The "Right" to Play Ball
Over the past week, the Jewish paper of record (The New York Times) has reported a few times on the Shabbatroversy in Houston, TX.
Robert M. Beren Academy joined the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools for sports. Not surprisingly, TAPPS is dominated by Christian schools. It is Texas. When Beren joined, TAPPS told the school that there may be games during the playoffs on Shabbas. There were also no games to be held on Sunday, according to the by-laws.
After a week of pressure and very public backlash on the social medias and in the traditional press, Jewish orgs using very lame puns, and political and basketball stars chiming in, TAPPS has changed the tip off.
But I don’t care. It also seems that Beren didn’t care either. Sure the kids were bummed but the school made a CHOICE to join TAPPS and the school is filled with religious Jews. They clearly are going to pick Shabbat over B-ball any day and that is how it should be. I am lost at the outrage from the liberal movements and the community at large.
Congrats to the kids being taught that in a secular world, they can sue to get what they want religiously. Good luck with that in the real world. But now that they can play, I hope the beat the pants off those anti-Semites.
I haven’t dug into this topic too much, but I’ve seen a lot of people writing or posting links. At least in my circles, people seem to want to give this some publicity and petition TAPPS to change, but I haven’t read anything that would be remotely close to “outrage.”
Also, I think teaching kids to publicize a perceived injustice is great. Using the tools at hand to get what one wants is also a great skill to teach. They used secular publicity and eventually a lawsuit. There are regularly secular lawsuits regarding reasonable accommodations for religious belief. As long as they thought they had a real case & weren’t using the fear of a lawsuit cost to bully TAPPS, I just don’t see a problem with this. Even if the law suit happened well after they had to forfeit the game, I could see it as a good thing that would force people who normally didn’t think about diverse religious accommodation to give it more thought.
It is also positive that the teachers created a good environment by helping the students both advocate their cause wil preparing them to graciously lose if it didn’t work out.
Finally, there might be some anti-Semites or at least some Semitically-ignorant people in the TAPPS leadership, but, unless you know something specific, I think it’s highly inappropriate to call students at another school anti-Semites.
The anti-Semite thing was a joke …but yes, teaching people about religious tolerance and accommodation is important. However, in this case, Beren CHOOSE to join a group that was NOT shommer Shabbas and NEVER said anything about it until it was a problem. The outrage and the outside effort is silly.
Beren didn’t chose to join a group that wasn’t shommer Shabbas. They chose to play inter-varsity basketball. They worked out ways to play the regular season without violating Shabbat. Perhaps they assumed that, if a Shabbas issue ever came up, the league would make reasonable accommodations. .. and it’s worth noting that the league DID make reasonable accommodations. I wish the league did this before it became national news & they were threated by a law suit, but the did it and the world didn’t stop spinning.
The alternative is that orthodox schools only set up activities that let their students interact with Jewish kids. For kids who are already religiously segregated during the school day, it would be terrible if the school cut off opportunities to interact with a more diverse group of kids.
Dan, I think you are missing the point. My issues here is the choice. And I also think this comes down to the modern world and the religious worlds inability to work perfectly together.
First of all, these kids did nothing. It was the school. The religious school choose to take part in an org that didn’t share its religious convictions so to engage in sports. This was a values choice. Do we value our kids chances to win championships or our religious obligations more? The answer is a no brainer. But still a CHOICE.
I agree there’s a choice here, but the choice isn’t whether or not a school should join a specific league for a specific sport. This could be about other sports, debate clubs, math teams, music or stage performances, and community service.
The choice is It’s whether or not the school encourages and supports its students interactions with the larger community. One can be fully aware the the modern & religious worlds don’t work perfectly together, and still choose to participate in the modern world. For an Orthodox school, it means there will be occasional friction, but that friction is better than the alternative of not choosing to engage at all.
When this showed up on my Facebook page, I told Dan Sieradski I thought he had set up a phony NYT article as a Purim prank.
I agree with you that it sends these kids the wrong message; however, the message that offends me isn’t that they can sue to get what they want – because, crappy as it is, that’s the way the world works – but rather that if you have money, a lawyer will file whatever lawsuit you tell him to, no matter how frivolous or absurd.
If these were poor kids, they’d never have been able to get a legal aid organization to touch this. Even if it were a more serious matter, they’d probably have trouble – but write a check, and there you are.
These kids aren’t being taught that the system works. They’re being taught that money buys equitable treatment, and that it’s okay.
That isn’t what I am saying. They were involved with the risk of not being able to be involved on Shabbas. It seemed to work fine for years.
