Liberman bringing yarmulke back to court (Basketball)

ESPN ^ | 12/6/12 | Paul Lukas

[Nachum]

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, begins at sundown Saturday. But there's already cause for celebration among Jewish basketball fans thanks to Aaron Liberman, a freshman walk-on at Northwestern who also happens to be an Orthodox Jew. He hasn't yet appeared in a game this season because of a nasty case of shin splints, but he's easy to spot on the bench: He's the one wearing a yarmulke.

Uni Watch When Liberman is eventually given medical clearance to make his Northwestern debut, which he expects will be "pretty soon," he plans to wear his yarmulke on the court. (Northwestern is making two versions for him -- purple and white for home games, and purple and black for the road.) That will make him only the second yarmulke-clad player in Division I basketball history. The first such player was Tamir Goodman, the much-hyped "Jewish Jordan," who played for Towson in 2000 and 2001. But disagreements with a new coach derailed Goodman's college basketball career early in his sophomore year, leaving Division I hard courts yarmulke-free until Liberman's arrival this season.

And get this: Liberman, who's 6-foot-10 and was fifth in the nation in blocked shots for Valley Torah High School in Los Angeles in 2011, also plans to wear tzitzit -- the specially knotted fringes or tassels worn by observant Jews -- on the court. The tzitzit will be underneath his base-layer undershirt, and the fringes will be tucked into his shorts. Goodman didn't wear tzitzit while at Towson, so Liberman almost certainly will be Division I's first tzitzit-clad player. Mazel tov!

[Nachum]

Saw this kid play in High School. Great athlete.

[Ciexyz]

Cool!

[Cronos]

I think its nice for him to openly display his faith, but a question to my Jewish friends — I thought a yarmulke was necessary only in the synagogue?

[HiTech RedNeck]

Orthodox follow the traditional teaching that it ought to be worn anywhere a man goes, outside of his bed. (There are picky legalities about exactly how far, so maybe walking over to the alarm clock doesn’t count, but that’s the general idea.) It needn’t be a skullcap/yarmulke, it can be a hat or a baseball cap, any covering designed for the head.

Less-strict varieties may only don the cap for ceremonial purposes, as in a synagogue or while at worship. The same goes for the fringed garment.

[JRandomFreeper]

This Sgt says that if you don't have overhead cover, you wear a cover.

I'm not Jewish or particularly religious.

But only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun.

/johnny

[Moose Burger]

A head covering is required anywhere a male Jew may require to pray. Even moderately religious people wear one because eating a snack requires a blessing.

[Liberty Valance]

[spankalib]

I didn’t know that Jews once dominated basketball.
Apparently, a Jew scored the first NBA basket.
There’s a documentary:
http://www.thefirstbasket.com/story.html

It has to be difficult.
Of the remaining 22 games on Northwestern’s schedule, only 4 are on the Sabbath (not counting one in the B10 tourney semis - if they make it that far).

[driftless2]

Saw clips on the internet after reading stories about the “Jewish Dwight Howard.” He’s not quite that (way too skinny for one thing), but he’s an impressive athlete. We’ll see if he’s strong enough to play in the Big Ten. Northwestern sure needs help.