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Baseball, Jewish Education, and Al Capone

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By Avi Frier - FJN Publisher

Besides having the best shoot-out scene in the history of cinema (the one in the train station), The Untouchables (1987) is a movie with a surprising relevance to today's Jewish Heritage Day festivities. 

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The scene is a fancy dinner in an elegant ballroom, a veritable "Who's Who" of the Capone organization in attendance.  Decked out in a sharp tuxedo, crime czar Al Capone (Robert DeNiro) stands and addresses his henchmen.  Baseball bat in hand, he delivers this monologue:

Life goes on.
A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms.
Enthusiasms…
Enthusiasms…
What are mine?
What draws my admiration?
What is that which gives me joy?
Baseball!
A man stands alone at the plate.
This is the time for what?
For individual achievement.
There he stands alone.
But in the field, what?
Part of a team.  Teamwork.
Looks, throws, catches, hustles.
Part of one big team.
Bats himself the live-long day,
Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and so on.
If his team don't field...what is he?
You follow me?
He's no one.
Sunny day, the stands are full of fans.
What does he have to say?
I'm goin' out there for myself.
But… I get nowhere unless the team wins.

At this point, the scene turns shockingly gory as Capone uses the baseball bat to rid himself of one of his cronies who apparently had not been behaving like a "part of one big team."

But if you hit "pause' just before the brain matter starts to fly, and stop to reflect on the lesson you've just learned from a mobster…

We spend top dollar to send our children to some of the finest schools in South Florida, with the expectation that they will attain the tools necessary to someday be able to fend for themselves.  But we also know that if it were only about "fending for themselves," we would do just as well to opt for the free public school system. 

The expense of a Torah day school education would be extravagant and unjustifiable, and participating in any fundraising efforts for Jewish education would be a waste of time and money.

But we pay the tuition, and we fundraise for the scholarships, and we're participating in this event today, because we recognize that to truly be properly educated, our children must learn not only how to hit, but how to field.  We must provide them with the tools to fend for themselves, but we must also instill within them a sense of responsibility toward their fellow Jew and the world at large.

They need to learn individual achievement, but they must also go out into the world with the attitude that, as a Jew, I get nowhere unless the team wins.

Y'asher Koach ("Kudos") to Roni and to the sponsors and board members of the Jewish Heritage Day Foundation for helping bring these lessons of baseball to our children.

GO, MARLINS!


This article appeared in the Jewish Heritage Day Commemorative Program, distributed at Dolphin Stadium on May 28, 2006.

Posted by Avi Frier - FJN Publisher on 05/28 at 02:00 AM • Hits: 995



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