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.
If only the NY TImes used the sports headline writers for the news
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
Saturday's New York Times sports section features an article blasting the NFL for its treatment of Israel's football team (which plays for the AFC title and a trip to the Super Bowl tomorrow) and team quarterback Tom Brady (Hat Tip: Memeorandum). The headline is titled True Scandal of Deflategate Lies in the N.F.L.’s Behavior.
In
May, the data arrived. The prominent lawyer Theodore V. Wells Jr., who
was hired to investigate Deflategate for the league, delivered a
devastating indictment of the Patriots. The Wells report
concluded that “it was more probable than not” that two members of the
Patriots’ locker room staff had “participated in a deliberate effort to
release air from Patriots game balls,” and that “it was more probable
than not” that Brady was “at least generally aware” of the impropriety.
Although
the evidence was circumstantial — based on ambiguous text messages;
Brady’s discarding of a cellphone; and a trip to the bathroom by one of
the staff members, who took the balls in with him — it was also
buttressed by a lengthy scientific report prepared by Exponent, a consulting firm with dubious bona fides, having disputed the dangers of secondhand smoke and asbestos. Exponent was a hired gun, and its conclusions backed Wells’s narrative.
Brady
liked his footballs at the lowest p.s.i. in the range — 12.5. The
consultants concluded that the drop in the p.s.i. of the Patriots’
footballs — the average was 11.3 p.s.i. — could not be fully explained
by the Ideal Gas Law; it was too steep. But the smaller drop in the
p.s.i. of the Colts’ footballs could indeed be explained by the laws of
physics.
Numbers
in hand, Leonard went to work. He bought the same gauges the N.F.L.
used to measure p.s.i. levels. He bought N.F.L.-quality footballs. He
replicated the temperatures of the locker room, and the colder field.
And so on. When he was done, he concluded that Exponent had made a
series of basic errors. Leonard’s work showed the exact opposite of
Exponent’s conclusions: The drop in the Patriots’ footballs’ p.s.i was
consistent with the Ideal Gas Law; the smaller drop in pressure in the
Colts’ balls was not. (Leonard surmises that because the Colts’ balls
were tested after the Patriots’ balls, they had warmed up again.)
By
early November, he had a PowerPoint presentation with more than 140
slides. By the end of the month, he had given two lectures about
Deflategate, the second of which he had videotaped and posted on
YouTube. A viewer who watched the lengthy lecture edited it down to a
crisp 15 minutes; Leonard agreed to let him post the edited version.
The edited lecture
went up on YouTube on Dec. 1 and has been viewed more than 17,000
times. It is utterly convincing. Leonard told me that if an M.I.T.
undergraduate made the kinds of mistakes that Exponent made, “I would
force them to repeat the experiment and correct the analysis.” Based on
his study of the data, Leonard now says: “I am convinced that no
deflation occurred and that the Patriots are innocent. It never
happened.”
He is hardly the only scientist to take that position. As Dan Wetzel pointed out in a recent Yahoo Sports column,
scientists at Carnegie Mellon, the University of Chicago, Boston
College, Rockefeller University, the University of Illinois and Bowdoin
College — and others — have all come to the same conclusion.
Fair headline? I think so. Now compare it with this headline and the accompanying article's content.
Palestinian Girl with Knife Killed by Israeli Guard, Police Say
A 13-year-old Palestinian girl was fatally shot by an Israeli security
guard at the entrance to a West Bank settlement on Saturday after she ran at him
with a knife, according to the Israeli police.
The girl was identified by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa as Ruqayya
Eid Abu Eid, a resident of the Palestinian village of Anata. The village is about a mile
from the settlement of Anatot, where the episode occurred.
According to the Israeli police, Ms. Abu Eid quarreled with her family on
Saturday morning and then left her home with a knife “intending to die.” She arrived
at the settlement about 8 a.m., the police said in a statement, and ran toward the
civilian guard at the entrance, who opened fire. Grainy security camera footage from
the scene appeared to show a girl with a knife in her hand chasing a guard.
The girl’s father, who was looking for her, arrived at the settlement soon after
she had been shot. The police detained him for questioning.
