Amar’e Stoudemire - jews want you to know basketball player converted to judaism

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HBO spotlights Amar'e Stoudemire's journey from the NBA to Orthodox Judaism
https://www.jta.org/2021/11/24/sports/hbo-spotlights-amare-stoudemires-journey-from-the-nba-to-orthodox-judaism

(JTA) — A new episode of HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel that aired Tuesday focused on Amar'e Stoudemire and the retired NBA star's embrace of Orthodox Judaism.

Stoudemire, who has played for the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns, converted to Judaism while living in Israel in August 2020. From 2016 to 2019, he played for the Israeli team Hapoel Jerusalem and later for Maccabi Tel Aviv. He remains a part owner of the Jerusalem team.

He has since moved back to the United States and lives in Brooklyn, where HBO filmed him at morning prayers in his local synagogue.

On the show, Stoudemire spoke about the transformation he underwent from NBA star to Israeli citizen to Orthodox Jew.

"It's very intense, you're leaving your old way of thinking, you're leaving your old way of action to a new concept," Stoudemire said.

Stoudemire has spoken before about his difficult upbringing, including the death of his father when Stoudemire was just 12, and learning from his mother about his family's Hebrew Israelite roots at a young age. Ever since learning about his connection to the Hebrew Israelites, who believe they are descended from the ancient Israelites, Stoudemire began reading about Judaism and studying Jewish history. While playing basketball in Israel, Stoudemire began studying for conversion to Judaism and completed an Orthodox conversion last year.

In the HBO show, Stoudemire, who is 39, discusses his struggles learning Hebrew. "Yeah it is hard to learn, especially at my age," he said.

But even with the challenges, Stoudemire feels he is on the right path.

"It's just been like a quest for searching for emet, searching for truth," he said. He added: "I'm for sure a different person than I was before."

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Amar'e Stoudemire says he's ready for a 'shidduch' and to remarry
https://www.jta.org/2021/12/29/sports/amare-stoudemire-says-hes-ready-for-a-shidduch-and-to-remarry


(JTA) — Amar'e Stoudemire told his Instagram followers recently that he's looking for a new partner, saying he's ready for a "shidduch."

"Shidduch" dating, or dates set up by a matchmaker, is a common way for Orthodox Jews to meet their future spouses. Stoudemire, who has played for the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns, converted to Judaism while living in Israel in August 2020.

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Jerusalem and later for Maccabi Tel Aviv. He remains a part owner of the Jerusalem team. He has since moved back to the United States and lives in Brooklyn.

Stoudemire opened up about his search for a partner in an Instagram live chat on Dec. 16, saying he valued "honesty" and that "I love to receive love through affection and honesty," according to the Algemeiner. The former NBA player even gave out his email address so followers could send him suggestions. He filed for divorce from his wife Alexis Welch in 2019.

Asked if he would date someone who was not Jewish, he said he is looking for a Jewish partner.

"It would make life easier, because she will understand me a little better," he said.

Stoudemire's journey from the NBA to Orthodox Judaism was the subject of a recent episode of HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel."

"It's just been like a quest for searching for emet, searching for truth," Stoudemire said in the episode. He added: "I'm for sure a different person than I was before."

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Amar'e Stoudemire clarifies why he's leaving his Brooklyn Nets job: Shabbat observance issues
https://www.jta.org/2022/05/18/culture/amare-stoudemire-clarifies-why-hes-leaving-his-brooklyn-nets-job-shabbat-observance-issues

Former basketball star Amar'e Stoudemire raised some eyebrows when he disclosed last week that he is leaving the NBA's Brooklyn Nets after two seasons as a player development assistant coach. His comments about how the situation surrounding notoriously unvaccinated star player Kyrie Irving hurt the team's chemistry made headlines, and some speculated that Stoudemire's relationship with the Nets might have soured over time.

But on Wednesday, Stoudemire aimed to set the record straight in a video on his Instagram page: the real reason he is leaving the job is because it has interfered with his Shabbat observance.

Stoudemire, a former NBA All-Star who has steadily grown more religious over the past decade and formally converted to Judaism while living in Israel in 2020, said that he told Nets coach Steve Nash that he has not been able to "grow in the coaching space because I don't work on Shabbat."

"Coaching is such a grind, and it requires you to be there full time," he added. "The Nets organization want people who can be there full time, and I totally understand that. Therefore it was a mutual understanding."

Stoudemire also talked about Kyrie Irving's religiosity and activism; the Nets guard has become an observant Muslim in recent years and has spoken out about racism in the United States.

