Inspiration

Growing up in Miami, I was never alone as a Jew. But then I went to East Texas State University in the Bible belt of the U.S. I don’t know if there was another Jew on the campus of 8,000 students. For sure there was no other Jew on the football team, or in the weight room, or at the training table, or at any of the football meetings. I was the only Jew on that football team, and I was the only Jew that the majority of my teammates had ever met.

The players from Dallas had obviously met some Jews, but the majority of the players were mostly from places like Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. These are the players that I interacted with. These are the players that I went home with on the weekend, to their farms. There I would be at their mother and father’s house, and I always felt inside of me that I’m a Jew, and I felt proud of it even though I didn’t have a great Jewish education. I felt I had to educate people, I don’t know why, I always felt that.

Over the years, I’ve heard some pretty off the wall comments, like, “We should Jew him down.” Or, “Jews are cheap.” Or, “Stereotypes are true.” I used to hear those things, and when I could I would make a comment about it. A few years ago, I told a guy, “You know that’s highly offensive,” and he was taken aback. He realized what he’d said.

Recently I read President Bush’s speech that he gave to the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington. He was the keynote speaker; President Bush spoke about how Jews are on the forefront in giving charity, and how Jews single handedly saved the people in New Orleans. He spoke about how the Rabbi of New Orleans brought in tons and tons of support to the areas for Jews and non-Jews, and how he managed to provide kosher meals to people.

It shows me that when people talk about Jewish people and they say the stereotypes are true, or Jews are cheap, that people agree with what George Bush says about Jews. We are such a small population of people, 13.5 million of us around the world, and we are influential, we are successful. We can be proud of being Jewish, we can have confidence in being a Jew. The key is inspiration. You have to inspire yourself. And how do you inspire yourself? By reading. Reading Torah, reading books on Torah, reading stories of great Tzadikim.