Jerusalem – The Israeli national team has reached a compromise with basketball’s governing body that will allow an Orthodox Jewish player to compete in the European women’s championship on Saturday.
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FIBA Europe spokesman Sakis Kontos said point guard Naama Shafir was “given approval” to wear skin-toned elastic sleeves. She had asked to wear a T-shirt under her jersey because Jewish modesty rules require her to cover her shoulders.
FIBA initially refused, saying regulations require all players to wear the same uniform. The Israeli team and Jewish groups denounced the decision as insensitive.
Moti Aksmit, a spokesman for the Israel Basketball Association, said an agreement was reached with FIBA that allows the 21-year-old Shafir to play Saturday against the Czech Republic in Poland.
She plays basketball at Toledo and the NCAA allows her to compete wearing a T-shirt. Her college team also ensures Shafir receives kosher food and doesn’t have to drive or practice on the Jewish Sabbath.
Why the entire team couldn’t wear a tee shirt in “solidarity” I don’t know.
to play “”Saturday”” against the Czech Republic in Poland.
Wonderful outcome. There are so few young yiddeshe women who participate in sports that it would have been a realy tragedy if if she had to miss the opportunity to play. What a great role model for a baas yisroel to be able to be shomer all the laws of tzinius while still competing.
Nebach. Oich mir tznius.
I’m happy for her and her team.
Just wondering:
1. When is the game on “Saturday”?
2. In what manner are her legs covered?
Mommish a kiddush Hashem. If we continue having such kiddush Hashems we are in trouble.
Apparently, her idea of tznius is somewhat different from most peoples’. From the pictures on the web, it seems she wears a typical basketball uniforms with a short-sleeve t-shirt underneath the jersey. This is in contrast to the Beth Chana Academy Skirts in Connecticut, a Lubavitch high school team that wears uniforms that meet normative tznius standards (and has received positive press in the secular media).
She has a psak from her Rav in EY that she is allowed to play on Shabbos, but not practice, since practice is work but playing is for fun. She scored 40 points in the WNIT championship game in Toledo a few months ago on Shabbos but after the game she did not talk to the TV and she walked back home to her apartment. She goes before Shabbos to the city where the game is and stays in a close by hotel and walks to and from the game. You may not agree with the psak, but she got this psak from her Rav in her hometown before she would play on Shabbos and she follows it to the letter.
Some of you are so farteeft in your daled ammes that you dont perceive that there’s a whole segment of klal yisrael who aren’t chareidi. There are some truly wonderful individuals in any group, including the one in question, who just want to live life according to how they understand it; partake of what the world has to offer but still find favor in G-d’s eyes. That means that they might a) participate in sports despite being female and b) have different shitas in terms of what is tzniusdig. Some of your naive, juvenile and smug comments are a constant reminder to many like myself of why we have chosen a particular path for ourselves that differs somewhat than the target audience of this website.
Sorry to be a “spoil sport” (pun intended), but while I laud her intentions and find them to be quite admirable, I believe she falls short (yes, another pun) in the execution.
It is well accepted that proper tzniut dictates that a female’s upper body be covered to just past the elbows. Her lower body is to be covered to below her knees. I don’t believe her uniform meets those requirements. Sorry, Charlie, but “unattractive” garments are not a substitute for proper attire.
I don’t see how criticizing this young lady does any good at all especially since we don’t have all the facts, and quite honestly I don’t need all the facts. I think she is right to speak up for herself and I hope she is able to adhere to the high standards that Judaism places on a Jew. I also hope her team wins the competition. That’s it.
Regardless of what one’s personal standards of Tzniyus are, this is a Kiddush Hashem which included standing up for a Torah principal, self-sacrifice, and an accomodation that was granted–that did not include a violent protest or a dumpster burning.
it’s sunday -anyone know if hey won ?
Apparently, her idea of tznius is somewhat different from most peoples’.
#17 – maybe most people in your circles. As others have noted, there are thousands of people who take their Yiddishkeit seriously, but their poskim decide differently than yours’. It’s not HER idea of tznius at all, she is a person who has a Rov and listens to him, which, unfortunately, can not be said for many people (including, I am sure, a lot of critics on this very site whose Rabbonim do not approve of their being here!)
This is insane. Three chassidishe girls died last erev Shabes when they went out to distribute Shabbos candles and it seems that anybody cares. And a 100% light information about Tznius that only is decision to one person gains all the attention. Nebech…
On Shabbos, Israel lost to the Czechs and Shafir had only 3 points and on Sunday they lost to Belarus and Shafir had only 2 points.