H eadlines
Local Man to Lead International Jewish Sports HOF
L OCA L
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
THE INTERNATIONAL
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
opened in 1981 and is located
in the Wingate Institute for
Physical Education and Sports
in Netanya, Israel.
It has more than 420
inductees, all of them Jewish
athletic luminaries, though
some more famous than others,
like former Boston Celtics
coach Arnold “Red” Auerbach,
U.S. Olympic swimmer Mark
Spitz and Detroit Tigers slugger
Hank Greenberg. The most
recent inductee was Sue Bird,
the still-active WNBA star and
women’s basketball legend.
The ha ll ’s founding
chairman, Potomac, Maryland,
resident Alan Sherman, views
it as the official repository for
Jewish sports history.
And now Sherman is tapping
an Exton resident, Brian Schiff,
to replace him as the official
repository’s gatekeeper.
Sherman, 85, retired in
January after leading the hall
for four decades.
“It was time to pass it on,”
he said.
Sherman held various
leadership positions with
the international Maccabiah
Games, an Olympic-style
competition for
Jewish athletes, from the 1970s into
the ’90s. During that period,
Schiff coached the USA basket-
ball team at the Maccabiah
Games eight times.
The original chairman
knew Schiff and, by the time he
stepped down from the hall, he
felt his old acquaintance would
make a good replacement.
“I knew he had an interest
in the hall. I knew he knew
about sports,” Sherman said.
Sherman called Schiff and
asked if he wanted the role, and
the coach said he was inter-
ested. Schiff, 68, then talked it
over with his wife, who thought
it would be both prestigious
and something he would enjoy.
The new chairman still
works full time, too, in the
athletic department at the
Abington Friends School. But
he said he will make time for
the hall.
“It’s like anything in life,”
Schiff said. “Things you love
doing, you make time.”
For the hall, this is a moment
of transition in general, not just
at the chairman level. Schiff is
being joined in his endeavor
by another Philadelphia-area
resident: Jed Margolis, of
Dresher, the hall’s new vice
president. As VP of the nonprofit
organization, Margolis will
lead the 15-person election
committee for picking new hall
of famers. The IJSHF inducts
new members every year and
holds a ceremony every four
years at its Israel facility.
Margolis is replacing Joe
Siegman, a California-based
television producer who came
up with the original idea for
the hall.
The Dresher resident, now
70, retired four years ago after
a 45-year career with Jewish
Community Centers.
“This seemed like a natural
next step,” he said. “I was
looking for something that
would have meaning and make
a difference.”
Schiff and Margolis have
worked together before, at the
JCC Maccabi Games for Jewish
athletes 16 and under. Schiff
coached basketball, while
Margolis helped organize the
events. “I know he’s smart, driven
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New International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Chairman Brian Schiff
Courtesy of Brian Schiff
and committed to whatever
task he takes on,” Margolis said
of Schiff.
With the hall, Schiff’s and
Margolis’ task is to keep it the
same: to keep the inductions
rolling and the website and
facility operating.
Sherman said he left the
organization in good shape,
and the new leaders agree.
But Sherman acknowledged
that the hall needs to do more
to enter the 21st century.
And that, according to Schiff
and Margolis, is the mission
moving forward.
Schiff wants to start with the
website, which, even more than
the Israel facility, Sherman
labeled as “the sole repository
in the world for outstanding
Jewish athletes.”
Right now, though, the site
is just text and information.
Schiff and Margolis want to
make it more interactive with
videos and pictures.
“To get people to want to go
to it,” Schiff said.
After the website, Schiff
hopes to focus on the Israel
building. He recently spoke
with a 2017 inductee, who said
the facility, like the site, needs a
21st-century upgrade.
At the moment, it’s just
exhibits and lists of names.
Like its web home, the physical
hall would benefit from more
interactive elements, Schiff
said. “Something people would be
interested in visiting,” he said.
Both foundational renova-
tions, though, would cost
“enormous amounts of money,”
Schiff added. An amount
beyond the existing $100,000
quadrennial cost to run the
hall and hold the induction
ceremony. Schiff and Margolis are
planning to host a Zoom
meeting with board members
this month to discuss this vision.
Both local men are
committed to it.
“We just want to let people
out there know that Jews have
accomplished great things in
the world of sports,” Schiff
said. l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
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ISRAELBRIEFS Ancient Private Toilet Found in Jerusalem
A 2,700-YEAR-OLD toilet from the days of Jerusalem’s First
Temple was discovered by Israel’s Antiquities Authority, JTA
reported. Built as a private toilet stall at a time when few could afford
such a luxury, the toilet was unveiled to the public on Oct. 6 at an
archaeology conference, though for viewing only.
The toilet, which was carved from limestone, appears similar
to a modern-day fixture with a hole at the center leading to a
septic tank.
“A private toilet cubicle was very rare in antiquity, and only
a few were found to date, most of them in the City of David. In
fact, only the rich could afford toilets,’” said Yaakov Billig, who
directed the dig for the authority on the site of a large estate on
the Armon Hanatziv promenade in Jerusalem.
Archaeologists plan to examine the septic tank to investigate
what people living in the First Temple Period ate and to better
understand diseases of that era.
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Israel’s Fiscal Deficit Continues to Narrow
Israel’s cumulative fiscal deficit for the 12 months ending in
September declined to 7.4% of gross domestic product, or $36.2
billion, down from 8% at the end of August and 9.2% at the end
of July, Globes reported.
The Ministry of Finance Accountant General reported that as
the COVID crisis recedes in Israel, the deficit has narrowed. It
was 11.7% of GDP at the end of 2020.
Due to the few working days in September because of the
holidays, an estimated $2.54 billion in taxes was deferred until
October. That would have created a surplus of $680 million in
September, dropping the budget deficit over the past 12 months
to 6.85% of GDP.
Knesset to Mark Day Against Sexual Violence
The Knesset will mark the War Against Sexual Violence Day
on Oct. 19 to honor the fourth anniversary of the #MeToo
movement. The first-ever day is a joint initiative between Mossi Raz of
the Meretz party and Idit Silman of the Yamina party. Its goal
is to ensure that the topic receives recognition as crucial to the
national agenda.
Knesset committees will debate laws and reforms that are
being completed. An afternoon conference will include victims
of sexual crime.
Ukraine Asks KKL-JNF for Tree-planting Help
The Ukrainian government asked the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-
Jewish National Fund for help in planting 1 billion trees over the
next three years, The Times of Israel reported.
A KKL-JNF spokesperson said the organization’s chief forester
will set up a joint Israeli-Ukrainian team, with Israeli experts
flying to Ukraine to teach their counterparts there how to plant
and maintain trees, while providing tools and technology to
plant and monitor forests.
Roman Abramovsky, Ukraine’s environment and natural
resources minister, told KKL-JNF that tree-planting would center
on former industrial areas and more than 1,500 urban parks as a
way to combat global climate change. New forests would only be
planted where woodlands were damaged by fire or disease or in
areas where forests grew before humans intervened. l
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