PURELY COMMENTARY wise and otherwise
That’s a Slap in the Face
S
ixty-five years ago, in 1956, the rabbis who taught Hebrew subjects at the Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, then located on Dexter and Cortland, were allowed to slap male students for not behaving properly during class. Each teacher had a different type of slap. Most slapped across the face, some harder than others. Irwin J. Two longtime teachers were Cohen different kinds of hitters. Rabbi F. would walk behind the seated student and deliver a hard slap across the back. Rabbi Z., who hailed from Germany, would ask the student to come up front to his desk and open their hand and while seated he slapped the open hand with his clear plastic ruler. Once he asked me to come up front and meet his ruler. He didn’t notice that behind my back I had my baseball fielders glove. As he raised his rulered hand, I switched hands and the ruler came down on my mitt and broke. After the class finished erupting in laughter, Rabbi Z. announced he would slap each hand the next day with his new ruler. He did. I received a slap across the face on Oct. 8, 1956, that I never forgot and never deserved. It was Game Five of the 1956 World Series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees, and each team had won two games. Don Larsen, 27,
who didn’t last through the second inning in Game Two was pitching for the Yankees, and Sal Maglie was on the mound for the Dodgers. The odds favored the latter as the 39-year-old veteran posted a 13-6 record with a nifty 2.89 ERA in 1956. It was the seventh straight winning season for Maglie, who won 108 career games at the time and lost 49 times. Larsen’s career record was 30-40. Between classes, I raced across the street to the gas station for updates. During the last break, the attendants were huddled around the radio, and it looked like something important happened. I soon learned that nothing of importance happened for the Dodgers. Larsen was pitching a perfect game, no runs, no hits, no errors, and I was able to hear the end of the historic game that the Yankees won 2-0. I ran back to the YBY and headed to the classroom. I encountered my next Hebrew studies teacher in the hallway. Rabbi K. was a street-smart New Yorker and a big Yankees fan. “How’s the game going?” he asked. “The Yankees won. and Larsen pitched a perfect game,” I answered. Rabbi K. responded by slapping me across the face and said, “Don’t lie.” I assume he found out the truth after school, but he never said anything to me and never apologized. New Yorkers are not known for apologizing.
letters
Thanks for the Recognition
Awards and commendations are vehicles of encouragement to do more activism. Those contributing to the successes are the indispensable value and inspiration. My achievements for Volunteers for Israel, Zionist Organization of America, Michigan Jewish Action Council, CAMERA, Adat Shalom Synagogue, StandWithUs, Walk for Israel and others have only been possible with the myriad
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SEPTEMBER 16 • 2021
help of extraordinary, selfless team members I have been privileged and grateful to work with. I thank those team members, the Detroit Jewish News, those that nominated me for the Volunteer of the Year Award and my Volunteers for Israel team congratulating me in the Detroit Jewish News. — Ed Kohl West Bloomfield
Fast forward some 20 years, and I headed a national baseball monthly at the time. I was schmoozing with United Press International’s baseball writer Milt Richman prior to a game at Yankee Stadium. Milt told me that he forged a friendship with Larsen several years before he was traded to the Yankees. Richman often invited Larsen to his parents’ home on Tremont Avenue in the Bronx and enjoyed the kosher cuisine. The night before the perfect game, Larsen dined with the Richmans and told the writer to expect a no-hitter. He punctuated his prediction by pulling out a dollar and instructed Richman to give it to his mother for a donation to her synagogue. So armed with confidence and a donated dollar to receive help from above, Larsen took the mound in front of 65,419 paying fans and pitched the only perfect game in World Series history. And it was the only time in my history that I didn’t deserve a slap in the face. Author, columnist, public speaker Irwin J. Cohen headed a national baseball publication for five years and earned a 1984 World Series ring while working in a front office position with the Detroit Tigers. He may be reached in his dugout at irdav@sbcglobal.net.
