The Chicago Cubs are the Official Team of Jews
Also Christians, Buddhists and Muslims (but they will be snipped here..)
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All religions, to some extent, seek to understand the value, meaning and purpose of suffering. That includes everyday plagues, such as enduring a calamitous baseball losing streak. It’s no accident spiritual thinkers make the connection.
A rabbi who is a columnist for the Jerusalem Post recently hailed the Cubs as “the Jews of the sports world,” an idea seconded by the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer, who made a stop at Wrigley Field on a swing through Chicago this month.
“The Cubs might be the most Jewish team in America,” said Mr. Dermer. “They’ve experienced a long period of suffering, and now they’re hoping to get to the promised land.”
There are Cubs-themed yarmulkes and caps spelling the team’s name in Hebrew. “What did Jesus say to the Cubs?” says a popular T-shirt in Chicago. “Don’t do nothin’ til I get back.”
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Little wonder that the franchise reminds some religious leaders of Job, a character found in both Jewish and Christian texts, who loses his children, his health and his prosperity as a test of faith. A team that hasn’t even made it to the World Series since 1945, the Cubs are “long-suffering, mocked and maligned, preyed upon by Giants, Pirates, even birds and fish, always seeking the Promised Land of postseason play yet never quite making it there,” Rabbi Stewart Weiss wrote recently in the Jerusalem Post.
Like Job, Cubs fans have withstood the challenge, flocking to Wrigley even amid hopeless seasons to raise signs saying, “Wait ‘til next year.”
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What if, on the off chance, the Cubs win it all this year? That may diminish their value as a model of faith amid hardship, according to a message Arnold Kanter delivered in his annual remarks at Yom Kippur services at Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Ill. While other congregants rise during an open-mic session to bare their souls, Mr. Kanter invariably stands and talks about the Cubs. This year, he sounded depressed at the prospect of the Cubs finally winning the World Series.
“We Jews are not happy when we’re happy,” he said. “We need something to kvetch about. Forty years we walked in the desert. For what? To become the damn Yankees?”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/holy-cow-the-chicago-cubs-are-the-official-baseball-team-of-jewsalso-christians-buddhists-and-muslims-1477059952
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