Sure glad I read the article for the context. I wonder how many other people didn't/
What you may not know about the Patriots honoring terror victim Ezra Schwartz
I realize that many of you thought I might have disappeared from the face of the earth. When I last left you - nearly a week ago - I was in Chicago where my only internet connections were the public library and the Kosher Dunkin' Donuts. Last Sunday I flew to New York. I stayed in New Jersey Sunday and Monday nights, and had meetings in New York on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon I drove to Boston. This afternoon I drove to New York City. I am here for the weekend. Had no time to post until now.
As I am sure you all know, Ezra Schwartz HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) was murdered in a terror attack in Israel a week ago tonight. On Monday night, at the Patriots-Bills game on national television, the Patriots had a moment of silence in memory of Ezra, who lived in the nearby town of Sharon (the stadium is in Foxboro - they are very close to each other).
Let's go to the videotape.
So here's what you didn't know. Four friends of Ezra's were on the El Al flight from Israel on Saturday night. No, El Al didn't fly them for free. Patriots owner Bob Kraft paid for their tickets. Kraft also paid a condolence call on the family. And he apparently embarrassed President Obama enough that he called the Schwartz's as well (he had not said a word about the terror attack before).
I'd be much happier with Bob Kraft as the next President of the United States than with Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately, Kraft isn't running.
Bob Kraft does it again: NFL Hall of Famers coming to Israel
New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft (pictured here with his wife Myra a"h - may she rest in peace) will be bringing a group of 19 NFL Hall of Famers to Israel later this week along with the former players' guests. Kraft is not only bringing them - he's picking up the bill (Hat Tip: Mike P).
On Tuesday, a plane carrying Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Pro Football
Hall of Fame president David Baker and 19 Pro Football Hall of Famers
will leave for Israel.
The backstory: About a year ago, the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Ron
Dermer, visited Canton with his son and staff. Dermer, a Miami-born
former quarterback who is in the Israeli American Football Hall of Fame,
suggested they should arrange for some of the gold jackets to visit
Israel. Kraft, a champion of the NFL’s international efforts and sponsor
of the Israeli Football League, stepped in to make the idea happen,
starting with the funding (Kraft is paying for the trip, including
travel and accommodations for 19 Hall of Famers and their guests).
During the weeklong “Touchdown in Israel” trip, Baker and the Hall of
Famers will attend a scrimmage of the Israeli national team, which is
preparing for its first international competition, and host an event at
the Kraft Family Stadium, the American football facility in Jerusalem
that Kraft funded the construction of in 2000. There’s never been this
kind of trip, with this many Hall of Famers coming together as
international ambassadors for their sport and their country.
“Robert Kraft has a great heart for growing the game through the
world,” Baker says. “It’s a historic trip for the NFL, the Hall of Fame
and our game, and I hope it is the first of many. Politics causes
divides, but sports has an ability to unite.”
Among the Hall of Famers traveling: Andre Tippett, Tim Brown, Jim
Taylor, Mike Haynes, Jack Youngblood and Curtis Martin, who was a
regular guest at Kraft and his late wife Myra’s home for the Jewish
holidays during his Patiots career. The Krafts planted a tree in
Martin’s name during one of their philanthropic visits to Israel, which
the running back will get to see in person for the first time.
Martin says witnessing how the game is growing outside the U.S. will
be educational for him, as someone who’s been interested in breaking
into NFL ownership. The Hall of Famers will also have the chance to
visit religious landmarks and meet with Israeli government officials.
“We all need a different understanding of Israel,” Martin says. “And to
see it in this way, it could be the most significant trip any of us has
ever been on.”
Anyone know how to get tickets to the event at Kraft Family Stadium? It's here in Jerusalem....
Participants on the trip say Brady was visibly
moved by what he saw and experienced. Shrage remembers a Chabad rabbi
who was close with Myra leading the group’s Friday night dinner.
“Everyone started to dance, and Tom soon joined in. To see Tom Brady
dancing in a circle with us, singing with us, that was really special.”
“I think he was enormously moved.”
The Krafts took Brady to an IDF infantry base
as well. Boston-born Netzach Yehuda battalion soldier Avi Sandler was in
basic training in the Jordan Valley. He had just completed a week of
field exercises and a forced march back to his base.
