14 August 2017

Israel: Pipeline For American Culture to the ME

22 Menachem Av 5777
NBA HEADS TO THE HOLY LAND TO DEVELOP TALENT, PROMOTE VALUES
JERUSALEM (AP) -- The NBA is heading to the Holy Land this week, bringing together some of the top emerging talent from across Europe as part of the league's push to attract more foreign players and expand its global reach.
...An NBA delegation, led by Commissioner Adam Silver, is in Israel as part of "Basketball Without Borders," a program that hosts training camps for top teenage players throughout the world.
...In an interview, Silver said the program aims to give players who have a legitimate chance of reaching the professional ranks a cultural and athletic experience that would be hard to match.
"It's a realization that in order to develop as an elite player at a relatively young age, you need to begin competing against other elite players. And also you need the benefit of top notch coaching," he said.
...Off the court, the program also promotes cultural awareness.
"Whatever region we're in, we educate the young folks about what's happening socially, politically, economically in the area they are in," Silver said. "It's life skills in addition to basketball. It's about the values of the game, like leadership and discipline and hard work and respect for each other."
Toward that goal, the program will sponsor a series of clinics and workshops for local youngsters that will include Israeli Jews as well as members of the Muslim, Christian and Druze minorities. Palestinian children from the West Bank will also be participating, Silver said. On Sunday, for instance, the program will dedicate a new "learn and play" center at Jerusalem's YMCA.
"We look for regions where we can have a bigger impact than just the game of basketball," Silver said.

..."What we'd like to see is using basketball to build bridges between cultures," he said. "I think it really is true that people, whether on a basketball court, or it's on a soccer pitch, when they compete together they see how much they really do have in common. In this case, it's a shared passion for basketball."
Also, the Israeli government, ever eager to mix Jews and non-Jews (especially among those of marriageable age) in the Holy Land, strikes again.
Dangling cash, Israel pushes universities to woo foreign students
The Council for Higher Education in Israel is seeking to attract international, Jewish and non-Jewish students to its universities to promote diversity and a more fertile exchange of ideas on its campuses.
...The council has allocated some NIS 300 million ($83 million) over six years to boost the number of foreign students in its universities and colleges. The idea is to make local academia more competitive with universities abroad and strengthen Israel’s branding as a country of international academic excellence. This will also help fight boycotts and increase diplomatic, social and economic ties with foreign countries, the council said.
“When you have people from different backgrounds you open yourself up to a variety of cultures and ways of thinking, and that enriches you,” Prof. Yaffa Zilbershats, the chairman of the council, said in an interview. “This openness will enrich those who come from abroad, but also those who are here.”

9 comments:

  1. Wow we need urgently the values of the NBA in eretz israel. What a wonderfull idea to be moser nefesh to compete and give everything to throw a ball in a basket. The holy land waited for this since the churban beis hamikdash! This will be the solution to the peace process! As a nation without value system, thanks to the NBA we will be redeemed from our disorientation and lack of life targets. What a big chesed from the sons of Cham! I am thrilled! We should invite all big Rebbes and get a Bracha for it! ... (all ironically meant) are we so empty here, that we have to import emptiness from the country of emptiness? What a shame.

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    1. I couldn't have said it better.

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    2. Unfortunately, yes. We are that empty and becoming more so each day. Only Hashem can save us from becoming little america.

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    3. The word is not ironic but sarcasm as in you say something that sounds true but you are really saying something else. Ironic is {happening in the opposite way to what is expected, and typically causing awry amusement because of this.}
      Jack

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  2. They allow imports of decadence, but disallow imports of healthy foods, and a sundry of other personal items, but when they do allow, the import fees and taxes are exorbitant. They allow imports of goods from China which are really very inferior and toxic; no one should buy any foods from China.

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  3. Let us make a game called racecars with no borders and see where the endless path takes these rebelliors; yeah to a world of nothing.
    Jack

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  4. to Neshama:
    Could you explain what you mean by "disallow imports of healthy foods" ?
    Do you have some examples of this ?

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  5. The main problem is bringing in all kinds of different cultures to Eretz Hakodesh! That is the main problem and great sin. Israel has been sliding downwards since the early nineties to a point of no return. It is only that we have H' who will, hopefully very soon, save His true people and Holy Land.

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  6. ...which is why the government is encouraging chareidim to get university degrees - to eliminate the chareidi lifestyle the "nice" way. This is stealth shmad.

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