Dodgers’ Ties to Jewish Community Still Strong

The Dodgers have had a strong relationship with the Jewish community since moving to Los Angeles in 1958, and Jewish leaders said Sunday nothing should change despite the Sandy Koufax situation.

The Hall of Fame pitcher severed ties with the Dodgers in protest of an item that appeared in the New York Post, which like the Dodgers is owned by News Corp., saying he would not return until the media conglomerate sold the franchise.

The newspaper apologized to the intensely private Koufax, revered in the Jewish community for his athletic brilliance and religious convictions, in Saturday’s editions after intimating in a two-sentence gossip item published Dec. 19 that he is a homosexual.

The Dodgers have stopped commenting on Koufax while trying to focus on spring training at Dodgertown, but the legendary left-hander continued to be a hot topic throughout the Southland, where Jewish leaders expressed support for him and the disappointed Dodgers.

“It’s a sad situation, and I hope that it could be resolved because Sandy Koufax represented the Dodgers as a role model and as a gentleman as well as an amazing athlete, but what happened is not a reflection of the Dodger organization per se,” said Elijah Schochet, a rabbi for more than 40 years at Schomrei Torah in West Hills. “I don’t think that, in the eyes of the Jewish community, the Dodgers would be held responsible for the irresponsibility of another part of [their parent company].”

Koufax led the National League in earned-run average from 1962 to ‘66, won three Cy Young awards and was selected the 1963 National League most valuable player.

But he might be most admired in the Jewish community for skipping a start in the 1965 World Series against the Minnesota Twins in observance of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

“What Sandy Koufax did was very, very significant,” said Rabbi Mordecai Kieffer of Temple Beth Emet in Anaheim. “Many other Jewish athletes don’t observe [the holidays], and what he did made an important statement at that time.”

The Jewish community doesn’t have to choose between Koufax and the Dodgers, Kieffer said.

“A Dodger fan is a Dodger fan,” he said. “Dodger fans can support the Dodgers and support Sandy Koufax at the same time -- even if they can’t support them together at the same time.”