This week I had a business meeting with filmmaker Dani Merkin in Boca. I was introduced to him through a friend but didn’t know much about him or his work. His newest project sounded interesting so I wanted to see if I could help. He was in Florida for a showing of his 2016 movie, On the Map along with Israeli basketball icon, Tal Brody. I met Tal a few times in random occasions and it was great to see him again for a few minutes during the meeting. During the meeting with Dani, we not only discussed his new project but also talked about On the Map, a movie about the 1977 Israeli team that won the European basketball championship. As a sports fan who is Jewish and that grew up in the 70s and early 80s, I knew the team had won the championship but didn’t know the story. Dani graciously sent me a screener to watch the film.
Tal Brody and me
I watched the film and something happened that I did not expect. I got incredibly emotional. The story, from 1977, had so many links to what is happening in our world today. In the movie, they talked openly about the Yom Kippur war of 1973, “the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.” Unfortunately, today we know that the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust is now October 7, 2023.
I knew that in 1977, the USSR was persecuting the Jews who lived there. We all knew about the Refuseniks and our Jewish hero, Anatoly (now Natan) Sharansky. We prayed for them in synagogue. There were marches and rallies in DC. There were local rallies. We raised money for them. As a 9-year-old boy, I didn’t know that they refused to play the Israeli team in the European championships because they didn’t recognize Israel’s existence. They wouldn’t play in Israel and they wouldn’t play in Moscow. Today, it is South Africa stripping the captaincy from the Jewish player on their cricket team because of Israel. The International Ice Hockey Federation removed the Israeli team from its competitions until under massive pressure, they relented and just this week restored them. Israeli and Jewish athletes are facing problems all over the world just to compete. There are musicians who refuse to play concerts in Israel. I have a list of actors and musicians that I won’t support, won’t watch their movies or tv shows, won’t listen to their music, because of their hatred of Israel. Have we really made any progress since 1977?
My friend Todd Sukol and I meeting the iconic Anatoly Natan Sharanksy
In 1977, FIBA, The International Basketball Federation, pressured the Soviet Union to play the Israeli team. After much negotiation, they agreed on the condition that the game was played in Virton, Belgium, a small out of the way town. The arena only held about 400 fans, almost all of the Israeli fans. It was truly a David vs. Goliath match as the powerhouse Red Army team, had won the FIBA Euro Cup Championship in 1961, 1963, 1969 and 1971. Nobody, except the Israeli team, thought they could actually win against the Russians. In the film, Ambassador Michael Oren talks about how just getting the game played was a win.
Ambassador Michael Oren – he will be here in Orlando in February 2024 for the JNF event!
Today it seems like just getting people to remember the hostages held in captivity by Hamas, underground in tunnels, is a herculean effort. As Kfir Bibas celebrated his 1st birthday as a hostage in the tunnels, the world mainly remains silent. As Hamas announces the murder of Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky, hostages in Hamas captivity, South Africa is accusing Israel of Genocide. As Israel dropped leaflets and made phone calls to warn civilians of upcoming bombings, Hamas refused to let the civilians leave, uses human shields, turns hospitals, mosques, schools and homes into military targets, it’s Israel being accused of war crimes. The groups who support women’s rights and speak out against sexual violence, fail to do so because they are Jewish and Israeli women. Just as in 1977 when Israel was held to a different standard and not recognized, today it is the same.
In 1977, there was a lot going on in the world. As Israel was still dealing with the impact of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the United States still dealing with the impact of Watergate, the Viet Nam war, and the oil crisis. Israel was dealing with the Dollar Account Affair scandal while in the United States we had the impact of Elvis dying. Today there is a lot going on in the world. The Ukraine-Russia war, the border crisis, the impact of Covid-19 and inflation over the past 3+ years, the Israel-Gaza war. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Tal Brody, Israel’s Mr. Basketball is an amazing story. A star player who was the first round pick of the Baltimore Bullets, he elected to move to Israel and play Israeli basketball instead. Both David Stern (z’l) and Bill Walton, talk about how extraordinary what he did was. It was unheard of. When drafted by the US army, he served 2 years in Viet Nam to complete his service before returning to Israel to play. He had decided to retire and everybody knew it. Just before the championship game against Italy, who had won the championship 6 of the prior 10 years, his father had a heart attack and was in ICU in New Jersey. He flew home to be with his father. Nobody knew if he would be back in time for the championship game. This game was why he went to play in Israel. To bring Maccabi Tel Aviv from a team that lost in the first round to a team that could compete for championships. And yet, days before he flew across the world to be with his father. When his father awoke, he told him to go back. There was nothing he could do sitting with his father but he had an important role to play for Israel and the Jewish people. So he went to the airport to pick up his ticket to fly to the game however there was no ticket there. Luckily, one of the managers of the airline knew who he was from watching him play and put him on the plane, without a ticket, so he was able to get back to the team 24 hours before gametime.
