Kevin Youkilis
IT IS rare for President Barack Obama to be roundly booed by an audience these days. But it happened this week at the Boston Symphony Hall. The reason for the audience’s dissatisfaction was not bad news about the economy or unhappiness with a foreign policy decision. Rather, it was a response to a comment about a Jewish baseball player in his 30s.
Kevin Youkilis has been an institution at the Boston Red Sox since 2004. However last week, Youkilis changed his sock colour when he was traded to the Chicago White Sox — the equivalent of, say, Frank Lampard being sold at short notice by Chelsea to a rival Premier League outfit.
Obama, a White Sox fan, quipped to the audience: “I just want to say thank you for Youkilis.” Following the chorus of boos, Obama later said: “I should not have brought up baseball. I understand. My mistake. You’ve got to know your crowd.”
Youkilis is often mistaken for having Greek heritage but his name comes from his Romanian-Jewish father, a jewellery wholesaler. As a teenager in Cincinatti, he showed huge promise as a baseball hitter, despite a decidedly less-thanathletic appearance.
He made his way through college, (where he studied finance), the minor leagues and eventually his debut for Boston in 2004 at the advanced age of 25. He took his time to make an impact. However by the time he turned 30 in 2009, he had signed a four-year contract worth $41 million.
He was also voted number 36 on the Sporting News’s list of the 50 greatest active baseball players — an accolade that was repeated in both 2010 and 2011.
While Jewish baseball players are not as rare British-born Premier League footballers, there have only been a handful at the top level at any one time. Youkilis is aware of this. In 2010, he said: “It’s something that I probably won’t realise until my career is over, how many people are really rooting for me and cheering for me. And it’s not just because I went threefor-four, or had a great game. It’s just the fact that I represent a lot of Jewish people and a lot of the Jewish heritage, and the struggles that a lot of our people have had.”
He has used his fame to become involved in charitable activities and runs his own children’s charity called Hits For Kids. He puts down his involvement in part to his Jewish heritage.
“In my religion — the Jewish religion — one of the biggest things that’s taught is giving a mitzvah, forming a mitzvah. I was always taught as a kid giving to charity. You’re supposed to give a good amount of charity each and every year. It’s just a great thing when you can make a kid smile that’s going through some hard times.”
Youkilis has been going through a few hard times of his own on the pitch, with injury affecting his recent performances. However, he made an encouraging debut for the White Sox this week and he has been given a warm welcome in Chicago.
But not everyone is happy. The Democratic Party is praying that a certain shaven-headed goateed baseball player has not cost President Obama a second term in office.
I BEGIN the week with my Hamodia “hat” on. As community news editor of the UK edition of the Orthodox weekly, Monday is spent writing and editing pieces. It’s important that I meet my deadline and have everything ready by early evening, when our daughter’s school is holding a “batmitzvah banquet” for Year Seven. Duly primped, my mother, daughter and I troop down to the hall, meeting my mother-in-law there, for a lovely evening, featuring speeches, presentations, supper, dancing and a specially written song performed by the girls.
The paper prints on Tuesday night and the day begins early as it’s easier to deal with my tasks when the house is quiet. By 10am, I’ve finished the pictures, sent six children to school and can settle down with our threeyear-old for an hour’s phone study with my Phone and Learn partner. Then it’s back to the computer. Tuesday evening is spent at the US Women’s dinner, where our shul has a great table, a real cross-section of the community. The company, food and speaker are all good and the benching is led by a woman for the first time. On to an engagement party, till I am summoned home, not by my kids, but by an editing emergency.
Following a shiva visit to a congregant, an outing on Wednesday; three-year-old and I visit the Migrations exhibition at Tate Britain. He’s an experienced gallery-goer and when, after lunch in the garden, I ask “shall we go for a walk or see more pictures?” to my amazement, he asks for the latter. We manage both, and when he falls asleep in his buggy, I discover that the Number 13 bus doesn’t only go to Primark, but that it’s possible to return home on it from Trafalgar Square.
Back to town in the evening for the summer reception of the All Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, at the House of Commons, at which our congregant and friend, Lord Palmer of Childs Hill, introduces me to his friends in the Lords and gives me a fascinating tour of the building.
Another shiva visit on Thursday, then time to shop for the weekend. As well as hosting friends for Shabbat, we have guests from the Adam Science Foundation Leadership programme joining us on Friday night and a shul barbecue for young families on Sunday. Security rota at primary school gets me out early on Friday, then it’s home to cook.
The week ends with a song-filled Friday night, and a Shabbat day which is as quiet as it can be with a big shul barmitzvah, four adults and eight kids in the house. I’m looking forward to the barmitzvah party on Sunday evening, and my husband returning to the Rabbi Relay Ride for a day, leaving me with a quieter house. Vicki Belovski is a wife, mother of seven, rebbetzin of Golders Green United Synagogue and a part-time freelance journalist