Author Topic: Shlomo Veingrad  (Read 1130 times)

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Offline OdKahaneChai

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Shlomo Veingrad
« on: February 04, 2008, 04:29:27 PM »
A really interesting guy, lineman and winner of Super Bowl XXVII turned Chabad Chossid:
http://www.aish.com/societyWork/arts/A_Jew_in_the_NFL.asp:

A Jew in the NFL
by Kathy Orton

An interview with Alan Veingrad, winner of a Super Bowl ring, and now an observant Jew.

Alan Veingrad spent seven seasons in the NFL as an offensive lineman, playing for the Green Bay Packers (1986-90) and then the Dallas Cowboys (1991-92) where he won a Super Bowl ring. Veingrad played nearly every position on the line, blocking for Emmitt Smith and protecting Troy Aikman. Smith presented Veingrad with a Rolex watch after the running back won the NFL rushing title.

Veingrad played alongside many Christians in the NFL and at East Texas State University in the heart of the Bible belt, but few of his teammates shared his Jewish heritage. As he put it: "In the rough and tumble environment of an NFL team, a Jew is an outsider." Though he always considered himself a Jew, Veingrad didn't embrace Orthodox Judaism until after he left professional sports.

Q: Tell me about your faith.

Veingrad: I was born Jewish. It was instilled in me at a young age that there is a God. The Jewish religion focuses a lot on family and holidays and getting together. I didn't know a lot about the spirituality aspects of it. I couldn't really talk about all the different holidays and what they mean until years after I started to look into it and I realized it is the most inspirational thing that I ever learned. It's all about inspiration. Every holiday and every Shabbat there's always a Torah portion associated with it. There's so much inspiration. I thought it was all about history. God said to Moses this, Moses said to God that, and God said to Abraham this, Abraham said to God that. I didn't know that there was inspirational messages sprinkled in throughout all aspects of Judaism. And as an athlete, I was focused on inspiration. As an athlete, I read books about inspiration. As an athlete, I listed to motivational tapes about inspiration, about motivation, about being positive. And now as an adult and starting to understand that Judaism is so focused on the positive, I said sign me up. The Torah is mine as a Jew. I want to know about it.

Q: Before you discovered religion as inspiration, you turned to other people for inspiration.

Veingrad: Coaches.

Q: Dallas Cowboys Coach Jimmy Johnson, did you find inspiration in his words?

Veingrad: Out of fear. You're around great coaches, and I read great coaches' stories about how they've taken teams to championships and players that had become great players. It's really ironic to me that as a high school athlete I listened to every motivational tape that I could get my hands on about Vince Lombardi, then I go on to play for the Green Bay Packers.

Q: When did Judaism become an inspiration for you?

Veingrad: I went to my cousin's house for a traditional Friday night dinner and at that particular dinner he asks me, 'Would you go to a Torah class?' Out of obligation I said yes. So I went to my first Torah class a week later. It was a one hour Torah class. . . . It was during that class in this very wealthy doctor's home in south Florida that first 59 ½ minutes of the one hour class, I was looking around the house, the chandeliers and the beauty of this house and the pool behind this house and the lake, thinking about the party I would have in this house if I owned this house. And the last 30 seconds of the class, the rabbi looked right at me, and he talked about materialism, and he talked about jealousy, and he talked about if you allow yourself you can become consumed with materialistic items, and then the rabbi stopped the class and my mouth was wide open. And I looked at the rabbi and I thought he knew exactly what I was thinking. I went to the rabbi afterward and said, 'Rabbi, I really need to know a lot more about what you're talking about. I don't have any books on the Torah.' He said, 'Come back next week. I'll bring you your first Torah book.'

I was raised like the majority of Jewish people in this country. You go to the synagogue, you become a bar mitzvah, and the bar mitzvah should be the entrance into Judaism. It was the exit out of Judaism for me, as it is with most Jews. . . . Okay, it's this holiday or it's that holiday, let's have dinner together, let's do this. But we didn't focus on the spiritual aspect of the holiday. We just focused on the family getting together and the food. You tell me the holidays from 25 to,30 years with my family, I'll tell you what we had to eat and that's kind of where it stops. Now I can tell you what we had to eat, I can tell you a whole lot more about what the holiday means to the Jewish people and what does it mean to me, how I can become a better person.