Just like Tal, we all have important roles to play in our life. As parents, children, siblings, spouses, friends, mentors, bosses, and employees. Knowing what they are and balancing them is where the challenge comes in. Tal knew he had to be with his dad. His dad knew that Tal needed to be with his teammates, playing for Israel and the Jewish people. We often make mistakes when we confuse our important roles because we think we know best. Just like Tal had his coach and teammates say go see your dad, he also had his dad to say, no go be with your teammates and play the role you need to for Israel and the Jewish people. We have those people in our lives, and it is so critical to listen to them. When my dad got sick, I knew I had to play the role of son first. I had to do what I could to help my dad and support my mom before anything else. Once I did what I could, I needed to be husband, father, brother, uncle, employee, and supervisor. After my dad died and shiva ended, one of the hardest things for me was leaving my mother’s house to come home to mine. My primary role as my mother’s support had changed and as difficult as it was to return to my life and my other roles, I had to do it. Our roles are fluid, as Tal showed. He went from the star of the team and Mr. Israeli Basketball to son to player on the team all in a week. We do that all the time and again, like Tal, need to use our support system to help us with those transitions.
My role taking care of my dad. When my dad could finally eat non-hospital food, I ordered him this. I can still hear his voice as he enjoyed it and it still puts a smile on my face.
My rolse as son with my mom
My role as dad. Taking my son Matthew to go watch my son Evan coach college football and the obligitory ‘dad takes college kids out to eat’ photo.
My role as mentor with Shelley Greenspan who is now the Biden Administration’s Liaison to the Jewish community.
As a huge sports fan who grew up in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the US Olympic Hockey team of 1980 is burned into my being. “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!!’ is as loud in my head today as it was coming from Al Michaels through my TV set in 1980. Mike Eruzione and Jim Craig are childhood heros. Herb Brooks was the epitome of a coach we all wanted growing up. Mark Johnson, Dave Silk, and Buzz Johnson were personal favorites. Dave Christian, Ken Morrow, Mike Ramsey, Neal Broten were future NHL stars I followed throughout their careers. 44 years later, I remember their names and what they accomplished.
As a Jew, the names that were burned into my head were not athletes. They were Moshe Dayan, who I spoke about at my Bar Mitzvah and was a huge fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv, David Ben Gurion, Golda Meir, Menachem Begin, Anatoly Sharansky, Yitzhak Rabin, Yoni Netanyahu (the only Israeli casualty of the raid on Entebbe and Bibi’s older brother). They were political and military leaders. They were the founders of Israel. Quite different. Yet now I have new names to match the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team. They are part of the 1977 Israeli European Champions Cup winning basketball team.
Ralph Klein, a Holocaust survivor who was the head coach of the team.
Tal Brody, an American who gave up an NBA career to put Israel ‘on the map’.
Aulcie Perry, an American who was the last cut by the Knicks in 1977, resulting in him playing in Israel. Aulcie, an African American man, converted to Judaism. Dani made a movie about him that I now need to see.
Jim Boatwright, an American who made the key shots in the championship game
Miki Berkovich, an Israeli with an incredibly sweet jump shot
Eric Minkin, Bob Griffin, and Lou Silver, a group of Americans committed to Israel and Israeli basketball.
Motti Oresti, Shuki Schwartz, Eyal Yaffe, Eran Arad, and Hanan Indibo, the Israeli players who were the rest of the team.
When this team won the European Cup Championship, Israel exploded in joy. While Prime Minister Rabin resigned that same day, the country was filled with pride and joy. We can learn from the players, coaches, and the citizens of Israel in 1977 that despite, or perhaps because of what happened on October 7, 2023, we need to be proud of being Jewish. We have an obligation, just like the players on that team did, to show that we belong in a world that often times doesn’t want us and doesn’t think we deserve to exist.
There are many key moments in Israeli history that I always think of.
The signing of the Declaration of Independence
The Six Day War
The 1972 Munich Olympics
The 1977 visit of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem
The Camp David Accords
To these I now add the 1977 European Championship winning Maccabi Tel Aviv team.
Tal Brody with the championship cup
Moshe Dayan, a big fan of the team, greeting them before a game
The team photo
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