I’m sure it did, and I understand your point, but you also said, at the bottom of the post, “Congrats to the kids being taught that in a secular world, they can sue to get what they want religiously.”
I agree that it’s a poor message to send them, but the social and monetary inequity bother me even more.
Jeff, that post was for Dan Ab, not you…I am 100% on your side.
Remember Tamir Goodman?
After his 11th grade year his Jewish (yeshiva) high school eliminated the basketball team because the rabbis thought that too much importance was placed being on basketball.
And, a few years back I heard a radio interview with Tamir and he came across as completely fine that his observant lifestyle probably prevented him from becoming a big-time college basketball player, and maybe even a long-term pro in Israel.
You should have heard the callers into the program (most of whom were African-American). One after the next, they couldn’t stop praising Tamir and saying how much respect they had for him for living by his beliefs.
Contrast that approach to Robert M. Beren Academy’s. Sometimes the modern Orthodox world lives up to its negative stereotypes.
And when the University of Maryland rescinded its scholarship offer to Goodman he didn’t cry about it and threaten a lawsuit . . . .
what he said–through his actions–was that his observant lifestyle was central to him, much more than anything else.
I read over some articles on this subject–I was mistaken in blaming the school–it’s the children and their parents who had threatened legal action (as dcc pointed out to begin with, and I misread.)
The pomposity of the principal was something else as well: “The sacred mission will trump excellence in the secular world”. Seriously? Which “sacred mission” would that be – the sacred mission to make enough money to be able to sue the goyim every time they don’t do precisely what you want them to?
Who talks that way in real life? He sounds like a comic book character.
To me, TAPPS refusing to move the game was just an asshole move. Why shouldn’t they get called out for being assholes? They don’t have a “right” to be free from criticism. I presume the Beren Academy pays dues or fees to participate in their sports leagues, just like all the other members. What principle was TAPPS standing on in refusing to move the game?
What principle was TAPPS standing on in refusing to move the game?
But why does it even matter? It’s only a basketball game. Should the Jewish school not send the message to its students that many things really aren’t that important, in relation to Torah?
(I understand if somebody disagrees with that notion, but it seems out of place in a “religious” community.)
I presume if they hadn’t moved the game, they wouldn’t have played, which would send the message that many things really aren’t that important, in relation to Torah. And that would have been admirable.
I just don’t see where the obligation comes from to take whatever they get and just be happy they got to play any ball at all. I don’t see what the Jewish players did wrong by standing up for themselves.
To me, it’s like eruvin. I think eruvin are silly, but it basically costs society nothing and hurts no one to allow them to be put up. When some local zoning board or neighborhood association tries to stop it, I think it’s a jerk move.
And I should add that the school should have clarified these issues more when they joined TAPPS, and I’m not at all sure that the Jewish parents would have prevailed in court. I’m not a lawyer, but given that this is a private school that voluntarily joined a private organization, I suspect the legal issues would turn as much or more on the membership conditions/responsibility/expectations as on any actual religious rights. There probably isn’t a “right” to play ball, any more than there is a “right” to use public utility easements to string your own wire, which you happen to imbue with religious significance.
But the reason TAPPS came in for so much criticism, including from non-Jewish sources, isn’t because of the super powers of whiny Jews. It’s because from any kind of common decency/common courtesy standpoint, TAPPS – morally and ethically – was in the wrong.
To me, it’s like eruvin. I think eruvin are silly, but it basically costs society nothing and hurts no one to allow them to be put up.
Yes, but an eruv doesn’t inconvenience anyone.
It’s because from any kind of common decency/common courtesy standpoint, TAPPS – morally and ethically – was in the wrong.
We don’t know how big a deal it was for them to change the scheduling at the last minute. I suppose one could argue this would be covered by the prohibition against doing something that would make Judaism or the Jewish people appear foolish to “the nations”.
I guess we’ll have to disagree about whether this makes Jews appear foolish to the nations. I can think of a lot of things that appear more foolish from the outside.
I meant making a big deal out of it and threatening litigation makes them appear foolish – not the act of observance (although, in Texas, it might).
I don’t see what the Jewish players did wrong by standing up for themselves.
But what do they need to stand up for themselves about? The league let their team play all season, and the league was happy to let the team play on 9pm Friday night.
If they are willing to go to court to have the game moved then it shows how important the game is. True, when push comes to shove, the students would not play on Shabbat. But I would think that “religious” people wouldn’t place so much importance on a basketball game to begin with, not to the point where lawsuits are even considered.
@ Jeff … I understood what you meant.
