By Elana Pogal
Life has some unexpected twists and turns but we must stay true to who we are.
Tamir Goodman, was one of the best high school basketball in his day. At age 17, he was ranked as the 25th best basketball player in the United States. He was also a student at an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva day school. Goodman was proud of both of these parts of his identity. At the time, because he was such a talented basketball player, Goodman was being scouted by a variety of Division I schools. One of these schools, the University of Maryland, offered him a full tuition scholarship. Goodman excitedly accepted the scholarship on the condition that he would not have to play on Shabbat or other Jewish holidays.
Goodman quickly became a known sports personality around the world and even was awarded the nickname “The Jewish Michael Jordan”. However, things took an unexpected turn. First, all the craze of Goodman’s fame quickly became too much for his small Yeshiva high school to handle so the school informed Goodman that he would have to transfer before his senior year. To make matters even more difficult for Goodman, while all of this craziness was ensuing, Maryland decided that he would have to play basketball on Shabbat even though they had previously promised him that he would not need to.
These dilemmas left Goodman in a tough spot. Not only did he not know what high school to attend for senior year, but he chose to give up his Maryland scholarship, something he had worked his entire life for. Goodman had to make a conscious choice for the first time in his life: Judaism or Basketball.
This would have been an easy place for Goodman to end his career, yet he persevered. Goodman began going to a Seventh Day Adventist school. He was wildly successful there. He was even invited to the Capital Classic, a basketball event for the best of the best. At the game, he was even awarded the coveted MVP award.
Shortly after, Goodman was recruited by Towson University. The head coach of their team even changes the game schedule to avoid games on Shabbat. Goodman was living his dream until he hit another obstacle in the road.
One day, the head coach of Towson got fired and Towson hired a new coach who rapidly turned Goodman’s life into a living hell. The new coach made it impossible for Goodman to play the game, and verbally and physically abused him.
Again, Goodman could have made this the end of his basketball career but he pushed through the pain. He was then recruited by Maccabi Tel Aviv and became a team member for several years. He ended up moving to Israel at this time and quickly falling in love with and marrying his wife.
In 2009, Goodman was forced to retire from playing basketball, yet he still couldn’t give up his passion. He took his love of basketball and combined it with his love of Judaism once again.
Today, Goodman is the head of Israeli Development for Hapoel Yerushalayim, and invented special tzizit just for athletes. None of this would have been possible without Goodman’s dedication to a life of basketball and Judaism. Goodman teaches us that if we stay true to ourselves, we too can be great.
