Judaism's Encounter With American Sports

Judaism's Encounter with American Sports examines how sports entered the lives of 19th-21st century American Jewish men and women and how the secular values of sports threatened religious identification and observance. What do Jews do when a society - in this case, a team - "chooses them in," but demands commitments that clash with ancestral ties and practices?
Jeffrey S. Gurock uses the experience of sports to illuminate an important mode of modern Jewish religious conflict and accommodation to America. He considers the defensive strategies American Jewish leaders have employed in response to sports' challenges to identity, such as using temple and synagogue centers, complete with gymnasiums and swimming pools, to attract the athletically inclined to Jewish life. Within the suburban frontiers of post-World War II America, sports-minded modern Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform rabbis competed against one another for the allegiances of Jewish athletes and all other Americanized Jews. In the present day, tensions among Jewish movements are still played out in the sports arena.

Jeffrey S. Gurock is Libby M. Klaperman Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University.