(JTA) — The Los Angeles Dodgers selected power-hitting Jewish infielder Jake Gelof with the 60th pick in the 2023 MLB Draft on Sunday night.
The 21-year-old Delaware native holds the all-time home run record at the University of Virginia, where he slugged 48 home runs across three seasons. His 23 home runs in 2023 are also a single-season program record, and he is the first player in...
(JTA) — Ben Helfgott, one of two known Holocaust survivors to go on to compete in the Olympics, died Friday at 93.
Helfgott survived the Holocaust as a teenager, and he went on to become a champion weightlifter and a champion of Holocaust education. He was knighted in 2018.
“Sir Ben Helfgott was one of the most inspirational people I have known,” said Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim...
LA PLATA, Argentina (JTA) — The most successful run in Israeli soccer history came to an end on Thursday, as the country’s under-20 team lost in the semifinals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup to Uruguay.
The 1-0 loss means Israel will play the winner of the other semifinal match between Italy and South Korea in a third place game.
(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — As a child, Holocaust survivor Leo Ullman attended baseball games at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn with his aunt, who believed it would help him become more American.
Yesterday, Ullman, a longtime New York Mets fan and prolific memorabilia collector, made an appearance at Citi Field. But this time, he was on the mound.
(Jewish Press of Tampa Bay via JTA) — She may not have the same velocity on her fastball as an MLB pitcher, but Helen Kahan still had plenty to be proud of as she threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees took the field on May 5 — her 100th birthday.
Kahan stood confidently on the Tropicana Field pitcher’s...
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — Around 4,000 Jewish Argentines showed up to cheer on Israel at their first appearance in a FIFA World Cup tournament in over 50 years, at times chanting songs in Spanish. But their festive mood changed after a Palestinian flag surfaced in the crowd — and after the Israeli team lost narrowly in the final minutes to Colombia.
(JTA) — Decades before Sandy Koufax sat out the first game of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur, and 18 years before Greenberg chased Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record in the late 1930s, a college athlete made some overlooked Jewish sports history.
Arnold Horween, a burly Chicagoan, became the first Jewish captain of the Harvard University football team in 1920 — an...
(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Before eulogizing their friend on Thursday night, Beth Weiss draped a rainbow flag with a Jewish star over the podium.
It was a potent symbol of the twin identities that Weiss and others who knew Herschel Siegel said he had struggled to reconcile, particularly as a student and 2021 graduate of Yeshiva University. Siegel died by suicide Friday in Atlanta,...
(JTA) — Rugby’s global governing body has determined that the South African Rugby Union’s decision to disinvite an Israeli team from an international competition last month was not discriminatory.
But the CEO of the Israeli team isn’t buying the argument that the cancelation had to do with security threats, as South Africa argued and World Rugby concluded.
“We expected World Rugby to take a closer look at...
(JTA) — Dan Snyder, the Jewish owner of the Washington Commanders football team who is under multiple investigations over sexual harassment and toxic workplace culture allegations, has agreed in principle to sell his NFL franchise to a group led by Jewish billionaire Josh Harris for a record $6.05 billion.
Snyder and his wife and co-owner Tanya Snyder had announced in November that they would explore a possible...
