Today is 35 days, which is five weeks of the omer: malchut she’b’hod. In 2009 Oakland retired number 24 in honor of left fielder Rickey Henderson, but since Bill James said, “If you split Rickey Henderson in two, you get two Hall-of-Famers,” a good case can be made that the As should have also retired the number 35 in which he began and ended his career, donning … Continue reading day 35: man of steal
Today is 34 days, which is six days and four weeks of the omer: yesod she’b’hod. Today is the third Red Sox player I’ve highlighted (which I don’t love because I really do want to get to every team and baseball already skews too much towards the big money/market franchises). I chose the first was because he was Ted Williams and the sefirot were gevurah … Continue reading day 34: big papi
Today is Day 33 of the Omer. Hod sheb’hod. The Ideal Humility. Hod is associated with Moses’s brother, Aaron, who is the ideal #2 in Torah. He complements his brother Moses, speaks on his behalf in Egypt, and serves as a priest and peacemaker for the Israelites while they wander in the wilderness. Finding that perfect #2 in the NBA is very difficult. Everyone grows … Continue reading Day 33: The Ideal #2
Today is 33 days, which is five days and four weeks of the omer: hod she’b’hod. Today is known as Lag Ba’Omer, an acronym of the Hebrew letters that add up to 33, lamed and gimmel (לַ״ג). The day has a couple of associations relevant to this project. The first is that it is understood as the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the purported (though not) author … Continue reading day 33: steady eddie
Today is Day 32 of the Omer. Netzach sheb’hod. Humility that leads to winning. Sometimes you have to look for the specific moment in a player’s career to really understand a combination of sefirot. Shaquille O’Neal is the definition of larger than life. At 7’1”, 325 lbs, Shaq was too big for even one nickname. The Big Aristotle destroyed baskets, dunked over everybody, and clowned … Continue reading Day 32: The Big Aristotle
Today is Day 31 of the Omer. Tif’eret sheb’hod. Humility that manifests in balance. It’s taken me a few days to wrap my mind around this week’s sefirah of hod and connect it to the world of basketball. In Ehyeh: A Kabbalah for Tomorrow, Rabbi Art Green writes that “Hod is the other side of wisdom, the self that bows before the mystery of what … Continue reading Day 31: The No-Stats All-Star
Today is 32 days, which is four days and four weeks of the omer: netzach she’b’hod. Daniel pointed out that if I didn’t do Koufax today, I’d have to write a whole other post about why not (and I’m behind on my posts!), so today’s pick is . . . Dodgers southpaw Sanford Koufax: seven-time All Star, four-time WS champion (and two-time WS MVP), three-time Cy Young … Continue reading day 32: the left hand of gd
Today is 31 days, which is three days and four weeks of the omer: tiferet she’b’hod. For some reason catcher Mike Piazza was one of the first players whom I knew I wanted to talk about. I’m so grateful I got to see him play at Shea Stadium during his last year as a Met. He didn’t play his whole career with that franchise, but when … Continue reading day 31: mike
Today is Day 30 of the Omer. Gevurah sheb’hod. Humility that manifests as power. In only three years in the WNBA, Breanna Stewart has been a 2x All-Star, League MVP, and WNBA Champion, while averaging 20.0 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 2.9 assists/game. That’s a small sample size, but she’s simply been the best wherever she’s been. She was the high school player of the year, … Continue reading Day 30: Breanna Stewart
Today is 30 days, which is two days and four weeks of the omer: gevruah she’b’hod. Thumbing through potentials today was brutal. I had thought to choose Hall of Famer Tim Raines, but there was that whole Pittsburgh drug trials thing. And then I considered Orlando Cepeda, but he was arrested for smuggling marijuana. (Look, pot should be legal, but agreeing to carry five pounds of … Continue reading day 30: regular jew
Omertime 