Today is Day 20. Yesod sheb’tiferet. The beautiful pioneer. With the 57th pick from the in the 1999 NBA Draft, the San Antonio Spurs selected an unknown guard from Argentina, Manu Ginóbili. Once Ginóbili made his NBA debut in 2002, it didn’t take long for Manu to make a name for himself. Over an illustrious 16 year career with the San Antonio Spurs, he became … Continue reading Day 20: The Scientist
Today is Day 19 of the Omer. Hod sheb’tiferet. Compassion that leads to Gratitude. If you know one thing about Knicks great Willis Reed, it’s probably his heroic appearance in Game 7 of the 1970 Finals vs. the Los Angeles Lakers. After suffering a torn thigh muscle in Game 5, his team rallied to victory, but they were clearly outmatched against the Lakers in Game … Continue reading Day 19: The Captain
Today is 19 days, which is two weeks and five days of the omer: hod she’b’tiferet. You know why I like Padres right fielder Tony Gwynn. Yep, it’s in part because he spent his whole career with one team. Plus, since most of his career coincided with my living in Houston and the Astros still in the NL, I often saw him play. (In fact, he … Continue reading day 19: mr. padre
Today is Day 18. Netzach sheb’tif’eret. Balance that leads to winning. On Day 18, two days before Yom Haatzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, I’d like to give a special shout to the best NBA player ever from Israel, Omri Casspi. But todays’ final choice came down to two 6’8”/6’9” left-handed, power forwards, who played in the 1970s. Player A was Rookie of the Year, league MVP, … Continue reading Day 18: The Zen Master
Today is 18 days, which is two weeks and four days of the omer: netzach she’b’tiferet. How fast was Cool Papa Bell? “One time he hit a line drive right past my ear,” Satchel Paige said. “I turned around and saw the ball hit his ass sliding into second base.” How fast was Cool Papa Bell? “If he bunts and it bounces twice, put it … Continue reading day 18: cool papa bell
By Elyssa Hurwitz It’s week three into our counting of the omer, and we’re really skatin’ along here folks! This week brings us the sfirah known as tiferet, which we translate as “beauty.” Tiferet is smack-dab in the middle of both the yosher (upright) and ish (man) diagrammatic representations of the sfirot, which means it is a model of the left side (symbolic of receiving) … Continue reading Tiferet – תפארת
Today is Day 17 of the Omer. Tife’ret sheb’tif’eret. Balance & beauty. Today’s player is an 8x NBA Champion, 8x member of the All-Defensive team, and 13x All-Star. John “Hondo” Havlicek was a well-rounded Hall of Famer, who grew from a rookie hanging his hat on defense to retiring as the Boston Celtics all-time leading scorer at 26,395 points (a record he still holds to … Continue reading Day 17: Hondo
Today is 17 days, which is two weeks and three days of the omer: tiferet she’b’tiferet. Like yesterday’s pick, today’s played both college football and college baseball. But don’t worry: There’s no college football digression today (though there is a digression of another nature), mostly because his tenure wasn’t that memorable and because he played for the other “UT”. But his professional baseball career, 17 … Continue reading day 17: the toddfather
Today is Day 16 of the Omer. Gevurah sheb’tif’eret. Power that flows from balance. For the second day in a row, during this week of tif’eret, we are honoring a European big man with an all-around game. There are a few players with more balanced games or more balanced interests than Pau Gasol. Lee Jenkins does an excellent job capturing Pau’s love of art, music, … Continue reading Day 16: Kung Pow
Today is 16 days, which is two weeks and two days of the omer: gevurah she’b’tiferet. For my money there’s really only one #16 who demonstrates true “strength through beauty,” and that is one of the greatest athletes of all time, Kansas City Royals outfielder Bo Jackson, a man who played both professional football and professional baseball simultaneously. Jackson ended up playing in nearly 700 … Continue reading day 16: bo (the player, not the parshah)
Omertime 