Israel – The Israeli women’s national basketball team says one of its stars might be kept out of the European championship because of a disagreement over her religious observance and the team uniform.
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University of Toledo and Israeli national team point guard Naama Shafir is an Orthodox Jew who wears a T-shirt under her jersey because Jewish modesty rules require her to cover her shoulders.
International basketball regulations require all members of a team to wear the same uniform. Organizers of the championships in Poland this month have informed the Israelis she will not be able to play with her T-shirt. Shafir said Thursday she won’t play without it.
An Israeli appeal to a world basketball panel in Geneva was rejected on technical grounds on Wednesday. The deadline for more appeals has passed.
With or without a t-shirt, how tzinus is playing basketball?
I don’t understand…..with the tee shirt she is totally tzinisudik, with her shorts and all?? The obvious solution is for the rest of the team to do tshuvah and wear tee shirts too so all these bnos yisroel will be equally tziniusdik.
let them all wear undershirts
Her sitting out over halocha will make a bigger kiddish haShem than her playing.
Great courage I envy your olem Haba.
If the requirement is for all members of the team to wear the same uniform, then the whole team should go out and get t-shirts to wear under the jersey when playing Poland. That is what team support is.
She should not be playing !
Being an orthodox Jew means sometimes having to sacrifice, and put halacha before personal accomplishments.
A Cohen should not be a Doctor, as it requires him to be in contact with death.
A frum. Jew should probably not be an actor, because more often than not may compromise tznius.
A religious girl should probably not try out for miss America for the same reason.
Why is it okay for us to demand that the organizers break their rules, based upon her religion, but we condemn France for banning the veil, when allowing it would conform to someone elses religion? Double standard anyone???????
Ok. Now this is pure stupidity. A true bas melech would not land up on a basketball team to begin with. Now, once she’s there causing this commotion is totally a way to draw attention to herself. Did she ever see a women on the team wearing a long sleeve shirt beneath the uniform?? And if she didn’t see that, she shoudve realized she doesn’t belong playing. Being on the basket ball entails certain rules and regulations and she has no right to disobey them or cause problems. Playing basketball for the championship is anything But the ways of a true tznua. A tznua is hidden . Not out for the world to see. She has a lot to learn before worrying about her long sleeves.
To all commenters who say she should not be playing.. Get a life.. Every person has a choice.. Some can smoke all day & eat chulent & others play ball & stay in shape.. Instead of being supportive of her some are being cute.. Get a life people
There is a very simple solution: Have the team switch their uniforms from tank tops to t-shirts. Several US college teams have t-shirts as their uniform top, including the very successful program at Louisiana Tech, and Stern College for Women.
this girl is amazing, keep it up, and when you make a tremendous kiddush hashem and 1,2, and 9 you guys are pessimistic unhappy little weirdos …learn something and realize life is about growth, also if you where in her shoes what would you do?
I agree with #9 . Being a Frum Jew requires sacrifice.
There are a lot of limitations as a Frum Jew, and primarily, a lot of careers are off-limits.
At the same time, as Jews, we need to be Melamed Z’chus on other Jews whom are in the path of those careers, and are trying their best to hold strong to their Yiddishkeit.
Many of you making comments should probably read up on Naama Shafir and the overwhelming kidush Hashem she has made and continues to make amongst her fellow Toledo teammates and the things they have learned form her about “tolerance” and “Religious acceptance” Some of you can actually learn a thing or two about the aforementioned concepts.
To #2 – her teammates are not Jewish.
She does not practice on Shabbos, she does not travel in a car on Shabbos – she only eats kosher food. The first time she ever played for her team, before they even got to know her they shlepped a cooler of kosher food for her to Hawaii. And she has a Rav she poses all her questions to – an Orthodox Rav. She refused to accept her scholarship to Toledo before all her “Religious Requirements” would be met, and in a very unusual manner, they agreed because that is how talented she is. She actually doesn’t do interviews to the media in general because she in fact does not like to draw attention to herself. She plays because she loves it and is great at it.
A true kiddush hashem in public!
Being an orthodox Jew means sometimes having to sacrifice, and put halacha before personal accomplishments.
A Cohen should not be a Doctor, as it requires him to be in contact with death.
A frum. Jew should probably not be an actor, because more often than not may compromise tznius.
A religious girl should probably not try out for miss America for the same reason.
We should all be proud of this young lady, and the entire team should wear T-shirts under their jerseys to show their solidarity with her!
Man’s you should be very proud with the dress code of Jewish tzenius. Your staying out of the sport event is a Kidush Hashem and a great honor to all Orthodox Jews.
No sports, no music, no ???. So wrong. Sad.
Look. We know what the halacha is. But she’s, I suppose, coming from a modern Orthodox background, where certain halachos are de-emphasized. It’s not her fault that she was taught that shabbos and kashrus are important, but that certain other things are less important. If we wouldn’t condemn a Reform Jew for eating traif, because that’s what his “Rabbi” told him is OK and that unfortunately many yidden do, we should certainly not condemn her who is a product of her upbringing and is evidently being quite medakdek on halacha as she understands it.
That’s really against democracy and civil rights! She may go dressed however she wants!
I am sorry, folks. Even though I have a limited understanding of the laws of Tznius, a Google search of actual sport pictures of this young lady ALL show her wearing short sleeve T-shirts that do not cover her upper arms, and shorts that do not cover her upper legs, in violation of the laws of Jewish modesty.
I wonder what kind of orthodox rav allows this. There is more to Tznius than covering your shoulders.
My conclusion is that all this is done for the sake of publicity.
I am not Jewish, and don’t really understand many of the terms I have read in the above posts. My feeling about this whole situation is that the entire team should just change to t-shirt style uniforms, rather than t-shirt under the uniform. I always thought the nation of Israel was formed with a religious foundation, and to expect that young lady to sit the bench and not play, rather than support her fully in her religious stand seems strange to me. I realize that not all member of the Jewish faith are Orthodox, but it seems a very small accommodation to make in order to support a believer.