winter) is also something significant to celebrate as hockey fans.

So why is it the same sentiment felt with Jewish players?

Jewishness is not tied to religion, hence the existence of millions of completely irreligious Jews. It's also an ethnic identity. Larry David is a famous example of an openly atheistic Jew.

 

[daver]

Jewishness is not tied to religion, hence the existence of millions of completely irreligious Jews. It's also an ethnic identity. Larry David is a famous example of an openly atheistic Jew.

Of course it is. This is almost like saying Christians are not tied to Christianity. It has morphed into an ethnic identity but there is still an inclination to qualify people who identify as Jewish as non-practicing.

There likely are any "ethnic identities" that are more closely tied to a religion than Jewishness. E.g. you can describe someone as Polish but that doesn't trigger any particular connection to a specific religion.

 

[FoSotC]

By that I simply mean to say that Jewish people do not have to be religious. The poster I was responding to seemed to think that was the case by how they worded their opening statement.

 

[Profet]

Legitimately curious why a player's faith is important/significant?

I'm not trying to dunk on the thread, I'm just trying to understand. I understand there is a lot of pride/community around Judaism, but do Jewish people really feel as that much 'apart' from the rest of society that there is a running tally of all the famous/successful people that share the same faith as some sort of connection to them?

...

So why is it the same sentiment felt with Jewish players?

When you're targeted because of it, you tend to feel separated by it.

 

[ACLEVERNAME]

Legitimately curious why a player's faith is important/significant?

I'm not trying to dunk on the thread, I'm just trying to understand. I understand there is a lot of pride/community around Judaism, but do Jewish people really feel as that much 'apart' from the rest of society that there is a running tally of all the famous/successful people that share the same faith as some sort of connection to them?

Although hopefully someday it will seem equally bizarre, with race/nationality it makes more sense. People of colour in NA have been disproportionately disadvantaged (putting it lightly) and still working towards being seen as equal. Hockey being the most inaccessible sports there is, more people of colour playing at the highest level in some ways signifies progress for the sport and society. By the same token, players that have grown up in untraditional hockey markets (i.e. places without winter) is also something significant to celebrate as hockey fans.

So why is it the same sentiment felt with Jewish players?

Tribalism. We pretend and act as though we've "evolved" past that point but it's still there in plain view. You can't escape 'yourself'.

 

[NyQuil]

 

[Tawnos]

Of course it is. This is almost like saying Christians are not tied to Christianity. It has morphed into an ethnic identity but there is still an inclination to qualify people who identify as Jewish as non-practicing.

There likely are any "ethnic identities" that are more closely tied to a religion than Jewishness. E.g. you can describe someone as Polish but that doesn't trigger any particular connection to a specific religion.

Being Jewish is a heritage first and a religion second. The only reason why you have to qualify someone as non-practicing is because the name of the followers of the religion and the name of the heritage are the same. There is no ethnic group or heritage called Christians, otherwise you’d have to do the same there. What I always find interesting is that the default assumption among most non-Jews when someone says “this person is Jewish” is that they’re describing religion. As a Jew, when I hear that, my default is that they’re describing their heritage and we can get into religiosity later. Case in point: nothing in this thread reveals whether Adam Fox is a practicing Jew. The only thing we really know is that he’s Jewish by heritage.

Jewish as heritage isn’t something that’s happened recently. It really stems from the history of Jews in general, though especially in Europe through the Middle Ages. Jews stayed in their own communities in Egypt preceding the plagues. We stayed in our own enclaves in towns and cities across Europe through the Middle Ages and into the Industrial Revolution. A lot of this separation was by choice and a lot of it was also involuntary, whether by law or by necessity (yes, there were laws in places preventing Jews from living amongst the rest of society).

Also, I'd like to mention that you absolutely can describe someone as Polish and it triggers a connection to a specific religion. When I hear Polish, it triggers a connection to Catholicism. Same with Italian. And this is exactly my point. The vast majority of Polish and Italian people identify their religion as Catholic (quick Google search says 98% and 75% respectively). Polish is a heritage and Catholic is a religion. Jewish is a heritage and Judaism is a religion.

 

[KevinFinnerty]

Jimmy Vesey

 

[ACLEVERNAME]

A bizarre thread to say the least

How so? This a 'hockey' forum. While the game of hockey is what brings us all here; it is the extange of ideas, view points and 'controversy' which makes this a forum. That's kinda the point, IMO

 

[Il Stugotz]

Legitimately curious why a player's faith is important/significant?

