Shoulders to Stand On

Recently, there has been a big to-do about shoulders. Naama Shafir’s shoulders, that is. Naama is the Orthodox Israeli basketball superstar who has been making headlines for her refusal to play in a sleeveless jersey. (Side note: I find it interesting that many people probably never even heard Naama Shafir’s name until now, despite her impressive stats: first female Israeli Orthodox Jew to win an NCAA scholarship and play American women’s Division I basketball. But she explodes onto headlines for…shoulders. Sigh.)

During her basketball career at the University of Toledo, she never had a problem, as the basketball program went above and beyond to accommodate her religious needs regarding Shabbat, kashruth and tzniut (modesty requirements). She played with a white t-shirt underneath her jersey. End of story.

But over in Europe, things aren’t so free-wheeling. Naama is part of the Israeli team competing in an international tournament. And according to the European basketball league, the FIBA, rules are rules. You say you won’t wear the regulation jersey with nothing underneath? Then don’t play! And Naama was ready for this game of chicken. Up until nearly the last minute, she was prepared to sit on the sidelines rather than sacrifice her religious beliefs to play.

Until! To paraphrase a certain movie, “I have one word for you: Elastics.” The FIBA reached a compromise and said they would allow Shafir to play if she wore a skin-tone elastic stocking contraption under the uniform. FIBA was happy about this because if you don’t look too closely, you can’t tell she’s—gasp—breaking the rules. And Naama was certainly happy because it meant she could both play and comply with her personal religious beliefs.

To all those religious girl athletes out there, Naama says she is living proof that “If you have a dream, it’s not a question of ‘either-or.’ You can do both. You can be religious and fulfill your dreams.”

Inspiring, right? The girl, the dream, the happy ending. But the inspiring part comes before the arm stockings and happy ending. Naama was willing to make a serious sacrifice for her religious beliefs. It wasn’t a game of chicken for her; she was willing to go all the way. And that’s what we have to remember – not that in the end, it all worked out and everyone galloped into the sunset (or a more basketball-appropriate metaphor), but that she was prepared to give up on something deeply important to her because there of something even moreimportant to her – her religion. More than 45 years ago, Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax refused to play in the opening game of the World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur. There were no last minute compromises; Koufax sat out, and his team lost that game.

Religion comes with sacrifices. Sometimes, in the case of Naama, it all works out in the end. But there are those times that you have to go without, times that your commitment to a life of Jewish values means saying no or giving something up. And yes, some paths in life may indeed be closed to you (modeling for Victoria’s Secret, even with all the skin-tone elastic in the world, doesn’t strike me as quite adhering to “Jewish values.”)

This is true about anything you believe in strongly. Like: gambling. Or, rather, not gambling. For a freelance writer like myself, there is no shortage of online gambling websites to write for. But aside from the occasional, “Let’s run an errand WITHOUT the diaper bag!” I’m not really pro-gambling. So I don’t take those jobs, despite the myriad opportunities and good money.

Beliefs are what make us who we are, so take a minute to think about what it is you believe in, what you feel passionately about. Naama showed the world she had a line that she wasn’t prepared to cross, no matter what. What are YOUR lines?