A Fighter's Chance

B"H



~This email is dedicated by the Bortz Family, to Pascal & Ori on their engagement. You should have only joy & success in your life together. Mazel Tov!!

"Be'chol derachecha Da'eihu" - In all your ways, know Him. (Proverbs 3:6)

On June 5th, in the new Yankee Stadium in New York, Yuri Foreman will box Puerto Rican great Miguel Cotto,
with his Junior Middleweight title belt on the line. What makes this fight so intriguing (beyond being 2 great boxing talents),
is that Foreman is an orthodox Jew, who outside the ring is busy learning to become a Rabbi.

"Who would want to hit a Rabbi?" Foreman joked on this week's Jimmy Kimmel late night TV show.
Well, Cotto for one.

What brought a boxer, of all people, to go & explore his spiritual side? And how can he possibly mold these 2 seemingly opposing worlds together?

Foreman says that he felt something was missing.
As Jewish Mysticism teaches us, each of us are made up of a body & a soul. Just like the body needs food to thrive, so does the soul.
Rabbi Schwartz from L.A. once told me that he had a weekly Torah learning session with Adam Sandler. When the discussion one time moved to movie success,
Sandler (who averages $20 million a movie) told him: "I make all the money in the world. But the happiest day of my week is when I'm here learning with you!"
How could that be!? Isn't being a hollywood star the pinnacle of material success? Shouldn't this bring joy?
But as we see all too often, the soul in a person yearns for something more. Transcendence from the mundane. Truth. Inner peace. And that's found in the Torah.

How can Foreman balance life as a boxer and an observant Jew? The fame, Vegas, interviews, tv shows, training, fighting?
He speaks of the Jewish view, that the greatest way to reach the highest spiritual levels, is specifically through dealing with the physical world and elevating it.
When the fans, the press, and TV viewers see his good character traits, humble character, and devotion to G-d & Judaism, it sanctifies G-d's Name in the world,
making a real "kiddush Hashem."

From Maimonides (The great 12th-century sage who also served as the head doctor to the Sultan) to the reggae star Matisyahu, we Jews have been given amazing examples
of the ability to successfully blend Judaism with material endeavors. But it definitely isn't easy. The world doesn't seem, at least at first glance,
to be very conducive to such expression. How can keeping Shabbat or wearing a kippa possibly help me to succeed in life? But as we see with the stars of today like Foreman,
if they can do it, we certainly can.
The world wants to see something more, something deeper. And so do our souls.

Let's follow in Yuri's example and integrate more Torah & Mitzvot into our lives, thereby making sure that we enter the material world in order to lift it up,
not to be taken down by it. And let's pray for our brother Yuri's success on June 5th - Go Yuri!

To view the beautiful 6 min. ESPN E:60 show, click: Yuri Foreman

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel
Jerusalem