Koufax True To His Religion Almost Lost 1965 World Series for Dodgers

Share this email:          Memories of  Koufax Sitting Out   the 1965 World Series Sandy Koufax Commended But Almost Lost World Series for Dodgers by his Absense I remember it well.  I was a big Minnesota Twins fan, even ran their fan club as a 12-year-old kid. Thought maybe Koufax's absense would help the Twins. No such luck. Dodgers slipped Killebrew, Pasqual and the boys, sadly - my second World Series loss after my hometown San Francisco Giants lost in Seven to the Yankees in 1961 How Baseball Can Help Us Fulfill the Call of the High Holidays BY RABBI DANIEL PERNICK Discuss on ReformJudaism.org Two specific events produced more Jewish pride than anything else in the turbulent decade of the 1960s: Sandy Koufax's refusal to pitch on Yom Kippur in 1965, and not quite two years later, the Six Day War in June 1967. The Los Angeles Dodgers' Sandy Koufax, perhaps the best pitcher in baseball, was scheduled to pitch game one of the 1965 World Series against the Minnesota Twins. When he realized the game was scheduled for Yom Kippur, Koufax decided not to pitch. His replacement, fellow pitching star Don Drysdale, pitched terribly. When manager Walter Alston took Drysdale out of the game, the latter is reported to have said, "I bet right now you wish I was Jewish, too." This year marks the 50th anniversary of Koufax sitting out that game. However, he was not the first Jewish star to confront the issue of baseball on the High Holidays. Detroit Tigers' slugger Hank Greenberg faced a similar dilemma in 1934. The Tigers were battling the New York Yankees for the pennant, and a critical game was scheduled for Rosh HaShanah. The story goes that Greenberg sought advice from Rabbi Leo Franklin of Detroit's Temple Beth El. Rabbi Franklin found a Talmudic reference to children playing ball in the streets of Jerusalem on Rosh HaShanah, thus clearing the way for Greenberg to play. Although we will probably never know whether Greenberg chose to visit a Reform rabbi in hopes of getting a more lenient opinion than he might have received from an Orthodox rabbi, the slugger hit two home runs in the game, giving the Tigers a 2-1 victory over the White Sox. Greenberg, however, did not play on Yom Kippur that year — or any year. Instead, when he walked into Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Detroit, he received a standing ovation during the service. His decision not to play on Yom Kippur in 1934 — like Sandy Koufax's decision in 1965 — filled even the most assimilated Jews with pride because baseball, together with Mom and apple pie, has long been the essence of Americana. Each of these athletes won national acclaim for demonstrating that Jews can succeed as both Americans and as Jews. We don't have to choose one over the other. In 1993, a Nike commercial featured basketball star Charles Barkley saying "I am not a role model...parents should be role models...just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids." Sandy Koufax proved that the first part of Barkley's script was wrong. Plenty of children grow up with dreams of becoming great athletes. We take notice, therefore, when great athletes put sports in the proper perspective. Sports make for a great diversion, filling our lives with agony and ecstasy. However, there are those rare moments, such as the one Sandy Koufax brought to the national stage 50 years ago, in which the power and prestige of sports provide a moral and ethical beacon. To this day, the name Sandy Koufax is regularly uttered with awe — both because of his athletic prowess and his courage to stand true to the values he learned growing up in Brooklyn. As Jews, we are taught to be or l'goyim (a light unto the nations). Both as a community and as individuals, we are expected to be role models. Whether we want them to or not, our commendable deeds, like our condemnable deeds, reflect upon others within our community. By keeping that lesson in mind, we fulfill the call of the High Holidays to do better, to be better, and to create a better world. As the Detroit Free Press headline jubilantly declared — in Hebrew — on the morning after Hank Greenberg's winning home runs: L'shanah tovah! (Happy New Year!) Rabbi Daniel Pernick, a lifelong Detroit Tigers fan, is the spiritual leader of Beth Am Temple in Pearl River, N.Y.

ROCK AND ROLL PIONEER LITTLE RICHARD TURNS 81

'Tutti Fruiti'classin 1957 with Alan Freed announcing helped put Richard
on the map where he has been ever since as one  of the real handful\
of rock and roll pioneers, there at the beginning , paying the way for
the Michael Jacksons and latter artists

ROCK AND ROLL PIONEER LITTLE RICHARD TURNS 81

December 5
Hard to see Little Richard as an 81 year old rocker but then also  will be hard  if he really does
retire as he has claimed in recent interviews.

Richard had it all...the voice, the look and the lyrics, even though   considered controversial in the day but nothing as compared to today's artists  He has inspired many of those later artists like Michael Jackson. Nice to have artists like Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis still with us when many hard-living rockers have moved on.

from Wikipedia:

Richard Wayne Penniman (born December 5, 1932), known by his stage name Little Richard, is an American recording artist, songwriter, and musician. He has been an influential figure in popular music and culture for over six decades. Penniman's most celebrated work dates from the mid 1950s where his dynamic music and charismatic showmanship laid the foundation for rock and roll. His music also had a pivotal impact on the formation of other popular music genres, including soul and funk. Penniman influenced numerous singers and musicians across musical genres from rock to rap.

Penniman has been honored by many institutions, including inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Recording Academy and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Penniman's "Tutti Frutti" (1955) was included in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2010, claiming the "unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music."

Motown Founder of Sound Often Imitated, Never Duplicated, Berry Gordy Turns 84

Motown Founder  of Sound Often Imitated, Never Duplicated, Berry Gordy Turns 84

Berry  Gordy, Jr.  was a visionary who  took  the new 'white' rock and roll and made it more appealing to the inner city kids with choreography and a certain identifiable, addictive sound they called 'Motown.'
It was characterized  by an infectious mix of piano, guitar drums with someitmes  a flute or piccolo, other times vibes thrown into the mix. The Funk Brothers laid down the instrumentation unlike any other 'sound.' Often imitated, never duplicated.  http://www.motownmuseum.org/story/berry-gordy/


Much like building of cars in Detroit,Gordy called Motown's approach to music 'assembly line.'   Each artist or group would go through the different stages of production. First, it was the music, working with the songwriters and musicians and producer, then it was working with the choreographer and then it was off to a 'finishing school,'unheard of in music until Motown. Gordy looked for artists who would work well within what he called the 'family'of Motown. Great singers were turned away because they may have had attitude or didn't fit while less polished singers with drive and character might have been given the chance.
It all worked out ...from Gordy's pre-Motown days writing for Jackie Wilson to taking that talent to the next level of having his own record producing company. Gordy was a songwriter, producer, founder,  talent developer, visionary and finally chairman, which he is today, having given up the reigns of Motown in 1988 but overseeing it in an advisory role.

Too many artists to name who came through Motown, the biggest being the Supremes,Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Michael Jackson and the Jacksons but also very important but with perhaps shorter careers at Motown the Miracles, Mary Wells, Martha and Vandellas, Marvelettes, Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight and the Pips. Just to model the 'assembly line' approach after Detroit auto makers and call it 'Motown'was  visionary in itself.  Hard to think of another label that had as identifiable a sound as Motown, yet it wasn't all the same with each group having it's unique variation.








 





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