@ Jonathan … I just don’t see why having a strong desire to play in the semifinal game, when it’s the first time your team has made it that far, is in contradiction with being religious. Being religious doesn’t mean that you abandon all the hopes and dreams and mundane pleasures that everyone else has. If law schools (just to pick a random example) let in Jews, but all the bar exams were always scheduled on Saturday morning, I don’t think it would indicate any sort of lack of faith if shomer shabbos Jews who really enjoy the law and really want to be lawyers objected to that arrangement.
It almost seems like you see it as a test. Most of the other teams also come from religious schools. They weren’t forced to choose because no games are played on Sundays. Does that mean the Christian players are less religious? After all, if they were really religious, they would schedule the games on Sundays just so they could forfeit them to show how important going to church is!
I just don’t see the connection or the contradiction that you do.
Being religious doesn’t mean that you abandon all the hopes and dreams and mundane pleasures that everyone else has
Trust me that I am nobody’s model for a “religious” person, but I would think that Jewish schools would want to impart the message that a Jewish child’s hopes and dreams should mean becoming a decent person who lives a life infused with mitzot.
The boys were granted this mundane pleasure, btw. They’ve had the enjoyment of a basketball season and playing in this league. And, btw., if the goal is to have the same dreams as everybody else then the boys were given the right to pursue that dream like everybody else–the could have played their game at 9pm Friday.
Is that the goal of a Torah-inspired life, to have the same hopes and dreams as everybody else?
If law schools (just to pick a random example) let in Jews, but all the bar exams were always scheduled on Saturday morning, I don’t think it would indicate any sort of lack of faith if shomer shabbos Jews who really enjoy the law and really want to be lawyers objected to that arrangement.
It’s not a perfect example because the ability to become a lawyer allows a person to provide parnasa to their family (which makes it easier for the family to try to become good people.) Also, lawyers are able to defend their friends and community. But, when push comes to shove, I would think that Jewish schools would teach their students not to bemoan the fact they can’t take bar exams, because becoming a lawyer shouldn’t be a hope or dream of theirs.
Does that mean the Christian players are less religious? After all, if they were really religious, they would schedule the games on Sundays just so they could forfeit them to show how important going to church is!
I’m not an expert on Christianity, but my impression is that a Christian is one who accepts Christ into his/her heart. So, if there were a scenario where a sports league required players to reject Christ as their savior in order to play, I would think that Christian schools would teach their young people that Christ is paramount, and that their dream should be to love Christ, not to play in a sports league.
Here’s a an example, when Tamir Goodman was in the 11th grade in his Jewish school in Baltimore, he gained national attention for his basketball prowess and his scholarship offer to play at the University of Maryland–a college basketball power.
What happened the next year? The rabbis of that day school said that the young people in the community were getting the impression that basketball is really important, and that they should “dream” of becoming a basketball player. So what did the rabbis do? They closed down the basketball team and even kicked Tamir out of the school.
I guess I’m a curmudgeon, because that approach makes more sense to me–from the perspective of what Jewish schools are supposed to be teaching–then parents threatening to go to court because their son has been forced to play in one basketball game or observing Shabbat.
Jonathan,
I really don’t understand why you object so strongly to their petition to move the game. Like…I understand trying to teach that Torah > sports. Which I think they were doing, given that they weren’t going to play on Friday night. But it doesn’t go against Torah to petition for an alternate game day. So what’s the problem? I agree, the huge fuss is probably a bit much, and that may be a problem. But you seem to have an issue with any attempt to change the game date. Can you explain exactly why that prioritizes basketball over Torah?
It should be remembered that the league *had in fact made accommodations* last year for a Seventh Day Adventist team whose championship game was scheduled for Saturday. The implication from that incident suggests that flexibility is not in fact inherently impossible in the TAPPS rules and makes one wonder why some people can get Shabbos accommodations but not others.
I really don’t understand why you object so strongly to their petition to move the game.
I understand the petition to move the game, but I don’t understand the legal threats that followed that petition’s rejection.
But it doesn’t go against Torah to petition for an alternate game day.
It must certainly does not.
Can you explain exactly why that prioritizes basketball over Torah?
Because I would think that a Torah-based school would want to impart to its students that some things are very important (mitzvot, acts of loving kindness, tikkun olam) and that some things aren’t very important (like a basketball game).
What are these children going to remember in 20 years, that the observance of Shabbat is so important to them that they passed on a chance that boys in non-Torah schools would have jumped at?
Or, basketball is so important that their Dads and Moms were willing to spend tens-of-thousands, if not hundreds-of-thousands, of dollars to pursue legal action so that they could play in one basketball game?