Israel Matzav: Family of 'Palestinian' terror victim were Bob Kraft's guests of honor at the Super Bowl

Thursday, February 09, 2017

Family of 'Palestinian' terror victim were Bob Kraft's guests of honor at the Super Bowl

I am sure that many of you recall Ezra Schwartz, the American yeshiva student (who studied at the same high school I did) who was murdered in a 'Palestinian' terror attack here in Israel a bit more than a year ago. More of you may recall that Patriots' owner Robert Kraft ordered a moment of silence to honor Ezra before a Monday night football game in Foxboro during the shiva, after Kraft himself had shown up at the family's home to pay a condolence call (and embarrassed then President Hussein Obama into calling the family).

On Sunday, the Schwartz family got to see one heck of a football game - as Kraft's VIP guests. That's right, the Schwartz's (pictured above) were Patriots' owner Robert Kraft's VIP guests at Super Bowl LI in Houston.

Oh, and this is far from the only not-so-random act of kindness on Bob Kraft's list. Remember Max Steinberg, the IDF lone soldier (who was killed in Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in the summer of 2014) whose mother was asked by buffoon John Kerry how her day is going? Here's what Bob Kraft sent Steinberg's parents in Los Angeles.

In fact, many of Kraft's acts of kindness seem to connect football to Israel. This is from the third link above.

Kraft is also a huge supporter of Israel and routinely takes football players to goodwill trips to Israel, even during the height of the Second Intifada.

Kraft took Patriots players on the tours, including star quarterback Tom Brady in 2006 – who, though not Jewish, keeps a menorah that Kraft gave him in his Brookline home. These players in turn share stories and photos of Israel to their millions of fans with counterbalance all the negative press and opinions about Israel.

One of Kraft’s most distinctive philanthropic projects is supporting American Football Israel, including Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem and the Kraft Family Israel Football League.

Another project is an annual reception that Kraft continues to hold after his wife Myra's death (they used to do it together) for all of the kids from Boston who are in Israel on one-year programs. That one should be happening in the next month or two.

There's more too:

He takes time out of his busy schedule to write letters to the families of fallen IDF soldiers and personally doing the huge mitzvah of nichum aveilim (visiting the bereaved) Kraft is nosei b’ol chaveiro ( carrying the burden of your people) by helping these bereaved parents find some comfort with his condolence visit and remembering them over a year later and flying them down to the Super Bowl to be his personal VIP guests at the Super Bowl.

As Ezra Schwartz’s aunt Rachel said, he has a “good neshoma” and is a true “mentch” in every sense of the word, it is not for us to say that her theory of the last minute miraculous turn-around in the Super Bowl is not somehow ordained from above, although quarterback Tom Brady did famously say “God, [there’s] got to be more than this” on “60 Minutes” in reference to winning his third Super Bowl. Kraft indeed deserves credit where credit is due. (Hakaras Hatov.) we just shared it with you, now share this story and the inspiration. G-d Bless you, Mr. Kraft!

For those of you who root for other teams who find the Patriots' constant success frustrating and annoying, now you know why he merits it. Go out and perform acts of kindness for others like Kraft does, and maybe your time will succeed too.

Oh yeah, in case you missed, the Patriots came from down 28-3 with two minutes left in the third quarter to beat the Falcons 34-28 on Sunday night. Watching here in Israel at 5:30 am was quite sweet.

Go Pats!

Labels: IDF, Israel's football team, Maimonides, Robert Kraft, Super Bowl LI, terror victims