Volume XXII, Issue XIV | www.thejewishvoice.org Serving Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts
SPORTS
12 Tishri 5777 | October 14, 2016
HAIMISH HAVANA
Jacob Neusner, influential scholar of rabbinic Judaism, dies JTA – Jacob Neusner, one of the most influential voices in American Jewish intellectual life in the past half-century, has died. Neusner, one of the most published authors in history, wrote or edited more than 950 books, died Oct. 8 at his home in New York. He was 84. His funeral was Oct. 10 on the campus of Bard College in upstate New York, where he has taught theology since 1994. He also taught at Brown University and at Columbia University, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Brandeis University, Dartmouth College and the University of South Florida. Earlier this summer, the NYU Press released an extensive
Joy and need go hand in hand in Jewish Cuba
BY M. CHARLES BAKST
Jacob Neusner biography of Neusner titled “Jacob Neusner: An American Jewish Iconoclast” by Aaron W. Hughes. “[I]in the ’50s, there took place an explosion of Jewish studies on campus, and Neusner had a very significant role in training a new generation of scholars to occupy these new positions,” wrote Jack Riemer, a rabbi and author, in a review of Hughes’ NEUSNER | 23
HAVANA – A friendly welcome, a sense of joy, an air of need. This is what my granddaughter and I encountered on a recent visit to the largest synagogue in Cuba’s Jewish community, which once numbered 15,000 or more. But when Fidel Castro’s Revolution triumphed in 1959 and began confiscating businesses, most Jews fled. Today there are only 1,200, nearly all in Havana, where the main congregation is housed in this building with an impressive white front. There is a soaring arch, a Star of David and doors emblazoned with symbols of the Tribes of Israel. An inscription above proudly PHOTO | ISABELLA ZANOBINI
JEWISH CUBA | 12
The writer in front of the synagogue.
Who was Shikey Gotthoffer? BY DOUGLAS STARK On the evening of Nov. 18, 1933, a week before Thanksgiving, the SPHAS, the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association basketball team took the floor at their home court, the Broadwood Hotel at the corner of Broad and Wood Streets in Philadelphia. This was the fi rst game for the 1933-34 season of the American Basketball League, the premier professional league of that era. The SPHAS opponent that eve-
ning was the Hoboken Thourots. Appearing in a SPHAS uniform for the fi rst time was Joel “Shikey” Gotthoffer, who scored 7 points and helped lead the SPHAS to a 34-20 victory. Over the next 13 years as the SPHAS won 7 titles and became regarded as the game’s best team, Gotthoffer emerged as a star. A perennial most valuable player, Gotthoffer epitomized the era of great Jewish basketball players. Today when one thinks of
Jews and basketball, he might think of the coaches, owners and commissioners. Rarely, if ever, do you think of the players, but in the fi rst half of the 20th century, basketball was largely considered a Jewish game. In many ways, it was built specifically for Jews. Invented in 1891, the game spread quickly to cities like New York and Philadelphia. This coincided with mass emigration of Eastern European Jews to Northeast urban areas. The young children of
immigrant parents wanted to become more American, and one way to do so was through sports. Basketball became the sport of choice. It was easy to play and inexpensive. All one needed was a goal and a ball – rolled up rags or newspapers tied together would suffice. It was played in small, confi ned areas, and Jews took a particular liking to the sport. Soon, it was referred to as the “Jewish SHIKEY | 14