Q: What's the most misunderstood part of your faith?

Veingrad: That it's rigid. That it's a rigid way of living your lifestyle. That you're being told what to do. It's a battery pack. It gives you inspiration. It gives you focus. It gives you meaning in life. . . . Nobody can argue with me, and none of my friends would ever try, because I sat in their chair for 40 years. Now for four years I've sat in a different chair. I've experienced both aspects of life and I didn't lose my mind. Nothing horrible happened to me. A lot of people come to faith because something happened to them. They lose a loved one. They lose their fortune. They go through a divorce. Nothing happened to me. I just felt as I was going to my rabbi's house Friday night for the traditional Shabbat meal and I was driving with my family, and then on Saturday night I was going out with my friends and their wives and I was comparing the two ways of life. Friday night was so meaningful and so rich and so fun and so real and then Saturday night was so, what? What? What do we talk about? The next vacation you're taking? That new car that you got? Your golf score? You're going fishing and boating? Okay, there's nothing wrong with all those things and I enjoy all of them. And I also like to go fishing and I like to exercise, and when I have the time I love taking my kids to Orlando to the theme park to do things like that with them. However, that is a very small part of life. The main focus of life is your relationship with God and growing toward that.

Q: Did anyone ever challenge your decision to make such a dramatic transformation from your previous life to the one you lead now?

Veingrad: They don't. They tried a few years ago. Personal friends, they tried a few years to challenge me. But you challenge me when you've only lived one lifestyle. You don't know what I do. You can't. You don't walk in these size 14 shoes. How can you challenge me? I don't challenge them. I try to bring them with me. I try to invite them to my house for my Friday night meal and show them the beauty of Judaism. . . . People say, 'Oh, you're an extremist.' The transformation, it was a very natural thing for me. The biggest struggle was living in between. . . . The Torah says this is what you're supposed to do as a Jewish man, and I said, 'Listen, I like it. This is what I'm going to do.' So if someone tries to challenge me and say, 'Why do you wear that yarmulke? You don't have to wear the yarmulke.' Do I need to have a challenging discussion with them or do I just tell them I like it; it makes me feel good.

Q: What's been the biggest test to your faith?

Veingrad: The biggest test? You're going to ask me some tough questions.

Q: We can skip it and come back if you want.

Veingrad: Go ahead. I'll think about that.

Q: I'm going to ask you some sports-related questions. Veingrad: Uh oh.

Q: What role does God play in sports?

Veingrad: God has a role everywhere.

Q: So specifically in sports, what is God's role?

Veingrad: What is his role? I tell you what his role was and what it is for me. The role for me was I played in the NFL for seven years. I won a Super Bowl ring then I retired from the game. I knew during my football experience that as a Jew, and we have very few of them in the NFL, that I had a message to tell the Jewish people. I didn't know what the message was, but I knew deep down inside of me I had something to say. I wasn't living any type of Jewish lifestyle. I was just a secular Jew like the majority of Jews in this country. . .. [A rabbi once asked him,] Shlomo, that's my Hebrew name. I say, 'Yes, rabbi.' He goes, 'Now that you know the life a Jew is supposed to live, a life of Torah and mitzvahs and doing good deeds and acts of kindness, would you have played in the NFL? I said, 'Rabbi, you're not going to like the answer to the question.' I said, 'Absolutely. I played in the NFL so I can tell these children here to learn the Torah and immerse themselves in learning, and that's why I played in the NFL. I have a tool to bring people closer to Judaism.'

Q: When you were in the NFL was religion talked about in the locker room?

Veingrad: Yes

Q: Did you find that certain teams were more religious than others?

