After Israel’s championship tennis team announced a few days ago that it would not compete in a match scheduled to be held on Yom Kippur in Belgium, the team was fined.
The Israeli team was scheduled to take part in the September 14th Davis Cup championship match but informed officials of the Belgian Tennis Association they cannot play since it is Yom Kippur. The response was a fine against the Israeli team for over $13,000. The Belgian Tennis Association declined a polite request to schedule the match for a different date. The international Tennis Association intervened however, changing the match to September 15th. The international association instructed the Israeli team to pay the fine for inconveniencing the local team.
“The Israel Tennis Association is a non-profit organization, which designates all of its funds to promote tennis in Israel and develop Israeli tennis players. As a result, the high fine is a detrimental blow for the budget of the professional program for the Israeli tennis teams and to Israeli tennis in general,” Israel Tennis Association Chairman Asi Touchmair said in a statement on the association’s website.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
19 Responses
What a Kiddush H’. With all the depressing news coming out of E.Y. it is heart-warming to hear of such a decision. And of course it also shows the Rishus of the Goyshe world, charging such an exorbitant amount for a minor inconvenience which, with a bit of foresight and care, could have totally been avoided.
Do they play on Christmas or Easter?
only because its on yom kippur
shabbos? whats that?
I don’t understand – why would “Tzionishe”, “chiloni”, people who are attempting to destroy and uproot Torah and Yahadus by making “gzeiros” cause all of this fuss (Kidush HaShem?) by not playing on Yom Kippur? How dare they have not grown up in a frum home and not know yet what it means to be full fledged observant Jews!How dare they have a sense of belonging to Yahadus, a recognition of a relationship to HaShem during the time of “Dirshu HaShem b’himatzo kra’uhu bihyoso karov”! (I hope it’s obvious to all that this statement is satirical)
I hate to break it to YWN’s Israel desk…but the photo that accompanies this article is of a soccer ball shot into the net…not a tennis ball at all…..
To No. 3 (Coffee Addict)
“Why not Shabbos?”…..I guess you haven’t heard but to the large percentage of yidden in EY (including 96.8 percent of the membership of the tennis association)Yom Kippur is important and they will not be mechallel the yom tov by scheduling a match but Shabbos is NOT a big deal (since it comes once a week) and is treated more as a day for rest and relaxation (including playing and watching tennis. When moishiach comes, perhaps all will agree with you, but until then, no one really cares about your judgmental sarcasm. Kol hakavod to them for not be willing to play on Yom Kippur.
What about religious freedom, why should they be fined? Would another team be fined if they did not want to play on Christmas or Easter? Purely anti-Semitic!
I’m sorry, Gadolhadorah, but I’m with Coffee Addict on this one. Kiddush Hashem that happens to make the news doesn’t erase the repeated Chillul Hashem that takes place when Israeli teams compete abroad on Shabbos. It has nothing to do with whether the individuals at issue think it’s a big deal or not.
Israeli officials who go abroad are not meant to conduct official business on Shabbos, and when they violate this custom the religious press jumps all over it. That’s because they represent the State of Israel. So do sports teams.
Don’t pay the fine. It was a great Kiddush Hashem to refuse to play. Paying the fine is an admission of wrong-doing…don’t pay it.
gadolhadorah,
is it newsworthy if someone whos on a diet doesnt have cake?
another point is it newsworthy if the 10th person walks on the moon (there have been a lot of sports players after sandy koufax to decide not to play on yom kipur)
additionally why wait for moshiach, unless you think why bother changing people and it doesnt bother you that people are mechalel shabbos
I agree with #6. #3, instead of complaining that they play on shabbos (they might not even know what shabbos is) look @ the fact that they agreed not to play on Yom Kippur! And to #7, I don’t think Christmas or Easter is as important to the Goyim as Yom Kippur is to the Jews that they would cancel a tennis match such as this one!
a continuation from my last comment: and ESPECIALLY if they would get fined for it if they didnt play it!
To #1 and #7 — sports associations all over impose huge fines for rescheduling requests, for two reasons. One is to deter member clubs from fiddling with the schedule unless they really, really have to (otherwise, clubs would try to reschedule whenever an important player has a mild injury, etc.). The other, when clubs truly have to reschedule, is to line the association’s pockets.
#6- You surprised that people like #3 can only find negative things to say about people in E”Y? He and his ilk live for this.
Can all the anti-zionist am-haaratzim (akuperma, deepthinker) please tell me again how much the Zionists “hate” the Torah??
ywfan,
so thats a problem that they dont know what “the day of rest” is in the “jewish” state of Israel
yanky,
i see you like to pick and choose what i find and dont see the positive things I have posted
No. 2: It is time you learned about Christian holidays: Christmas is for football, Easter is for beginning of baseball season. And Chinese food is good for football.
#4. Your whole premise is the problem. You listen to all the brainwashing and complaining. No one is trying to uproot Torah. The State has been funding Torah institution since day 1.
The problem with an all or nothing mentality that vocal Chareidim are showing, is you usually end up with nothing. When cuts are being made across the board, including the IDF, the responsible thing to do is to discuss how you can help, not just demand that everyone paying the bill contribute more just for you. Other segments of society have needs also. All Chareidim are doing is getting everyone angry with them and they will pay a bigger price for it. If you refuse all efforts to compromise you’ll lose even more.
People who are supposed to have Torah seichel are being pretty dumb.
#18 you clearly didn’t notice the parenthetical statement at the end of my comment.