"Criticizing Kyrie — why would I criticize someone who's [the same] as I am? I also fast during the NBA season, for Yom Kippur," he said. "I'm also a guy who's an activist who speaks about African-American communities and so forth."

Stoudemire played for the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns and, from 2016 to 2019, he played for the Israeli team Hapoel Jerusalem, of which he is still part owner, and later for Maccabi Tel Aviv. His well-documented conversion and embrace of Judaism — which has included everything from Orthodox Torah study to starting a kosher wine line to looking for a "shidduch," or Jewish match — was the subject of an episode of HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel."




See related article here:
Amar'e Stoudemire - black jew peddles Israhellie wine in America
http://theinfounderground.com/smf/index.php?topic=27725.msg93552#msg93552

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Amar'e Stoudemire defends Black Hebrew Israelites amid Kyrie Irving and Kanye West antisemitism controversies
https://www.jta.org/2022/11/07/sports/amare-stoudemire-defends-black-hebrew-israelites-amid-kyrie-irving-and-kanye-west-antisemitism-controversies

Former NBA star Amar'e Stoudemire first learned about the Black Hebrew Israelites, a movement whose core belief is that African Americans are the genealogical descendants of the ancient Israelites, as a teenager. After that discovery, he would start on a path of decades of research and learning that would lead to his eventual Orthodox conversion to Judaism.

As Black Hebrew Israelite ideology has been thrust into the spotlight and critiqued in recent weeks through a pair of high-profile controversies, Stoudemire has responded — as both a Jew and as someone who has in the past identified as a member of the group — by defending the movement and those who cite it.

In a tweet last month, Kanye West, the rapper who now goes by Ye, wrote "I actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew..." NBA star Kyrie Irving, when pressed by a reporter last week to clarify whether he holds antisemitic beliefs, said, "I cannot be antisemitic if I know where I come from." Irving had tweeted a link to a film that promotes Black Hebrew Israelite ideology and antisemitic tropes.

During an appearance on ESPN last week, Stoudemire had called on Irving to apologize, but stopped short of supporting a suspension. (Irving was suspended the following day for his initial refusal to apologize.)

West then called out Stoudemire in a tweet. "They make us attack each other," West wrote. "Even our brothers who know who we truly are."

Stoudemire responded in a video on Instagram.

"Kanye tweeted something about me, as if I'm turning my back on the community, as if I'm advising Kyrie to apologize for being a Hebrew Israelite," Stoudemire said in the video, which is no longer on his page. "I would never ask Kyrie to apologize for being an Israelite, are you kidding me? I dedicated about 20-plus years of my life on researching and learning who we are as a people."

https://twitter.com/NBA_NewYork/status/1589113555508662272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1589113555508662272%7Ctwgr%5E95e27ae74066620a4d09f5805be6714ceca7503d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jta.org%2F2022%2F11%2F07%2Fsports%2Famare-stoudemire-defends-black-hebrew-israelites-amid-kyrie-irving-and-kanye-west-antisemitism-controversies

Stoudemire went on to say that Irving's apology was instead for "the little portion that's inside the video that's hurtful to the Jewish people." He added that, "as an Israelite it's our job to be a holy nation, so we understand that."

It is not clear to what extent Stoudemire, who formally converted to Judaism while living in Israel in 2020, still identifies with the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. Stoudemire left his coaching job with the Brooklyn Nets earlier this year because he said it interfered with his Shabbat observance, and he frequently posts on social media about his study of Jewish texts.

Also over the weekend, the NBA's lone Israeli and only known Jewish player, Deni Avdija, told reporters he agreed with Irving's suspension.

"I think people look up to him," Avdija said when asked about it in the locker room following a game between the Nets and his Washington Wizards on Friday night. "You can think whatever you want, you can do whatever you want. Just, I don't think it's right to go out in public and publish it and let little kids that follow you see it, and the generations that come after to think like that, because it's not true, and I don't think it's fair."

"I'm Jewish, and I love my culture, I love my country," he added. "It's a little upsetting to hear some stuff about your religion. Just spread love, man. Love everybody, love all cultures."

Few NBA players have spoken out about the controversy. LeBron James, arguably the sport's most well-known player, is among them. He said the incident "caused some harm to a lot of people."

"If you are promoting or soliciting or saying harmful things to any community that harm people, then I don't respect it," he said after a game between his Los Angeles Lakers and the Utah Jazz on Friday. "I don't condone it."