Veingrad: No. What I found, whether it was college, the Cowboys or the Packers, that every team, even in high school, always had a religious individual associated with the team. Whether it was Athletes in Action, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, there was always somebody associated with the team and kind of hung around the team and certain guys, and he would pretty much reach out to all the guys, and some guys would gravitate toward him and they would get together on a Wednesday night or a Thursday night for team study group or a Thursday night bible study class. Every team always had a religious component to it. And every hotel we stayed in, whether we were out of town or in town, we were always required to go to a hotel. After the team pre-game meal, they would have a chapel service.

Q: Did you feel sort of left out of that, being Jewish?

Veingrad: Not really. Majority of guys weren't involved in neither. Maybe a dozen guys would go. I don't know how many would go.

Q: But you didn't necessarily feel excluded?

Veingrad: My whole life I always had that kind of exclusion. High school there might have been other Jews on my high school football team, but there was no rabbi associated, no Judaism. There was a Fellowship of Christian Athletes who are a non-Jewish representative there to reach out to the population if you will. Same thing in college, same thing in the pros. . . . Before and after games, I would always say a prayer. The team would always get together and do a team prayer. They would say the Lord's Prayer, before games and after games, in high school, in college and in the pros. I was generally the lone Jew.

Q: Did you feel uncomfortable doing that?

Veingrad: It was something that was always there. Guys said it or not, or what they said. I always said my own prayer. . . Thank you God for not getting my neck broken today. Thank you God for giving me the opportunity to play a football game and not do something really, really bad to harm another player on my team.

Q: I think you've answered all my questions except for the one about what was the biggest test to your faith.

Veingrad: The biggest challenge is that there is so much that we have to do. In terms of the morning prayers, the afternoon prayers, and praying before we have a drink and after praying, it does take a long time to adjust to the time commitments.

Q: And the discipline I would think.

Veingrad: The discipline, I had the discipline as a football player. So I don't think the discipline, the work ethic, the focus, the passion to Judaism, but the biggest challenge for me was juggling time. You always have to think. . . . I have to think about the logistics of, 'Okay, will there be enough time for me to pray before I catch the flight?' It takes about 45 minutes. You have to put on a tallis. You have to put on tefillin. . . It's a lot of time commitment. You have to think about your day. You have to plan your day. Especially for a returnee, which I am, a returnee to the Jewish religion. It doesn't come as easily as someone who was born into the religion. They might not think about the things that I think about because to them it's just natural.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Veingrad



One does not deal with terrorists; one does not bargain with terrorists; one kills terrorists.
- Rabbi Meir Kahane ZT"L, HY"D

Offline mord

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Re: Shlomo Veingrad
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2008, 04:36:26 PM »
yes they still have Jews in NFL my brother know that man he lives in fla
Thy destroyers and they that make thee waste shall go forth of thee.  Isaiah 49:17

 
Shot at 2010-01-03

Offline OdKahaneChai

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Re: Shlomo Veingrad
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2008, 10:41:16 PM »
I just think it's a really amazing story.  There's also the story about the former Raiderette (cheerleader for the Raiders) who became Frum:
http://www.aish.com/societyWork/women/The_Rabbi_and_the_Cheerleader.asp

The Rabbi and the Cheerleader
by Sandy Wolshin Mendlowitz

On the outside, I was living the All-American girl's dream. Then I looked inside.

Mid-September at the Los Angeles Coliseum. A scorching 85 degrees. Dallas is leading, 14-7, late in the fourth quarter. The Raiders have the ball, fourth and goal from the 3-yard line. The Raiderette cheerleaders prepare to launch into a sideline routine. I pick up my pom-poms and hear the quarterback make the call:

"East, near left, 94 in flair zero on two."

He's going to run it!

Whamm!

The sound of bones cracking, and a scream.

Was that his leg breaking? Uh-oh, the music's starting. Time to dance. Five, six, seven, eight?

I was a cheerleader for the LA Raiders for five years. I danced and moon-walked in high-heel go-go boots for four hours straight in front of 60,000 adoring fans. Everything was great -- the attention, the autographs. I cheered for a TV audience of one billion when the Raiders went to the Super Bowl. I was living the All-American girl's dream.