He was told to put on his beret and report to the Deputy Company Commander’s office.
“I was nervous, as at that point one only went
to his office if he was in trouble,” said Sandler.
“As I entered the
office and saluted, I saw two other soldiers with American backgrounds
already seated. We were told that a group of important Americans will be
visiting the base tomorrow and that we were chosen to attend as
representatives.”
Fellow soldier Label Garelik was sitting in
his room when his sergeant came in, and told him that there were some
Americans visiting who wanted to speak to soldiers who had moved to
Israel from the US.
“Some Robert Kraft or something.”
The next morning, the soldiers were bused to the firing range, where a weapons demonstration was prepared for the visitors.
“Quietly, on the side, my friend says, ‘Avi,
isn’t that Tom Brady?'” Sandler recalled. “Other than Mr. Kraft, we had
no clue who was visiting. I responded, ‘It looks like him but what would
he be doing here?'”
“‘We quickly turned to Brady and asked, ‘Are you Tom Brady?'”
“‘Yes,’ he responded. Our mouths dropped.”
One of the soldiers asked Brady if he wanted to play football with them.
“I don’t mix business and pleasure,” Brady joked.
The soldiers gave a demonstration of the
various weapons lined up at the range. Brady exclaimed “Damn!” as the
machines gun were firing.
The Patriots quarterback even took some target
practice at the base’s shooting range. “I was worried about the
recoil,” Shrage recalled. “We certainly didn’t need Brady hurting his
throwing shoulder shooting a rifle.”
Other New Englanders were given the opportunity to meet Brady at the Israel Museum at a Saturday night dinner.
Read it all. So whom are you rooting for today? GO PATS!
For which football team should fiscal conservatives root on Super Sunday
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
I'm still in Boston and tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday. Yes, I'm invited to a Super Bowl party, and you can guess the team for which I am rooting. Yes, of course, it's Israel's football team, the New England Patriots.
But here's an aspect I never really thought about: For which team should you be rooting if you're a fiscal conservative?
Let's go to the videotape.
Yet another reason to like Bob Kraft.... And oh, yes, another 14 inches of snow now forecast for tomorrow night into Monday....
What a class act: Bob Kraft sends a letter to the Steinberg family
New England Patriots' owner Bob Kraft has sent a letter to the parents of Max Steinberg, the 24-year old Californian who was killed in action in Operation Protective Edge (via Truth Revolt).
Russia is defying America by granting Edward Snowden, who exposed some
of the most classified secrets of our government, safe haven as he
continues to elude capture.
...
This comes on top of Russia defying America’s wishes in the Syrian
civil war, with Russia once again reasserting its presence in the Middle
East after having been essentially expelled from there in the 1970s (a
product of Henry Kissinger’s masterful diplomacy).
Russia was an early and strong supporter of the Assad regime, while
America is a late and weak supporter of the rebel groups. President
Obama wants Russia to help us; Putin wants Assad to win. And thanks in
good measure to Russia, Assad (and hence Iran) is winning.
The Syrian debacle comes in the aftermath of Obama scrapping in 2009 a
missile-defense system the Poles and the Czech Republic had agreed to
house despite Russian threats, as a way to pacify Putin. (“The U.S.
reversal is likely to please Russia, which had fiercely opposed the
plans,” CNN reported at the time.)
Add to that Putin’s support for Iran’s nuclear ambitions and his crackdown at home. (The Washington Postwrites
that in “an attempt to suppress swelling protests against his rigged
reelection and the massively corrupt autocracy he presides over, Mr.
Putin has launched what both Russian and Western human rights groups
describe as the most intense and pervasive campaign of political
repression since the downfall of the Soviet Union.”). Taken all
together, you can see that the Obama “reset”–which at the dawn of the
Obama administration was described as a “win-win” strategy for both nations–has been a rout for the Russians.
The best line I saw about Russia's behavior in the Snowden affair was this one on Twitter (I've added a link to the Super Bowl ring story):
How is the American government supposed to get Russia to give up Edward Snowden when Putin won't even give up a Super Bowl ring?
