Weekly Kibbitz
Stephen Curry Wore a Hebrew Sweatshirt at the NBA Finals
J ews looking for a rooting interest
in the concluding games of this
year’s NBA Finals might have had one
thanks to a head-turning wardrobe
choice from Golden State Warriors star
Stephen Curry.

No, Curry isn’t Jewish. But at the
June 10 Game 4 postgame press con-
ference, following a Warriors victory,
he did don a Hebrew sweatshirt for
the cameras — one that matches his
own Hebrew tattoos.

Eagle-eyed Twitter sleuth Emma
Goss, a reporter at Jewish Telegraphic
Agency partner J. The Jewish News
of Northern California, caught the
hoodie. It features a Hebrew phrase
that translates to “love never fails”
— a reference to the New Testament
passage 1 Corinthians 13:8 (though
with the Hebrew letters written in the
reverse order). It’s also one of Curry’s
two Hebrew tattoos, which he shares
with his wife.

The sweatshirt features an image
of Curry’s wrist, visibly emblazoned
Stephen Curry sports a sweatshirt with Hebrew on it during an NBA Finals
postgame press conference on June 10.

Screenshot from YouTube
with the same Hebrew tattoo. Curry’s
second Hebrew tattoo is simply his
last name rendered in Hebrew.

Curry’s fascination with the lan-
guage might stem from his mother,
Sonya Curry, who told reporters in
2015 that, following a previous visit
to Israel, she “was just transformed
spiritually.” Sonya Curry, who also has
a Hebrew tattoo, said she wanted to
learn Hebrew because it is the lan-
guage that Jesus spoke (more likely,
he spoke Aramaic, although proba-
bly understood Hebrew), and added
that she wanted to read the Torah in
Hebrew. Of course, a haphazardly translated
New Testament phrase is hardly a
gateway to meaningful Jewish wisdom.

But the NBA Finals series between the
Warriors and the Boston Celtics had
other Jewish connections, too.

For Boston, that included Hall of Fame
coach and executive Red Auerbach
(who died in 2006), the son of a Russian-
Jewish immigrant who is generally con-
sidered the greatest coach in the history
of basketball.

For the Warriors, there’s Jewish-
Ukrainian immigrant and fellow Hall of
Fame coach Eddie Gottlieb (who died
in 1979), who played a leading role
in bringing the team to the Bay Area
from Philadelphia.

Two of the NBA’s biggest awards
are named after these two Jewish
basketball pioneers. The league’s
Rookie of the Year award confers
the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy, while the
Coach of the Year receives the Red
Auerbach Trophy.

— Jacob Gurvis
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local
Association of
Jewish Libraries to
Host Conference
at Weitzman
J SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
ewish librarians are more than
just little old ladies with tight
buns and eyeglasses. And being
a librarian is more than just fetching a
dusty book from a shelf.

Library and information science is a
multidisciplinary fi eld, incorporating
books, archives, technology and multi-
media, preserving it and making it more
accessible to those who need it.

For Jewish media, such as ancient texts
and historical objects that have survived
antisemitic attacks and centuries of wear
and tear, fi nding a steward for those
objects and information is crucial.

Jewish librarians are the champi-
ons of that eff ort. As the “people of the
book,” those librarians, as part of the
Association of Jewish Libraries, come
together every year to learn from one
another about how to do their jobs better.

On June 27-29, AJL will host its 2022
conference, with the theme “together
again,” in Philadelphia at the Weitzman
National Museum of American Jewish
History. It will be the organization’s fi rst
in-person conference since 2019.

“Th e AJL conference is like the oppor-
tunity to be in an entire room of people
who all do the same thing that you
do, and to be able to problem solve
and troubleshoot, brainstorm and get
ideas from people,” said Rachel Kamin,
national conference chair of the AJL
Conference Committee and a librarian
at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El in
Highland Park, Illinois.

Th e committee expects more than 200
conference attendees; there are 23 ses-
sions planned with more than 60 pre-
senters. Over the past two years, libraries, like
every other institution, have weathered
the pandemic. For librarians, this meant
fi nding new technologies to use and
being creative in getting books to people.

In the early days of the pandemic,
Kamin set up a way to deliver books to
congregants. Th ey would call with book
requests, and Kamin would drive to their
house when the book arrived.

Gail Shirazi, an Israel and Judaica
librarian in the Asian and Middle Eastern
Division of the Library of Congress,
believes that COVID was a mixed bless-
ing for libraries. Th ough many shuttered,
it gave others, such as the Library of
Congress, the opportunity to prioritize
and digitize resources.

“[COVID] expanded the need for e-re-
sources, and the library is really making
every eff ort, full speed ahead, to acquire
the e-resources database,” Shirazi said.

While some librarians were able to
share their pandemic-induced innova-
tions virtually at the 2020 and 2021 con-
ferences, the virtual space doesn’t allow
for the same in-between moments that
generate connections and new ideas.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how
many of these little ephemeral conversa-
tions have led to really big projects,” said
Michelle Margolis, AJL vice president/
president-elect. Margolis, the Norman E. Alexander
Librarian for Jewish Studies at Columbia
University, enjoys the conference’s ability
to mesh groups. As a university librar-
ian, she can commiserate with the high
school librarians about gaps in knowl-
edge and skills in matriculating students,
so high school librarians can better
design curricula.

Th e organization’s focus on Jewish
librarians sets it apart from larger library
association missions.

Jewish libraries have a unique set
of challenges, said Sean Boyle, librar-
ian at Congregation Keneseth Israel in
Allentown. “Secular libraries do not worry or
know how to determine if a damaged
resource needs to be placed in a genizah
(synagogue repository) or not,” Boyle
said. “Nor do they know what are the
best Jewish young adult LGBTQ+ books
AJL conference attendees at the 2019 conference, the last time the
organization met in person
Courtesy of Association of Jewish Libraries
to purchase to build up a collection that
may currently have zero.”
Libraries are the foundation of many
Jewish institutions, used by more than
just an individual looking to check out
a book. Just as much of Jewish thought
comes from the written word, Kamin
said, much of Jewish life comes from
access to Jewish resources.

“Th e library supports the preschool;
the library supports religious education;
the library supports the clergy, the rit-
ual committee, the ritual director, the
Sisterhood,” Kamin said. “Every depart-
ment relies on the library as kind of that
central hub.” JE
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