There are a lot of places in North America where you can live and never interact with a Jewish person, so it's possible that people get all of their knowledge from stereotypes or through the internet. And there's a stereotype of Jewish people as being unathletic (in addition to lots of other insane nonsense). But that falls apart quickly with just a little bit of information, and I think any information that humanizes people is worth sharing.

 

[TGWL]

How can you tell someone is Jewish?

I read through all pages and the dad joke never came...

 

[Golden_Jet]

I would have no clue who is or isn’t Jewish.

 

[ACLEVERNAME]

I read through all pages and the dad joke never came...

Even 'dad jokes' are dangerous territory here. Tip-toe through shards of broken glass...

 

[Ezekial]

How can you tell someone is Jewish?

Their mom.

 

[daver]

Tribalism. We pretend and act as though we've "evolved" past that point but it's still there in plain view. You can't escape 'yourself'.

We have evolved (in Western society at least) where we strive to move beyond tribalism for the betterment of society and this is reflected in our laws.

Of course to deny our instinct for tribalism isn't realistic and I doubt we will ever evolve past it but it can serve as a societal foundation.

 

[shakes the clown]

I was so happy to see this thread. And very happy to see there are fellow tribe members posting here.

Great to see all those great players in the league. I hope they all get the opportunity/desire to one day play in the Maccabiah games in Israel. I played in 2013 in the old man division for USA and it was the experience of a lifetime. Hyman was actually there playing for Canada in the Open division, he was the baby on the team.

Some of these guys will get to play in the real Olympics which is amazing, but I hope they don't dismiss the Maccabiah just because it's not on the same competitive level as the real Olympics. Even if they wait till they retire, going to Israel to play in the over 40 would still be an amazing experience even fo someone who was a high level NHL pro. Just the experience of being in Israel and playing hockey there vs other Jews from Canada, USA, Israel etc is a life changing experience.

Mathieu Schneider deserves a mention

I used to skate with his brother and Billy Jaffe, who was an on camera NHL analyst for a few different networks and served as captain of the 1997 Maccabiah Games team that won gold

slight correction. the 1997 team with Jaffe won siliver, not gold. Jaffe then coached the silver winning Open team in 2013 and then came back as player coach for the bronze winning over 40 USA team in 2017.

I coached the over 40 team in 2022 and Jaffe gave us some nice help behind the scenes when we were holding try outs. Great guy.

 

[shakes the clown]

There are a lot of places in North America where you can live and never interact with a Jewish person, so it's possible that people get all of their knowledge from stereotypes or through the internet. And there's a stereotype of Jewish people as being unathletic (in addition to lots of other insane nonsense). But that falls apart quickly with just a little bit of information, and I think any information that humanizes people is worth sharing.

my friend used to tell the story of when he went to University of Michigan as a freshman his roommate had never met a Jewish person. After getting to know each other a bit the roommate confessed that when they first met he was confused as to why my friend didn't have horns. And this is a person smart enough to get into Michigan.

 

[GeeoffBrown]

How can you tell someone is Jewish?

instead of 1 day of presents, they get 8 craaaaazy nights

 

[Memento]

As a Jewish woman (my mom and her entire family are Jewish), it makes me happy to see people like me represented in sports.

Also, it's late, but Happy Purim to all of you! I hope you enjoyed the hamantashen (and if anyone is curious about hamantashen, look it up; it's very delicious).

 

[Absolut]

One Jewish mother is responsible for half of them.

 

[shakes the clown]

Just to open the eyes a bit for people here.....whenever we had tryouts or training camps for Maccabiah we were only allowed to have them if we (or Maccabi USA) hired armed security guards to hang out at the rink and keep us safe. This is in Boston, Philly, Miami and it was a couple years ago. This is "normal" for Jews in the USA.

 

[Voight]

This makes me happy.

 

[Kane One]

True. Came as close as anyone did to beating Ruth's home run record about 25 years before Maris broke it. Rod Carew and Sid Luckman (QB for those great Bears teams in the 1940s) would be a couple others.



Beliveau for sure. Hard to get better than that.

Rod Carew actually isn’t Jewish.

 

[Voight]

Whatever happened to David Levin, surprised to see an OHL #1 not even get drafted

Funny enough I googled him last week because I was curious.

He actually had a decent OHL career so I'm not sure why he was never drafted. He bounced around Europe since, currently in Romania.

David Levin at eliteprospects.com

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of David Levin, 1999-09-16 Tel Aviv, ISR Israel. Most recently in the Romania with SC Csíkszereda. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com