Teamwork

We Jews have a responsibility to each other. I remember my Rabbi, Rabbi Kapan once asked three or four of the local guys over to his house. He sat us down and said, “I need some help.” “Okay, Rabbi,” I said, “what do you need help with? Do you need somebody to bring challah to shul on Friday afternoon? You need help with sodas? You need help buying the paper products? You need help with – what do you need?”

The Rabbi said, “Well I really need help with Fridays to make phone calls. I can’t call 100 people on Friday. So each person can take five or ten people and make the calls.” I’m thinking, “This is a rabbi. It’s not my job. I’ve got a job. I’m a busy businessperson. I’m going to call people and tell them to come to shul?” Then I read in the Torah that it is my job. It’s my obligation. It’s my privilege to do it.

It’s our job to invite Jews to our homes for Shabbat. It’s our job to feed somebody the challah if they need to be fed the challah. This is our collective work, our job for us all of us to do this, to keep this going.

The discipline, the work ethic, the dedication, the teamwork - all these qualities as a football player apply very, very well to being a Jew and living a Torah lifestyle.