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April 2001 Issue

The Holy Cup--Passover and the Playoffs

By Becky Kremenitzer

Why was last Passover different from all other Passovers? The answer: Saloniki, Greece.

For all of us who were in Israel at that time, the Passover holiday was nearly overshadowed by the success of the Israeli national basketball team, Maccabi Tel Aviv. Maccabi was having a dream season and had earned a trip to the European League Final Four Championship in Greece.

Israel was in a frenzy, glowing with pride. The radio and T.V. stations talked non-stop about this miraculous event. However, a situation arose that would not have been problematic for any other team or its fans: The final four game fell right before Passover, and the final game, if Maccabi advanced, would take place on the second night of Passover. What were devoted fans to do?

An Israeli documentary, The Holy Cup (Ha-Gaviah Ha-Kadosh), directed and produced by Eric Henig, has recently been released, and portrays the team's journey to the championships. The movie humorously shows, among other things, how observant and non-observant Israelis alike, dealt with Passover and the playoffs.

As fans rushed to purchase tickets to the games in Greece, members of the Israeli Chabad community, with their cell phones in tow, began to arrange a seder in Saloniki. A hall was rented, a kitchen was made kosher for Passover, and dozens of boxes of matzah and other food items were flown to Greece. While the fans in the stands and Israelis in front of their television sets watched Maccabi win against Barcelona, a dedicated group of individuals worked feverishly to make a seder for hundreds.

The seder itself was unique. Still excited from the semi-final win, most of the participants were less interested in tradition than celebrating the victory. Cheers for the team rang louder than the blessings. Most amusing, however, was when the participants began singing "gaviah, gaviah, gaviah" (cup or trophy) to the tune of "mashiach, mashiach, mashiach."

The cameras also focused on an observant sports reporter as he and his friends celebrated both the holiday and the team. They burned their chametz in the streets of Saloniki despite the stares of onlookers. They even mapped out the 10+ kilometers from their hotel to the stadium so they could walk to the final game versus Panathinaikos. (They would be unable to arrive on time via public transportation or cabs when the holy day ended.) Not even rain could stop their journey, though they did stop to daven mincha.

Sure, the game was important for many other reasons. There was the controversy of Israeli player Oded Katash playing against his country, (he had left Maccabi for the Panathinaikos team in order to make more money); Fans packed Rabin Square to watch the game on large screens; And other Fans flew to Greece to fill the stands with blue and yellow, the team colors.

Obsessed fans, such as I, had more time to ogle over players such as Doron Sheffer, and Israelis overall had a reason to be excited and proud of their country. My family and I even rushed home from our seder and ran straight for the T.V.

Though Maccabi lost in the final game, they proved that one could be a professional basketball player (or die-hard fan) and celebrate Passover without needing to compromise. As the reporter said in the film about his observance of Passover in Greece, "people in hard times kept the Jewish tradition--why shouldnąt we?"

The film is currently being shown in Israel, but can be viewed at select screenings like the one I attended at Brandeis University, sponsored by the Israeli Consulate in New England.

Becky is a senior at Brandeis University majoring in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Elementary Education. She is currently student teaching in a fourth grade classroom in the Boston area. When not at college or elementary school, Becky works as an intern at Jewish Family & Life! on an educational project called Jskyway.

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