Recently, I received two very angry letters from the same person complaining about some of the athletes I have written or posted about. I tried clarifying for him what TGR was doing but this person continued to write negative things. While it is not important whoO this person is, it is important that it got me thinking.
On top of that many people have written to me about Marty Turco and his Jewish heritage. Let me first say that I do not know Mr. Turco and have not asked him about his heritage. I read an article and it seemed authentic and well done. Here is the article http://jewishsightseeing.com/
I have decided to clarify for my readers what my site does and is, along with how someone or something could make it onto TGR. I am going to leave this article up for about a week (with no other posts...unless its urgent) so all my readers have a chance to read this.
Disclaimer:
Before I write the criteria please note that TGR is for a mass amount of Jews. It does not reflect the my personal feelings towards who is Jewish and who isn't. As a future Conservative Rabbi I have my own beliefs about who is classified as a Jew by Jewish law. This site is for ALL Jews. It is non-denominational. Meaning I will post about Jews who have two Jewish parents, only a Jewish mother, only a Jewish father, Jews who didn't marry Jews, Jews who were born Jewish, Jews who converted to Judaism, Jews who might not recognize their Judaism, Jews who have converted out, etc. In fact I might write about people who are not Jewish but are connected to Israel or to the Jewish people in some way. I am not here being a Rabbinic authority on the issue. I am here writing about the connection of the Jewish world to the sports world.
Criteria:
1) Any team, player, or issue that connects or promotes Israel.
2) Any team, player, or issue that connects or promotes Judaism.
3) Any player born to one Jewish parent is a possible subject to write about. I will do my best to clarify who his only born to a Jewish father. This is not to offend people in either which way, but rather to better inform my readers of their lineage and to best serve the most amount of Jewish readers.
4) Any story that has some connection to the Jewish people, Judaism, or Jewish issues.
What Information is Credible:
1) Credible Jewish websites/organizations which include Jewish Sports Review, Jewish Hall of Fames, Jewish Federations, Maccabi Games, etc.
2) Credible Jewish writers including Kaplan's Korner, Jewsinbaseball.blogspot.com, etc.
3) First/second hand interviews, emails, and conversations. For example, Julian Edelman's college roommate was considered a second hand source.
Subjective Information:
1) If verification of someone's Jewish heritage is in question I will mark it as unconfirmed. If I feel that there is overwhelming proof I will remove the unconfirmed status.
2) I am always trying to further clarify speculation.
The Nancy Lieberman Issue:
1) What about Jews who have converted out? I am not here to pass judgment on someone's faith or commitment to the Jewish people. I am not disregarding her choice to leave the Religion/nation nor am I condoning her choice, rather I am just state her heritage. I, in no way, agree with her life decision of converting but for the purpose of this website she is a topic worth writing about.
2) I am also not going to pass judgment on people's practices. It would be hard to do such a thing since most, if not all, of our players and teams play on Shabbat.
Interviews:
1) Interviews are to be done with an assortment of Jewish people or representatives. Most interviews are done over email.
2) I will attempt to connect my readers to the greater Jewish sports world and Jewish sports figures.
The Jeremy Fine Factor:
Like all blogs there will be some bias that come out of my writings. For example, I clearly have a special place for those athletes who embrace their Judaism. I also have a passion for college sports and Chicago connections.
As a writer/blogger I am not saying you have to agree with me and I am available via email to discuss issues. I am also willing to clarify heritage and my claims. Please note that I very well could be wrong.
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Once again thank you all for reading over the past 6 months. I appreciate engaging over email with all those who have written. TGR, in my opinon, has spread the passion for Jewish sports throughout the world (even if minimally). Lots of other good projects have come out of this (some of which I cannot even speak about yet) and several major Jewish figures understand more how there playing with a Jewish star on their chest invokes pride in thousands of Jews everywhere.
And Let Us Say...Amen.
-Jeremy Fine
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