Sandy Koufax must be shepping a lot of nachas right now. After all, it isn’t so often that an Orthodox Jewish kid from Woodmere is picked in the MLB draft. Jacob Steinmetz, a right-handed 17 year old HAFTR graduate from Woodmere, had already received a scholarship to Fordham University for his powerful arm. Fordham agreed to accommodate his needs as a religious Jew, and other MLB teams who have been in touch with him and his family have agreed to do the same. This includes staying in hotels within walking distance from games, which can mean up to a five-mile trek on a day that he is pitching. With the 77th pick, the Arizona Diamondbacks selected Jacob, number 121 on the Top 250 Draft Prospects list.
Jacob saw significant progress during COVID, when he began lifting weights and developing his pitching. After a short while, he was throwing pitches over 90 mph on a consistent basis. Jacobs father, Elliot Steinmetz, is the Yeshiva University Men’s Basketball Coach and has always been encouraging Jacob to develop his great talents.
Congrats to Jacob, the Steinmetz family and the entire community!
Watch the moment Jacob & friends found out he had been drafter 77th overall:
Watch the moment Jacob & friends found out he had been drafter 77th overall….. pic.twitter.com/vtM3gfyZyG
— 5TownsCentral (@5TownsCentral) July 12, 2021
With the 77th pick, the @Dbacks select Elev8 Academy (FL) right-hander Jacob Steinmetz, No. 121 on the Top 250 Draft Prospects list.
Watch live: https://t.co/oDjcuCzH7G pic.twitter.com/n1CryogVc8
— MLB Draft (@MLBDraft) July 12, 2021
I’m not trying to judge anyone individually, but due to the fact the he plays professionally on shabbos, even with walking to the game, I’m not sure that we in the orthodox society should be celebrating this.
Jake: totally agree with you.
No we should just loose out on every sports opportunities as Jews….. let it be!
Celebrate something good that a young person achieves! Mazel Tov Jacob!
It’s not something good when he’s trading Shabbos for it. We’re not in this world for baseball and sports. We’re here with a Gdly mission, and anything that takes us away from that isn’t our reason for being here.
The halachos involved, assuming there is no absolute chilul Shabbos, include:
1. What is the status of a baseball stadium? Even if it is entirely enclosed, that does not necessarily make it a reshus hayachid (private domain). In fact, it is likely a karmelis or a karpaf shelo hukaf l’dirah yoseir mibais sasayim. Leaving out the particulars, in neither of these domains can one “carry” or pitch a baseball.
2. Running. Except to run to a dvar mitzvah, one cannot run on Shabbos.
3. Uvda d’chol, that is, engaging in an everyday activity. Baseball would seem to fall in this category, especially when one is not simply tossing a ball (which itself may be an issue).
4. Getting paid. This can be solved by contracting that he is not actually paid for playing on Shabbos.
5. If the article means that Jacob walks from his hotel five miles not to play on Shabbos but to be available right after Shabbos, this might technically be allowed, but is it the way to spend Shabbos?
I am not deciding halacha here in any way, but I think these are fair questions to raise before we rave about this draft pick.
I think we should celebrate Jacob’s success and not behave as if we know God’s plan. Many of these comments make assumptions about Jacob’s behavior as a Jew. Jacob will have a larger platform with which to shine as a Jew among the nations, than any of us commenting here. Best of luck and congrats is my response.
Eli, we would love to celebrate success. What concerns me is that Jacob advertises himself as “shomer Shabbat” when that does not appear to be the case. One cannot says he keeps the laws that are min haTorah but not the rabbinic ones and claim to be shomer Shabbat. It would seem to be akin to someone who eats a kosher, cold meat and cheese sandwich. The prohibition to eat cold milk with meat is rabbinic, not from the Torah. Yet we would not say that someone who does this is keeping kosher.
I am deeply concerned by the notion that people, both Jews and non-Jews, will get the notion that it is okay to circumvent Shabbos laws and still be considered shomer Shabbos.
I understand your point, but I think there’s a greater good that could come from this. When a practicing (orthodox, conservative or …) Jew has the opportunity to make such a kiddush hashem, it would be a shame to squander. Your halachic knowledge far exceeds mine, but maybe there’s a bigger picture to consider. We often talk about bashert, perhaps this is exactly that.
I don’t know that my knowledge in halachah exceeds yours, but I do know that a kiddush Hashem is not made when we water down halachah. When Sandy Koufax declined, very publicly to pitch on Yom Kippur, in a World Series game no less!, That was a kiddush Hashem, because the world saw someone who, despite not claiming to be “religious,” drew a line in the sand. (It was my first year of being a baseball fan.)
In the present case, we are seeing the opposite, assuming we have the facts right. We have someone who publicly proclaims that he is shomer Shabbos doing something that inherently requires chillul Shabbos. That is not a kiddush Hashem.
Re bashert, that refers to circumstances that we believe to be directed by or influenced by G-d. So, for example, I do believe that my wife was the one G-d intended for me and that He guided me toward her. Nonetheless, she and I still needed to make the choice to marry.
Jacob Steinmetz has been given athletic talent by G-d. However, how he uses it is his choice. G-d is not forcing him to play on Shabbos.