I never planned to be a professional cheerleader. Sure, I cheered in high school and college. But my parents encouraged me to stay more focused on my studies -- I majored in Foreign Language at UCLA and performed my final project by playing the castanets while reciting in Spanish.

For cheerleading, I was more than a little overweight. At the time my best friend convinced me to try out for the NFL, I weighed 170 pounds. I didn't make the squad and I didn't understand why. Weren't they looking for good cheerleaders?! I was devastated. Then I looked over at all the finalists, and saw that none of them were heavy. Now I got the concept! So I made a commitment, lost weight, and tried out again. I made it!

For an NFL cheerleader, there is tremendous pressure to be physically beautiful. I was surrounded by 47 gorgeous girls, each one prettier than the next. To survive, I figured out some tricks to the trade. For glamorous eyes, we'd use false eyelashes, although we'd cut them in half to avoid looking too artificial.

For me, the hardest part about being a cheerleader was the world famous Raiderette Calendar. With 12 months in a year, only 12 of the 48 cheerleaders got a full-page photo. The rest got small pictures. I took it personally. To me, a big picture meant "I'm pretty," and a small picture meant, "I'm ugly." In the regular world I was looking good, but in Raiderette land I was failing. I had a small picture every year.

Eventually, I decided to leave the cheerleading squad. What triggered it? Maybe it was the ruthless carnage on the football field that didn't seem right to me. Or the lingering sense that I was somehow contributing to the objectification of women. Or the empty feeling inside as I danced my heart out on the field, but wanting to use my talents for something more fulfilling.

Most likely it was the strong hand of my mother reasserting itself. Growing up, I wasn't allowed to look in the mirror and would get spanked for putting on makeup. I remember my mother's lectures about how looks were superficial, and how important it is to develop one's character. My mother wanted me to be strong on the inside. Her fear was that people would place so much emphasis on my looks, that I'd come to rely on that at the expense of developing myself in other areas.

My mother's message was a good one, even though her Russian style may have seemed too stern growing up.

So I left cheerleading and became a standup comedienne. (I got that talent from my father, who had an act in the Borsht Belt.) I performed on TV, in film, live at The Improv, and overseas for American troops.

But I still felt an emptiness. My struggle with overeating kept coming back to haunt me. (Like in many Jewish families, food represented love.) Externally, my life was great -- exciting career, limousines, stylish clothes. But I didn't have any tools to deal with the feelings that food had suppressed all those years. I was overlooking my spiritual side. That's the emptiness I was trying to fill with food. And at some point the food took over.

So I joined a self-help program to help with the weight loss. I learned that it's not what you're eating; it's what's eating you. A byproduct of that effort was that I became more aware of the spiritual spark inside me. I shifted my priorities -- I wanted a home, a soul mate and a stable, secure life.

I found a quiet 9-to-5 job, and began meeting Jewish men. As I dated successful professionals, I came to realize that what I was truly seeking was a spiritual soul mate. So how was I going to meet the right one?

I turned to the one voice I knew I could trust: I prayed to God for direction. The reply I received was: "Why not become the type of person you'd want to marry?" So I asked God to help me be the best woman I could be -- spiritually, emotionally and physically -- so that my soul mate may recognize me.

I figured if I wanted to marry a Jewish man, I had a lot of work to do. Because my knowledge of Judaism consisted primarily of bagels 'n cream cheese, and Yiddish songs. But no spiritual component. So I started studying Judaism at various locations, and looked for a shul that I felt comfortable in. I fell in love with Aish LA, and increased my commitment to learning.

I started wearing more modest clothing -- a long way from go-go boots and pom-poms. Matchmakers would approach me at synagogue and ask tons of questions. "Excuse me, are you single? I think I may have someone for you. May I have your phone number?" People were investing time and effort to try to "match me up" with the right guy. This "blind date" way of meeting men was so different, yet so refreshing.

It was Sunday. I had lunch plans with a girlfriend and she canceled, so I went to a local kosher restaurant and ordered Chicken Caesar Salad, no croutons, with dressing on the side. (Does anyone else besides me remember exactly what they ate?)

