Jewball,
By way of throat clearing – this is not a New Year’s resolution thing or an overreaction due to the injuries sustained by our players on Sunday. I actually had this thought on Friday night. One of those winter Friday nights where you go to sleep way too early and wind up waking up in the middle of the night no longer tired. So figured look at the parsha books I have that go mostly unread. And I came across the part about where Yaakov is sick and dying and Yosef, his son, comes to see him. The verse says that Yaakov sort of roused himself. You picture a guy kind of slumped in bed feeling terrible, but upon seeing a visitor, he straightens up a bit. Some say he did it because Yosef was a king and that’s respect, but the truth is….as others say….he did it because he was energized and happy to have a visitor. And the commentaries go on to use a gematriah (numerical word value analysis) to pose that when you visit someone who is sick, you take away 1/60th of their sickness. Whatever that means. It doesn’t matter. But in that moment – as sometimes happens in life – I said to myself, I gotta do more.
We all want to be good people and do good things and make our time here worthwhile. I’ll talk about myself mostly here. If what I’m about to say does not apply to you, carry on. So, I consider myself good-ish, or at least on the good side of the spectrum. Like a do no harm type. But, speaking of our Jewball Pirkei Avos – and even one that I wrote last week about the Jewball world standing on three things, the actual Mishna of course says the world stands on 3 things: Torah, Avodah, and Gmilut Chasadim. That would be studying God’s law and wisdom, prayer, and doing kind acts. We have the learning down. We have prayer down. The kindness gets short changed. Why? I think it’s just human nature. Learning and prayer are comfortable, and insulated, and – let’s be honest – take the least effort. They are sort of built into the program. They fit our lifestyles. Yes, we are charitable. So, we give (i.e. fifteen seconds on our phones) to causes that do chesed. Or better yet we go to fundraiser where we eat and drink well. That’s great. That’s needed. But, I think – actually, I know – it’s not enough. Because it doesn’t train us. It doesn’t give us the hands on, visceral, selfless experience of chesed. So, what to do about it? One option is nothing. Just live on the good side of the spectrum – continue to be strong in study and prayer. Replace chesed with tzedakah, and occasionally do a chesed (coat drive here, blood drive there, back someone up on a tomchei run). Another option is to use the power of Jewball to push myself and each other to get something done.
It struck me that Jewball and bikur cholim (visiting the sick) is the right fit. For a number of reasons. One of them is that it’s a chesed that is very hard to do. It’s awkward and intimidating and even scary. And we Jewballers take on challenges and pride ourselves on being above the mundane excuses. The other reason is much more obvious – we need good health to do what we do. And what better way to show an appreciation for the health we have been given than bringing some light and strength to those who are sick – temporarily or permanently.
Hey Commish, why don’t you just do this yourself? Leave us out of it. You want to visit sick people – go ahead. This isn’t a cult. You don’t tell us what to do.
Valid points. I’ll answer the first question with a very easy: If I don’t do it with you guys, I won’t do it. We have a power here in the Age of the Enlightenment to elevate. Not just our game, but ourselves, and dare I suggest the world (even if it means the local world and whatever reverberations extend from that). We can join together to do great things – cliché alert – on and off the field. So I bring this to you not to tell you what to do, but to hopefully get myself to do something I know is right and necessary. And the answer to question two is….of course I am not telling anyone what to do. I am making a suggestion. I am heeding an inner voice that came to me on Friday night and instead of burying it like every other late night bright idea – I’m trying to manifest some good. I’m calling it the Jewball Sick Play Initiative.
I imagine it as follows:
Zada creates Sick Play Initiative sign up.
We get 80 guys here to sign up (you don’t need to be a regular player or in NY)
I randomize the sign ups into groups of 2 (so you are always visiting with a fellow Jewballer – less awkward visits, and more fun/funny)
I randomize the groups into weeks of the year (2024). Meaning, I tell you what week your group is on for.
Once a week a Jewball group visits a sick person (so you are signing up for 2 or 3 visits a year, but as a Jewball unit, we are committing to a year of bikur cholim).
That’s really it. You sign up, you get a partner, you get 2 or 3 weeks a year where you have to visit someone who is sick and brighten their day. I’m not saying how long the visit is, or if you should bring a gift, or who it should be.
I do think we have guys like Rabin and Kenny who work in hospitals – maybe they can help us coordinate and get us to the right people – those who really could use us. I think a visit to someone in the hospital has the most impactful experience. You can do one visit to the hospital and run around and see 5 different people. Whatever works for you. The point is, we do it. And we do it together. And it inspires us and merits us and our families continued good health.
You don’t need to respond. I’m not looking for validation. Or criticism if you think this is inappropriate. I’m an old Jewballer and at this point – no pun intended – I trust my instincts. Just please consider this and conclude this is a good thing for us to push each other to do and when Zada links the sign up, just jump in. Don’t look for all the good reasons no to. Sign up. It’s gonna be one of our many great legacies and traditions.
-The Commish
MEDIA
Sick Play Teams
- 1.) Beast and Steve-O
- 2.) Spira and Logan
- 3.) Waldo and Jordan
- 4.) Yaron and Bert
- 5.) Rook and PJs
- 6.) Klink and Kut
- 7.) Singer and Effie
- 8.) Brody and Sheriff
- 9.) Daveo and Prime
- 10.) Ice Man and Gronk
- 11.) Ross and Mighty
- 12.) Irv and E
- 13.) Zada and Stella
- 14.) Ernie and Perla
- 15.) MVP and Pray
- 16.) Tom and Oppen
Team Schedule
Dates:
2/18-3/2 – PJs and Rook
3/31-4/13 – Ice Man and Gronk
3/17-3/30 – Perla and Sherriff
3/3-3/16 – Daveo and Prime
4/14-4/27- Tom and Oppen
4/28-5/11 – Zada and Stella
5/12 – 5/25 – Kut and Klink
5/26-6/8 – Singer and Effie
6/9-6/22 – Waldo and Jordan
6/23-7/6 – Bert and Yaron
7/7 – 7/20 – Ernie and Brody
7/21 – 8/3 – MVP and Pray
8/4-8/17 – Irv and E
8/18 – 8/31 – Spira and Logan
9/1 – 9/14 – Ross and Mighty
9/15 – 9/28 – Steve-O and Beast
