Miscellaneous Features

Jews in Sports: Sam Nahem: Intellectual, Soldier, Pitcher, Communist

By Bill Simons

The baseball canon includes several notable lefties. From the mound, Lefty Grove and Lefty Gomez earned Hall of Fame plaques. And the Jewish phenom Sandy Koufax might rank as the greatest of all southpaw pitchers. For only one major league pitcher does the designation “left…

Medical Bracelets Funded by Bat Mitzvah Project

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

This bat mitzvah project was personal. Shayna Foreman, the daughter of Abbi and Brett Foreman of Vestal, used the money she raised from her bat mitzvah project to buy medical alert bracelets because she knew their importance: two years ago, two friends of hers were …

Fathers' Day

By Bill Simons

On a Father’s Day several years ago, my father, my son and I stood before a large wall mirror adjusting our ties as we prepared to join the rest of the family. In the mirror image, the three generations were looking good – and upbeat. Then, my father turned to the empty s…

Andy Cohen: Marketing a Jewish Ballplayer

By Bill Simons

Andy Cohen was not the first Jewish major leaguer. That distinction belongs to Lip Pike, a good hitting outfielder who played in the maiden seasons of both the National Association (1871) and the National League (1876). Nor was Cohen the best Jewish baseball player. A couple …

Jewish Summer Food

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Jewish summer food has been on my mind now that the hot weather has hit – or rather the lack of food that could be called that. The only specific Jewish summer food I remember from my childhood is the cold borscht my father used to eat: the beet soup turned a beau…