More on Al Davis, combative Oakland Raiders owner, who died on Yom Kippur
Jewish writers are continuing to ruminate on the death of Al Davis, owner of the NFL's Oakland Raiders, and one of pro sports' most controversial figures, at 82 on Yom Kippur (original Eulogizer entry here).
Sports blogger Rabbi Joshua Hess, writing on Huffington Post, said:
"Since traditional Judaism doesn't believe in coincidences, his death, which occurred on Yom Kippur, gives us pause to consider why Davis was returned to his maker on that auspicious day."
Hess, musing on Davis's controversial signature phrase, "Just win, baby," wrote:
It's an idea that teaches us how to approach life, and how to deal with its stresses and frustrations.
True, "Just win, baby" can be interpreted to mean win at all costs, but it also reminds us not to focus on our mistakes or errors; that we shouldn't dwell on our lapsed judgments and failed assignments....
J Weekly writer Andy Altman-Ohr in San Francisco, noting that dying on Yom Kippur "is a good sign, because it implies dying without sin," sussed out some details of Davis's Jewish life, which Davis kept as private as he did all other aspects of his life off the NFL gridiron. Altman-Ohr said that Davis was a longtime member of Beth Jacob Congregation, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Oakland, where his name was on a pew. But Beth Jacob's rabbi brushed off an interview, citing Davis's desire for privacy.
Altman-Ohr also dug up these Jewish nuggets from Davis's 1991 memoir, "Slick": At Syracuse University in the late 1940s, Davis was assigned to the "Jewish" dorm, named “Pastrami Prefab,” and later blamed an anti-Semitic coach for keeping him off Syracuse's basketball team. As head coach of an Army football team at Fort Belvoir, Va., Altman-Ohr said, citing, "Slick," "skeptics said Davis 'had some connections' (code words for Jewish connections). Later in life, some accused him of being part of the Jewish mafia, and one of the Oakland Raiders’ early co-owners he battled with, and eventually wrested control of the team from, often told anti-Semitic jokes in Davis’ presence." Altman-Ohr also cited Davis' devotion to his late father and that he found solace in the mourner's kaddish.
The Eulogizer offers a hat tip to Jerusalem-based sports fan and journalist Elli Wohlgelernter, who passed along the links to the two articles.
The Eulogizer highlights the life accomplishments of famous and not-so-famous Jews who have passed away recently. Write to the Eulogizer at .
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leroy oakmont
10/21/11 12:24 PM
Press reports the death of Libyan desport Muammar Gaddafi.
Givne that he was, halachically, Jewish (see below) should not the Eulogizer be including him in a write-up?
‘....It} seems {that} Moammar Gaddafi’s grandmother, the mother of his mother, was Jewish, according to an account broadcast on Israeli TV news last year. Two Israeli women, who claimed to be his distant relatives, said his grandmother ran away from an abusive Jewish husband, married a Muslim sheik and converted.
But under Jewish religious law, Grandma and her daughter, who is Gaddafi’s mom, are still considered Jewish and therefore, as the monthly magazine Israel Today reports in its current issue, so is Gaddafi.
If the story they told is true, the weekly said, then “Gaddafi is entitled to immigrate to Israel as a Jew under Israel’s Law of Return. Even if every other country on earth refused him entry, Israel would be obligated by its own laws to take Gaddafi in.”
(from Al Kamen, “In the Loop”, Feb 23 Washington POST)