Why I have little sympathy for Kesher Israel

Recently, Congregation Kesher Israel of Washington, DC has been in the news because its' former Rabbi, Barry Freundel was accused of illegally videotaping female congregants before going to the Mikvah (ritualarium). He was fired and has a court date next month and faces up to six years in prison if convicted of voyeurism.

Yes it's a horrible crime and yes it never should have happened and I feel bad for the victims.

However, this synagogue, which is supposed to be the Ohev Zedek (OZ, young modern singles shul) of the Nation's Capital had this man as their rabbi/spiritual leader for twenty-five years. Shouldn't there have been some clues that he may not have been fit to lead them? What person would want to take this job of leading this synagogue who seemed to put their eggs in one basket and now the eggs went sour?

At some point, there was a disconnect between the Rabbi and the congregants/board of directors. That never was addressed until it was too late.

Sports Thoughts

1) In my opinion, Washington, Washington State and Gonzaga all NEED to fire their basketball coaches after this season. These coaches are too "nice and polite" and aren't demanding of championship caliber performance enough. That is why Gonzaga always loses early in the NCAA tournament, Washington doesn't win big games and Washington State had one two-year stretch of decent performance before the coach left for Virginia. Gonzaga needs a Bobby Knight-coach who will motivate and occasionally berate referees. You need that in order to gain an edge.

2) How come the NHL Owners and media don't come out against Gary Bettman and demand that this jerk IMMEDIATELY resign for acting like a dictator and alienating players and other sponsors? He is a first-class megalomaniac with a Napoleon complex who has ruined hockey, as an American he doesn't truly understand hockey and is trying to make it sissier. Are people that cowardly against Bettman, Selig and Stern? I suppose so. These men are Napoleon wannabes and I fail to understand why other people don't stand up to them. Just because they went to law school doesn't make them the King of the Universe.

Bachelor versus Bachur

There is a HUGE difference between being a bachelor and a bachur (Yeshiva guy). A bachelor has a profession, or is preparing for one, whether in University or Graduate School, a bachur "takes college" to make a Parnasah (livelihood).

 

Another difference is that for a bachelor, Judaism is a nice hobby, not an all-inclusive lifestyle, to be spent at all hours. A bachur spends his time learning and studying and other "Jewish activities". If it means that Shabbos ends an hour and half after Sundown, so be it. It's not like he has a hot date or a boss who wants him to come into the office to work on a trial or big business deal.

Difference #3: Bachelors and Single Jewish guys are NOT supposed to be eunuchs. That means that we need some socializing time with members of the opposite sex. Because of this, it is UNREASONABLE to expect us to spend 4.5-6 hours EVERY SHABBOS with you older couples and younger couples with young children. It doesn't do us any good. Your priorities are different than ours. It's NOT OUR JOB to be the "community fall-back option" if a Jewish organization needs a "Rabbi" or Chazzan". There's more to that position than reciting the words or singing the notes without vowels.

Difference #4:  Basically, other than being a donor and occasional participant in synagogue, we aren't meant for the Orthodox world. Our priorities are our jobs/careers, living quarters (houses, apartments), transportation (bus, car or trying to buy and maintain one) and socializing with guys and women.Additionally, the types of women and men that we find interesting WON'T BE FOUND in the synagogue and Orthodox Jewish Community. Accept it and move on.

Good teams, AWFUL ballparks

Of the eight remaining teams in the major league baseball playoffs, two teams have truly awful or substandard ballparks. They are the Oakland Athletics and the Tampa Bay Rays. Oakland plays at the O.com Coliseum (or Oakland Coliseum) and the Rays play at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL, just outside Tampa. The Oakland Coliseum is an outdated multipurpose facility that isn't even good for the Raiders, let alone the A's. Tropicana Field is essentially this generation's Kingdome, a monstrosity that doesn't work for baseball in the 21st century. I beg Allan H. (Bud) Selig, to coax these teams and their cities to build appropriate ballparks for the 21st century. The two wild card losers, Cleveland and Cincinnati, have attractive ballparks, Progressive Field and Great American Ballpark. Too bad that they couldn't have replaced these two teams and their lousy ballparks.

What a Professional Organization Looks Like

Rather than continue to lambast the Seattle Mariners, Seahawks, Blazers, Gonzaga Bulldogs, etc. for their ineptitude, let's focus on a few solid sports organizations:

NBA: San Antonio Spurs:
Joined the NBA in 1976-1977 after the demise of the ABA (American Basketball Association). Made the playoffs about 28 times or so. Reached the NBA Finals 5 times, winning 4 of them.

You never hear much about the Spurs in the off-season or even in the regular season, for that matter. Only in the playoffs, when it counts.

One other cool thing about the Spurs, the owner, Peter Holt, has contributed money to the Republican Party and the current Governor of Texas, Rick Perry.

NHL: Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings
Chicago has won 2 of the last 4 Stanley Cups. Since Rocky Wirtz assumed control of the team after the death of his father, the team has had a great turnaround.

Detroit has made the playoffs every year since 1990. They've won 11 Stanley Cups, only Montreal has more.

MLB: St. Louis Cardinals

Just win and have professional players and attitudes. Not to mention great fans.

NFL: New York Giants and New England Patriots

Mariners loss and mediocrity

After last night's meltdown in Massachusetts, I have come to the conclusion that the sports fans in Seattle are way too accepting of mediocrity, which further reinforces my decision to root for Chicago/Midwest teams. If we had an owner who gave a damn about the team, someone would have been canned last night or this morning. Not a player, a coach or GM or scouting director which would send a message to the Mariners and rest of the division that we won't put up with mediocrity.

Hall of Shame weekend

This weekend, Major League Baseball holds its annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Unfortunately, not one player will be inducted. Instead the honors will be limited to a writer from Philadelphia, a broadcaster from Toronto, who unfortunately passed away recently and a few old-time Negro Leaguers. While I don't wish to denigrate these individuals, and they have worthy accomplishments, the point of this post is that this weekend, which is usually one of the highlights of the summer, is a black eye for Major League Baseball.

Yes, we know why the writers didn't elect anyone into the Hall of Fame. It's spelled S-T-E-R-O-I-D-S!

However, if that's true, then why bother having an elaborate ceremony? The NFL doesn't have qualms about putting people in the Hall of Fame who weren't choir boys, such as Lawrence Taylor and O.J. Simpson. But these baseball writers are a bunch of old white stuffed shirts who want to reminisce about the good old days, then count me out.

Maybe the Baseball Hall of Fame should scale back the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony.

In very Orthodox Jewish circles, there are certain Rabbis who have set rules about how big certain celebrations can be, such as a limit on the number of guests invited as well as the number of courses that can be served at the meal, so as not to make other members of the community uncomfortable if they don't have the means to have a 500-guest wedding. Baseball may be served to emulate such a practice, if the writers are going to be persnickety about every player from the 1990's-early 2000's who they suspect of steroid use.