Basketball, Jews, and Prejudice...

So, I finally played some basketball last weekend - terribly. I played with two other people and I was outright better than both, but their youth overcame my abilities.

I was surprised though - I wasn't AS out of shape as I had feared. I wasn't out of breath during, or overly sore afterward. My injuries didn't flare up or anything, and overall, I played decently. Especially considering that I hadn't even touched a basketball in 22 months (save for a lonely shootaround about a year ago).

The other two guys were 20 and 14 years of age respectively, though the 14 year old looked a lot more like a small 17 year old (yes, they're both kids, but in basketball, those 3 years make a big difference in size). The 20 year old looked young in the face, but I'm proud to say my body still beat his out by a wide margin (there'd be a pun intended if you had seen him).

For no reason at all (or none that I could discern), my evening of basketball called back a memory to me of playing basketball with a group of Hasidic Jewish kids in Brooklyn a few years ago, around 2004/05.

I had gotten up that day looking to play basketball, but I was mainly looking to just shoot around and practice by myself. I rode around on my bicycle for awhile and passed two or three parks because there were people there, and on that particular day, I had no interest in competition - just solitary practice.

I finally found what I had been looking for when I came to a park with one basketball full court with no one on it. It was right next to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, and adjacent to the court were some handball courts, fenced off to contain wayward balls from either area. There were no people on the handball courts, but I did notice a group of young Hasidic men / boys / man-boys around the ages of 12-17, smoking, cussing, and fooling around with a handball over by one of the chess tables. I didn't pay them any real attention, but I kept my eye on them - not out of distrust, but out of curiosity.

I shot my basketball, practiced my dribbling, and honed my low-post moves for a few minutes, when they finally seemed to notice me - and noticed that I was in-turn noticing them. They toned down their monkeying around (but didn't stop), and moved toward me with all the ceremony of a scene from West Side Story.

"Hey, mind if we shoot around with you?"

"Not at all." I replied - nervously; because I had never seen Hasidic Jews of any age curse or smoke or be rowdy in any way - so I didn't know what to expect, but I was curious all the same. The thickly-bearded boy who asked, appeared to be the "leader", so I tossed him the ball so he (and the others) felt comfortable joining in.

He caught the ball and without even really setting himself, threw up what had to be the worst-looking basketball shot I had ever seen - or could ever imagine. I don't remember if it went in, but I do remember the group pretty much taking over the use of my ball - and though I got a few more shots in, it became some sort of awkward, Jewish basketball spectacle, that while comical, was (to me at least) somewhat surreal. And by "somewhat" I mean very.

As I mentioned, I got a chance to shoot now and again, but I was having more fun experiencing this "new" thing. Hasidic Jews curse? Smoke? Joke around about sex? I remembered an episode of Sex and the City, henceforth referred to as SATC (no, I watched it because of my girlfriend - jerk) where one of the characters dated and slept with a smoking, Hasidic Jewish artist. I also was becoming familiar with a local artist at the time who was rising in prominence named Matisyahu. Could it be true? (yes, that's a SATC reference). Were Hasidic Jews allowed to smoke, curse, play basketball (or handball), have sex out of wedlock, be painters and reggae artists?

I'm a born and raised New Yorker, why was I unaware of this? Non-Jewish New Yorkers are the most educated population in the world regarding Jewish culture. My image of Hasidic Jews was always of a strict and rigid form of living where one abstained from the world - basically, the Jewish version of Amish. I suppose I just transferred the beards and never really paid attention to the actual people. And therein lies the problem.

Not only are there multiple sects of Judaism, there are multiple sects within sects, and the Hasidic Jews are no different. Some Hasidic Jews can do nothing. Others can do anything. Depends on the sect. I looked at the beards and hats and lumped them all together; just like everyone looks at me (before they get to know me) and they already "know" what I think, "who I am" and what I'm "about". I walk around feeling that the entire world (including my own people) just sees me as "another nigger", but I'm looking at everyone else in the same (or similar) way. All Hasidics are closed off and fundamentalist. All Irish are racists. All poor black people are closed minded. Even when I have personal evidence to the contrary. My poor black family in rural North Carolina are some of the most open-minded people I know. I routinely deal with a genial and open-hearted Irish community. And, based on that basketball experience (and SATC / Matisyahu), I now know that Hasidic Jews are neither of one mind, or one action.

It's a lesson I try to carry with me daily.

I'm going to judge a book by its cover - there's no question about that, because I'm human - and that's perfectly acceptable. But I should never let my pre-judgement prevent me from still opening the book. Afterall, reading is fundamental.