Weekly Kibbitz
Ian Kinsler Switches from Team Israel Star
Player to Coach for 2023 World Baseball Classic
in stolen bases (243), hits (1,999), home runs (257)
and runs batted in (909). He played the fi rst eight
years of his career with the Texas Rangers, but also
spent time on the Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels,
Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres. He won the
2018 World Series with the Red Sox, and was also a
member of Team USA’s championship team in the
2017 World Baseball Classic.

While Team Israel came up empty in the 2020
Olympics, the team rose to prominence during a
surprising run at the 2017 WBC, beating several
highly-ranked teams and entertaining fans with its
beloved mascot, the Mensch on the Bench. Coach
Eric Holtz stepped down after the team’s unsuccess-
ful Olympic run last summer.

The 2023 World Baseball Classic was origi-
nally scheduled for 2021 but was postponed due
to the pandemic. Qualifi ers are set to begin this
September, and the tournament will expand from
16 to 20 teams. Israel has automatically qualifi ed for
the tournament.

Peter Kurz, president of the Israel Association of
Baseball and the team’s general manager, told JTA
that Kinsler’s leadership will also help with recruit-
Ian Kinsler played for Team Israel at the Olympics
in Tokyo after 14 MLB seasons.

ment. Any ballplayer with Jewish heritage is eligible
to play for Team Israel.

“Ian has been recruiting major league Jewish
players who are eligible to play for Team Israel in the
WBC, and our goal is to surpass what we achieved
in 2017 and reach the fi nal four,” Kurz said. “We have
had multiple inquiries from potential players, coaches
and trainers who all want to be a part of this and the
choices will be tough this time around.”
According to the Jewish National Fund-USA, which
provides funding for Israel’s baseball program, Kinsler
will visit Israel this summer, where he will be a torch-
bearer at the opening ceremonies of the Maccabiah
Games. “I can’t wait to visit Israel this summer and see the
young talent that will be on display at the Maccabiah
Games,” he said. “We are already hard at work putting
together a winner roster for Israel at the WBC, and I
look forward to making all of our fans proud.”
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Courtesy of JNF-USA
Ian Kinsler is trading in his bat for a lineup card.

The former All-Star second baseman will manage
Team Israel in the upcoming 2023 World Baseball
Classic. He has no plans to play for the team as well.

The Jewish 14-year MLB veteran played for Team
Israel in the 2020 Olympics that were held last year,
telling the Jewish Telegraphic Agency at the time that
his goal was to raise the sport’s profi le in Israel.

“Medaling for Team Israel would create that
buzz,” he said, and “obviously bring more atten-
tion to the sport. So it’s exciting to think about
all that.”
The World Baseball Classic, founded in 2006 and
normally held every four years, is the only international
baseball tournament outside of Olympic competition.

“I was very excited when I was asked to manage
Team Israel at the WBC, and it didn’t take long for me
to accept the position,” Kinsler said in a statement. “I
enjoyed my time playing in the tournament and now
that I know Israel Baseball well from my time in the
Olympics, I am convinced that we will have a very
competitive squad that will go far.”
Kinsler won two Gold Gloves during his career, and
is among the all-time MLB Jewish baseball leaders



local
Day Schools Support Supreme Court
Ruling on Religious School Tuition
Assistance O
Courtesy of Politz Hebrew Academy
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
n June 21, the Supreme Court
ruled 6-3 that states that use
taxpayer dollars to provide
tuition assistance to students attending
nonreligious private schools must also
use taxpayer dollars to provide assistance
to students attending religious private
schools. Th e decision was met with support
from Philadelphia day schools and Jewish
education advocates, but it has garnered
criticism from those worried about the
separation between church and state.

Th e case, Carson v. Makin, originated
in Maine, a rural state where over half
the school districts do not have a public
school option. As a result, the state relies
on public schools outside a student’s
school district or private schools to pro-
vide necessary education opportunities.

Th e ruling expands tuition assistance
to religious schools that are “biblically
based.” Majority opinion writer Chief
Justice John Roberts said that denying
tuition assistance to students looking to
attend private religious schools is “dis-
crimination against religion.”
“It removes any questions or potential
challenges anyone might have brought
against existing programs that support
Jewish schools and other religious schools
alongside other kinds of non-public
schools,” said Nathan Diament, exec-
utive director of the Orthodox Union
Advocacy Center, which oversees the
Teach Coalition and Teach PA projects
advocating for Jewish day schools.

Th e ruling is a reinforcement of the
belief that government neutrality on reli-
gion and religious institutions is a threat
to religious freedom, Diament said. He
believes it bolsters previous government
programs, such as the Nonprofi t Security
Grant Program, which the government
also provides to religious institutions.

But nonprofi t security grants and other
assistance programs, despite their prom-
inence in Jewish communities, haven’t
been met with unanimous support, said
Democratic Jewish Outreach Vice Chair
Politz Hebrew Academy Principal Besie Katz believes the Carson v. Makin
ruling has the ability to positively impact Jewish day schools.

Burt Siegel. Some Jews ideologically
oppose auxiliary services to religious
private schools, such as transportation
services, claiming it is a violation of the
First Amendment.

“More and more, we’re seeing a blur-
ring of the lines” between church and
state, Siegel said.

Th e Anti-Defamation League joined
an amicus brief on Carson v. Makin in
November stating that “the history of the
Free Exercise Clause refl ects it does not
require states to fund religious educa-
tion. To do so, would be an unwarranted
and substantial expansion of the Free
Exercise Clause contrary to the Court’s
existing precedent.”
While Siegel believes the ruling is
a slippery slope and that the current
Supreme Court is dictated by ideology,
Diament doesn’t see the ruling as a threat
to the First Amendment.

“What the Establishment Clause, in
particular, of the First Amendment was
intended to ensure is that there is no pref-
erence by the government or one religion
above all others,” Diament said.

In the case of Carson v. Makin, reli-
gious schools have equal opportunity
to take advantage of tuition assistance
programs, giving more opportunities for
religious freedom, Diament argues.

For area Jewish day schools, the ruling
is less of an ideological victory than a
practical one.

“Any generosity of spirit and money is
not only needed, but greatly appreciated,”
said Besie Katz, the principal of Politz
Hebrew Academy.

Katz hopes the ruling will not only
take the burden off of day schools and
parents looking to give their children a
Jewish education, but will also open the
door to more opportunities for fi nancial
assistance to religious private schools.

In the past, Politz wanted government
assistance to fund a sign language inter-
preter. Th e government would only pay
for the interpreter for their work in general
studies classes, but not religion classes.

But the Jewish Federation now pro-
vides assistance to Jewish schools, Siegel
argued, which can create a precedent for
ways the Jewish community can increase
fi nancial support for religious schools.

“Th e lack of fi nances shouldn’t prevent
a Jewish family from providing a day
school education,” he said.

However, he argued that the power to
provide tuition assistance should come
from within the Jewish community, not
from the government.

“It is a responsibility of our commu-
nity, really, to make Jewish day school
education aff ordable and available,”
Siegel said. JE
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