I admit that for the first time in my life, I forced myself to sit through the gruesome activities of a football game. I did it because there was so much hype about the commercials, primarily the one that Robert Kraft spent a gazillion dollars on to show the reasons that antisemitism makes no sense.
Firstly, I cannot imagine how the players can get up and walk away from being tackled by hunks of flesh 20 seconds after they have been knocked down. It was just too gruesome for me.
True, I did also flinch during the Canadiens game on ice, but somehow this seemed much worse.
Next, I honestly did not think the ads were anything special, but I know most will say it’s because I am from another generation. I thought Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ad was sort of cute.
What I really cannot wrap my head around is the amount of money that goes into all of this and the grandiose way it is discussed, with no shame, such as the salaries these men are receiving. Let’s compare them to the salaries our teachers and rabbis are making. Who exactly is doing a more important job? For that matter, even the men who take away our garbage each day and plow our streets and engineer our buses and trains deserve more. If we were to take away just a few hundred thousand dollars from each player and put that money into the salaries of others, wow! Why don’t they use some of their massive salaries and each take in an immigrant and set them up in homes and foster them to help them move on with their lives?
Travis Kelce apparently has a net worth of $30 million. Hey Travis, how about sending some of your dollars over to the Bayit here in Teaneck, or to Maison Shalom in Montreal, where your US dollars would be worth even more? I would even make a deal with you. Instead of sending over one million we would be happy to accept $750,000 in Canada. I don’t know, since I have never experienced that kind of money, if it would even make a dent in these players’ bank rolls.
What can we do to make our Yomim Tovim as exciting for our people as they feel about the Super Bowl? How many families sat around their TVs last Sunday, even my more yeshivish grandchildren and great grandchildren sat around the screens of their iPads and laptops. I guess I’m missing something.
What can we as Jews do to stir up so much excitement, even on a less grandiose scale? Since it is not our Purim edition I will not suggest renting MSG and promoting a basketball game between the Mir/BMG basketball team and the YU Maccabeats. Would that do it? I don’t think so. What about the greatest cholent cook off in the world taking place at the Rose Bowl? Or what about this? Every kosher Pesach program and every kosher cruise line and every year-round kosher resort doing an all you can eat at Yankee Stadium! Throngs from all over the world would come when the “free food” tagline is written. I don’t think there would be enough room for everyone to fit into the space.
Think back over the years of all of the money that families have spent on the various Jewish “traditions” and perhaps we are not so far off from the Super Bowl after all!
Nina Glick can be reached at [email protected]
