It\u2019s a first for my wife.\u00a0 She\u2019s obsessed with this year\u2019s Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n
To be more specific, she\u2019s interested only in the sliding competition and, as a result, is building her schedule (and that of the entire family) around it.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 His name is AJ Edelman, the first Orthodox Jew to compete in the Olympics.<\/p>\n
What does my wife have to do with AJ Edelman who is also known as the \u201cHebrew Hammer\u201d?<\/p>\n
According to her, plenty.\u00a0 Allow me to elaborate.<\/p>\n
AJ and my wife are both Bostonians, having grown up in Brookline, Massachusetts. Both are graduates of the Maimonides School, albeit decades apart. To be clear, my wife grew up with the Edelman boys (AJ\u2019s father and three uncles) whom my wife describes as \u201csuperstars\u201d who are also \u201cnice guys.\u201d Their mother A\u201dH and father raised four sons who attended Ivy League schools, graduated from world class professional and graduate schools and are leaders in their chosen fields. AJ\u2019s dad is a world renowned cardiologist, engineer and scientist who holds the Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That\u2019s impressive.<\/p>\n
Professional accomplishments aside, my wife and I are inspired that all four Edelman sons are shomrei Torah u\u2019mitzvos.<\/em>\u00a0When their mother passed away about fifteen years ago, they buried her in Jerusalem, saying kaddish <\/em>and observing the year of aveilus<\/em>.\u00a0 Imagine the kiddush HaShem<\/em> they must have made when it was time to say kaddish<\/em> during mincha<\/em>, each busy in their professional lives and a minyan<\/em> might not have been readily available. No doubt others were moved as well by their adherence to mitzvos<\/em>. Indeed, the Edelman boys are accomplished professionals but they are Torah Jews first.<\/p>\n This didn\u2019t happen in a vacuum. My wife reminisces about their maternal grandmother, Mrs. Muskin, a gracious woman who davened<\/em> every Shabbos<\/em> at the Young Israel of Brookline. The octogenarian\u2019s walk to shul<\/em> and then walk home up Brookline\u2019s aptly named Summit Avenue must be etched on her grandsons\u2019 hearts.<\/p>\n AJ\u2019s grandparents modeled a Torah life. My wife\u2019s family moved into Brookline in August 1969 and the following January was AJ\u2019s father\u2019s bar mitzvah<\/em>. The very first simcha<\/em> to which my in laws were invited was that bar mitzvah<\/em>\u00a0and it warmed their hearts to be so welcomed. And my wife recalls in detail the chol hamoed<\/em> dinner she and her family enjoyed in the Edelman sukkah<\/em>.\u00a0 Memories for a lifetime.<\/p>\n Our family has read the Jew in the City\u2019s profile of AJ and it\u2019s clear that the apple doesn\u2019t fall far from the tree. He has prepared for the Olympics with a singular focus that rivals his father\u2019s and uncles\u2019 preparations for their careers. He is a trail blazer who says Tehillim<\/em> before a competition and has remained steadfast in his religious observance, bringing his own food and sitting out games rather than being michallel Shabbos<\/em>. AJ is right, that changes in sports scheduling can happen only if Orthodox Jews remain firm in their religious observance.<\/p>\n Understandably, my wife is excited. She\u2019s davening <\/em>and saying Tehillim<\/em> for a Blue-and-White (a\/k\/a Israeli) victory of an Olympic gold medal. We are waiting to hear HaTikvah<\/em> at the medal ceremony and trust me \u2013 we are stockpiling tissues now for my wife for that moment. My wife is also davening <\/em>for AJ\u2019s safety in this crazy sport he\u2019s chosen; after all, she\u2019s a mother and grandmother. But she has wondered who is AJ\u2019s Rav<\/em> and how they worked out the halachic<\/em> implications of attending the Winter Olympics\u2019 opening ceremony on leil Shabbos<\/em>.\u00a0 She would have loved to have been a fly on the wall, privy to all the preparations.<\/p>\n I pen these lines before the sliding competition even begins. I too daven<\/em> that AJ is safe all the way through and that the world hears HaTikvah<\/em> in his merit. I don\u2019t know AJ\u2019s yichus<\/em> prior to his regal great-grandmother but he\u2019s at least the fourth generation of shomer Torah u\u2019mitzvos<\/em>. Wow. Awesome.<\/p>\n So, AJ, if you read this \u2013 After you wrap up the Olympics, we\u2019d love to have you for a Shabbos in Lawrence, New York. You and my wife will have lots to talk about. And she\u2019s salivating to set you up with some fabulous \u201cout-of-the-box\u201d girl so, with G-d\u2019s help, you\u2019ll get married, build a Torah<\/em> home and go for the fifth generation of shomer Torah u\u2019mitzvos<\/em>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a platinum medal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s a first for my wife.\u00a0 She\u2019s obsessed with this year\u2019s Winter Olympics. To be more specific, she\u2019s interested only in the sliding competition and, as a result, is building her schedule (and that of the entire family) around it.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 His name is AJ Edelman, the first Orthodox Jew to compete in the Olympics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133543,"featured_media":59194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\n