To
My Dear Students,
Jesse
Owens, the great American track star, went to
the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin holding the world
record in the long jump. The poisonous
prejudice of the Nazi regime filled the air and
Owens foot-faulted on his first two qualifying
jumps. If he fouled again, he would be eliminated,
a victory for Hitler and his racial theories of
Aryan supremacy.
Seeing
Owens pacing in agitation, a blond, blue-eyed
athlete named Luz Long introduced himself and
suggested that Owens make a mark several inches
in front of the take-off board. It worked
and Owens advanced to the finals to compete against
Long.
During
the finals, Owens set an Olympic record and won
the gold medal. Long earned the silver medal,
and though disappointed, he was proud to have
competed against the best jumper in the world.
Though he knew it would displease the Nazi hierarchy,
Long congratulated and embraced Owens and walked
with him, side by side.
Owens
never saw Long again, who was killed in battle
during World War II. But he corresponded
with Long's family, and when Long's daughter got
married, Jesse Owens gave her away.
Before
Owens died in 1980, he wrote: "You
can melt down all the medals and cups I have,
and they wouldn't be the plating on the 24-karat
friendship I felt for Luz Long."
Here
in the small gesture of a word of advice and in
the small act of an arm around the shoulder, Luz
Long conveyed sportsmanship and character of the
highest order.
We
learn from his selflessness a great teaching:
it is not in the grand pronouncement, dramatic
deed, or sweeping gesture that character is revealed,
but in the seemingly small acts of encouragement,
compassion, and elemental goodness we perform.
Small
things have such a large impact!
Shabbat
Shalom,
Your
Rabbi
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