On Friday night of Shabbos Lech Lecha,150 people joined Chabad of Baka’s unity dinner in honor of the worldwide Shabbos Project. A diverse crowd of olim from across the globe gathered at the beautiful Casablanca Hall in Jerusalem for a delectable three course meal and an inspirational program.
The highlight of the Shabbos meal was the featured speaker, who is a beloved member of the Chabad of Baka community, as well as a talented and charismatic basketball star.
Tamir Goodman, whom Sports Illustrated dubbed, “The Jewish Jordan,” shared his incredible stories of commitment to Yiddishkeit and Shabbos under the most challenging circumstances. Tamir gave up the dream of a lifetime, returning a full scholarship to the leading team in the nation, when they retracted their offer to organize the games around his Shabbos observance.
When Towson University, another Division One Basketball Team, heard what happened to Tamir with the University of Maryland, they offered him a scholarship and agreed to schedule their games around the Jewish calendar. Goodman became the first Orthodox professional basketball player.
From a Muslim roommate named Mouhamed, who supported Tamir’s Yiddishkeit, to the 7’1″ teammate named Tree who stood up for Goodman’s right to eat kosher, the Jewish basketball star encountered a lot of respect and support from his non-Jewish teammates.
Meanwhile, Jewish kids and adults throughout the nation were inspired by the Kiddush Hashem that he was making.
Goodman went on to play professional basketball in Israel and now lives in Baka with his family, where he continues to coach, educate, and inspire children in Israel. He also gives motivational talks around the world.
The Shabbos Project dinner ended with a delicious and heart-warming dessert. The Strauss ice cream cakes that were served came with a unique story.
Rabbi Avraham Hendel, who directs Chabad of Baka together with his wife Nechama Dina, shared the following:
On the Thursday before the dinner, he stood in line at the Osher Ad supermarket in Baka, his shopping cart loaded with ice cream cakes for the event. As Rabbi Hendel neared the cashier, an Israeli woman in the parallel line, noting the huge pile of frozen desserts, called out to him: “I’d like to pay for that.”
Taken aback, he responded, “It can be very costly.” He was shocked that a complete stranger was offering to give away a significant sum of money to a person and cause she had not yet identified.
The woman handed her credit card to the cashier and insisted, “Please charge me.”
Rabbi Hendel thanked the kind and generous woman profusely and explained that the dessert was for the 150 guests coming to the Shabbos Project Unity Dinner. The woman was excited and very proud to be part of the initiative. She left the supermarket with a huge smile on her face, after being showered with blessings.
An elderly couple who had been standing in line behind Rabbi Hendel asked incredulously, “Does this happen to you often?”
“Actually it’s the first time,” he responded, marveling, “This is the beauty of Am Israel!”
This Israeli woman’s expression of generosity and ahavas yisrael was touching, both to Rabbi Hendel and to the many guests who enjoyed hearing the story.
Hodaya Minke, an olah from Germany, was one of the attendees at the Shabbos Project Dinner.
After the event, she wrote, “It was an amazing warm-hearted evening, and all the speakers were faboulous. I laughed and cried. Thank you for your big and successful effort!”
Tzvi Bergstein, an active member at Chabad of Baka, shared, “What an amazing evening! Tamir spoke beautifully. His amazing stories about mesirat nefesh for shemirat Shabbat were very touching and inspirational!”
To read more about Tamir Goodman, to order his book or to reserve him for a talk, you can check out his website: http://www.tamirgoodman.com/
Wish we were there Our second home, our real home.
Amazing shluchim! You really inspire me- you’re the real deal