A man was eating lunch alone, and he introduced himself. He was very brief and extremely polite. "Excuse me, are you single? May I have your phone number?"

Hmmm... I thought. This sounds familiar.

He called that night and we got married. (Well, not that night, but a few months later.) During our courtship, my husband and I never touched, not even holding hands until our wedding day. But we did connect on an emotional and spiritual level, which meant the world to me. We spoke about everything from children, money, where to live, and what we expected from each other. It was liberating to know that he was interested in who I am inside, and not for my physical self.

For the dating process, I asked a man in my community to act as my surrogate father, since my father had passed away. He took his role very seriously, even asking questions about my future husband's financial affairs. My husband-to-be lugged two suitcases full of documents to a meeting; my surrogate father wanted to see if he was willing to go to any length to prove he would be a good husband.

I was new to Judaism and the transition was not always easy. I recall going to shul and seeing people standing outside the bathroom near the drinking fountain, moving their lips and saying something in Hebrew. I didn't know they were saying the blessing after using the bathroom; I thought they were all blessing the holy water fountain!

I'm still growing and I still have a lot of questions. My knowledgeable husband is very patient, kind and humble. He answers all my questions about Judaism and tells me he's beginning to wonder if he's on a high enough level to be with me. Imagine that: The rabbi doesn't know if he's spiritual enough for the Raiderette. God does have a sense of humor.

I often think back to my life as a cheerleader. At the time I felt it was such a great career. We would get a lot of fan mail, people would send us bouquets of flowers to our practices, we'd sign autographs at the games. Like the other women on the squad, I was taught that cheerleading is wholesome and All-American -- just like mom, baseball and apple pie. The women I cheered with were sweet, good girls who would volunteer to help the elderly and went to church on Sunday.

But I never thought about what my job really stood for. I actually thought the Raiders had cheerleaders to help the team win! Now I get it what it's all about. I was so naїve.

As a NFL cheerleader I was more valued for my external traits, not the person inside. Now I realize how that contributes to low self-esteem. (Wasn't that my mother's message all along?)

I'm still in touch with the cheerleaders and they're thrilled for me. Sometimes they call and ask questions, particularly about the way I dated and my new modest wardrobe. I'm finding that all women are craving modesty. Our society spends billions of dollars pulling the country in the opposite direction. But I think we're seeing a backlash against this and that modesty is the wave of the future. That's why it's so important to have a strong sense of community and religion to show another way.

I'm still on my path to becoming closer to God, which I know will be a lifelong journey. I now serve as a theater director at various religious girls' schools in LA, directing the end-of-year shows. A little Torah, a little Tap -- it's perfect! I also had the privilege of teaching a class to Bat Mitzvah girls. (And when they found out I was a former cheerleader, I relented and taught them some cheers in the last five minutes of class, which was fun for me as well.)

My main project now is as a dating coach for marriage-minded women, using my life experiences to help others attain their relationship goals.

Through all this growth and change, it helps to have an extraordinary husband who loves the part of my soul that reaches out for more.

Yes, I used to be a Raiderette, but now it's my husband who cheers me on. I guess everyone needs a cheerleader.

As for me, I still do cheers around the house:

"2,4,6,8 -- Shabbos is coming, don't be late!"
« Last Edit: February 04, 2008, 10:43:21 PM by OdKahaneChai »

One does not deal with terrorists; one does not bargain with terrorists; one kills terrorists.
- Rabbi Meir Kahane ZT"L, HY"D

Offline Dominater96

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Re: Shlomo Veingrad
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2008, 09:46:44 PM »
I met him.

Offline OdKahaneChai

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Re: Shlomo Veingrad
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2008, 09:55:33 PM »
Really?  Where?

One does not deal with terrorists; one does not bargain with terrorists; one kills terrorists.
- Rabbi Meir Kahane ZT"L, HY"D

Offline nessuno

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Re: Shlomo Veingrad
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2008, 10:43:01 PM »
Thanks for posting - I enjoyed reading about these two people.
Be very CAREFUL of people whose WORDS don't match their ACTIONS.