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MARIANO RIVERA: FROM PITCHING BASEBALL TO PITCHING ISRAEL
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egendary closer. Thirteen-time All-Star. Five-time World Series champion (earning the WS MVP in 1999). Devout Christian. Israel advocate. On July 21, New York Yankees icon Mariano Rivera, 49 was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as the first player to be unanimously picked. While he was in Washington, D.C., for the annual summit by Christians United for Israel, where he was a speaker, he spoke about his career in baseball, for which he holds the Major League Baseball record for most career saves; and his passion for Israel, where has traveled to twice: in 2015 and 2018. TELL US ABOUT ISRAEL AND WHY YOU ARE SUCH AN ADVOCATE, ESPECIALLY HAVING TRAVELED TO ISRAEL LAST YEAR. MARIANO RIVERA: The experience that
I had in Israel just speaks volumes in it of itself. The experience that I had there, it was amazing. There are no words to describe what I experienced, what I felt. Jesus was a Christian. He was Jewish. He fulfilled the Old Testament. When it comes to that he did everything as a Jew, I love that. I understand that, as my Savior, the Bible speaks about Israel and the Jews. And that’s his people. DID YOU EVER WITNESS ANTI-SEMITISM GROWING UP IN PANAMA? MR: I never saw anti-Semitism growing up in
Panama. I was in a small village called Puerto Caimito, a fishing village, so I never saw it.
The experience that I had there [in Israel], it was amazing. There are no words to describe what I experienced, what I felt. The Jewish population in Panama is huge — big and great people. I have great friends and, no, I never saw anti-Semitism in Panama at all. WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO GUATEMALA, HONDURAS AND BRAZIL FORGING TIES WITH ISRAEL? MR: To me, that’s a great decision. Hopefully,
Honduras and Brazil will move their embassy to Jerusalem, where they belong. Being friends with Israel is a smart decision.
ISRAEL’S BASEBALL TEAM MADE A REMARKABLE RUN IN THE 2017 WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC. WERE YOU ABLE TO MEET WITH THE TEAM DURING YOUR VISIT? MR: I didn’t have the chance to meet with
them, but they made a remarkable run, great games. I was cheering for them. All the principles and fundamentals that they have is based on the Bible; that’s what they believe. That’s why I’m always in tune with that. DOES MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL HAVE A ROLE IN RECRUITING PLAYERS FROM ISRAEL? DOES THE LEAGUE HAVE A ROLE IN THE U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONSHIP, CONSIDERING BASEBALL’S INTERNATIONAL APPEAL? MR: I can’t answer that question because I’m
not in MLB anymore. But at the same time, I hope that if they don’t, they will because they’re recruiting players also, so having that great relationship with Israel would be smart so they can bring the game to Israel and recruit more players from Israel. YOU WERE THE CLOSER OF A TEAM IN ONE OF THE HEAVILY JEWISH POPULATED PLACES IN THE WORLD. WHAT WERE YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH THE JEWISH AND PRO-ISRAEL COMMUNITY THERE? MR: My interaction with the Jewish
community in New York? I have great friends, rabbis, friends who are Jewish that are amazing, beautiful people. I went to Israel with a few friends of mine WWW.LCHAIMMAGAZINE.COM
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