You may think of Boston as an ecumenical city, but make no mistake: it has an official religion. Every year, millions of believers trek from across New England to worship at Fenway Park, the holiest site for faithful Red Sox fans. If a Red Sox fan can’t be at the emerald temple, he or she must watch the games on television. Unfortunately, this mandate created a serious dilemma for me this fall.
As an orthodox Jew born and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts (just a few miles from Fenway), I am a man of two creeds. I make biannual pilgrimages to Jerusalem and the bleachers, to the Western Wall and the Green Monster. High on my list of reasons for attending Boston University, where I am now a senior, was its proximity to the Red Sox ticket office. Thus, I found myself in a theological crisis when Game 2 of the first playoff round fell on the holiday of Simchat Torah. Jewish holidays and the Sabbath forbid the use of electronics until their conclusion.
So how did this intrepid Sox partisan manage to Keep the Faith (the team motto this season) without being unfaithful? Simple, really. The prohibition extends to turning on and off electronics on holy days, but there is nothing wrong with reading by a preset light. Capitalizing on these guidelines, we had left our television on in the basement. The Red Sox played the Anaheim Angels on the west coast that night, and we the late start worked to our advantage. After Synagogue and dinner, I rushed down to the basement. My parents followed a minute later, and our bewildered guest, also a devout fan, soon realized the scheme and joined us.
There we were, nervously sitting on the basement couch in suits and ties having minor heart attacks with every pitch. The game slowly grinded through eight innings and the Red Sox clung to a 4-3 lead before exploding for 4 more runs on the top of the 9th. Mercifully, the game ended shortly before 2 AM. Weary from a night of deep prayer, gut-splitting dining, and blood pressure raising baseball, we finally trudged upstairs.
With the Red Sox leading the best-of-five series 2-0, I happily coasted into my bed. I needed a lot of sleep; the Sabbath began Friday night, and so did Game 3.