— Bryan Cranston (@BryanCranston) June 25, 2013
Kraft explained the incident happened while Sandy Weill
and other business execs were in St. Petersburg. “I took out the ring
and showed it to [Putin], and he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill
someone with this ring,’ ” Kraft told the crowd at Carnegie Hall’s Medal
of Excellence gala at the Waldorf-Astoria.“I put my hand out and he put
it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”
Kraft released a statement at the time, “President Putin, a great and
knowledgable sports fan, was clearly taken with its uniqueness. I
decided to give him the ring as a symbol of the respect and admiration
that I have for the Russian people and [his] leadership.
But Kraft really wanted the 4.94-carat bauble back, he said Thursday, admitting he’d gotten a call from the George W. Bush-run White House, saying, “‘It would really be in the best interest of US-Soviet relations if you meant to
give the ring as a present.” (In fact the Soviet Union had collapsed 14
years earlier.)
But, Kraft said, “I really didn’t [want to]. I had
an emotional tie to the ring, it has my name on it. I don’t want to see
it on eBay. There was a pause on the other end of the line, and the
voice repeated, ‘It would really be in the best interest if you meant to give the ring as a present.’ ” The ring is now reportedly kept in the Kremlin library.
I sure hope that someone at least made Kraft a duplicate ring. And it should also be clear that Obama - much as I detest him - was not the first US President to suck up to dictators (nor was Bush by the way).
Myra Kraft, the 68-year old wife of the owner of Israel's football team (the New England Patriots) died in Boston on Monday morning after a long battle with cancer. Myra Kraft was involved with just about every worthwhile charitable endeavor imaginable in the Boston area and in Israel.
The numerous awards Mrs. Kraft received for her charitable work included a Camille O. Cosby World of Children Award, presented by the Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston. Causes involving her Jewish heritage always have been key among Mrs. Kraft’s priorities, and she often traveled to Israel a few times a year.
Mrs. Kraft inherited her passion for philanthropy early from her father, Jacob Hiatt, who escaped the rise of Nazism by emigrating from Lithuania in the mid-1930s.
His parents, sisters, and brother perished in Nazi concentration camps. The wealthy owner of a packaging company, Hiatt was one of Worcester’s greatest patrons of education, the arts, and religious causes, and Mrs. Kraft was emulating him in 1948 when she made her first foray into charitable work.
She was only 5 when her father visited European camps for those displaced by World War II, then traveled to Palestine, which was on the cusp of becoming Israel.
While he was away on his journey, she wanted to help at home.
“One morning I got up, took a bag, and decided to go out to the neighborhood to raise money for the poor children in Europe and Palestine,” she told the Jerusalem Post in 2008. “I went door to door. My mother was getting frantic because I was late and she had no idea where I was. I came in dragging this sack of money.”
By the time Mrs. Kraft was an adult, she measured contributions in the millions.
Since marrying in 1963, Mrs. Kraft and her husband have given away more than $100 million to a spectrum of organizations involved in everything from changing lives in Israel to helping those hobbled by urban blight in Boston and Worcester.
But what most impressed me about Bob and Myra Kraft was something that was not really charitable work:
I want to stop there and add something. Whenever the Krafts come to Israel, they sponsor a get-together for all the Bostonians who are here on youth programs. That's what the kids tell me. I envy them. No one did that for us when I was in yeshiva here.
Sometimes, if you help people out before they fall, they manage to stay on their feet. The Krafts obviously understood that.
May God comfort Bob Kraft and his sons among all mourners for Zion and Jerusalem, may the family know of no more sorrow, and may God give Bob Kraft the strength to continue his and his wife's life's work.
In an earlier post, I mentioned that Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick is visiting Israel this week. One of the people accompanying Patrick is New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. That resulted in this announcement on Tuesday from AACI (Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel) (Hat Tip: Alan S).
Calling all Bostonians in Israel!
Thursday, March 10, 6:30pm AACI is pleased to partner with AFI in inviting Bostonians living in Israel to meet the Governor of Massachusetts Mr. Deval Patrick along with Mr. and Mrs. Kraft at the Kraft Stadium on Thursday, March 10th at 6.30 pm. there will be a short ceremony with Mr. Kraft and Governor Patrick
This stuff is big news back in Boston. New England Cable Network (NECN) has sent a correspondent here, and that correspondent filed this report on Monday.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
