Amar'e Stoudemire's Journey to Judaism | CHAZAQ

kazak kazak that was good Rabbi um yeah this is definitely a a a a moment of of of clarity right it's like a full circle moment the rabbi and I was learning uh a while back here in New York but um the most important thing that I think that I've was able to accomplish when I was you know 12 years old or so my mom mentioned to me that we should reconnect with the laws of Moses right and so at that time I was more so trying to figure out what that meant so it took me on this path of learning and trying to figure this out and that path brought me to to Judaism right I met a rabbi when I was in my 20s we started learning together we start building we started talking I started going to sharim I started going to uh pesak saders and all these things and it became a um a Moment of clarity a moment of of reconnection feel like man sh was founding what it was always searching for I always tell my guys that I learn with uh my young my young guys all right they they try to figure out how to keep you know the the Torah intellect and also want to have fun I always say you got to you got to have your golden Lane right it's important to have a golden Lane we have we have the foundation of the Torah which we know the Torah means instructions so we have our instructions and our our manual right you can't build anything without having a manual or your instructions so we have our we have our instructions that it's required for us to live a life according to connecting with the Creator connecting with God connecting with the universe connecting with all the elements that God presents to us right and in order for that to happen you have to live according to these instructions and so but yet while you're living with these this Torah this instructions you're still able to have fun you're still able to to enjoy your life and be normal to be you know to to have fun um and so what for me that's always kind of been my approach to to to Judaism to Torah to living accordingly is finding my golden Lane that allows me to not deviate from the instructions the Torah but yet I still have fun within within those elements so therefore there's there's stories of uh of when I was when I was playing with the Knicks for an example and I would have my sedor with me and we travel on road trips and I would be reading my sedor just learning about the sedor the order of prayer what is happening how do I read kind I translate at the same time I had a Hebrew tutor who was teaching me on the side and my teammates might have thought like what's Amari learning like what's what's going on this guy's learning Hebrew back there he has a sedor with these languages inside of it what's what's going on um y por comes around he's not drinking Waters it's during training camp he's like running these Sprints with trainers around him and just making sure he doesn't pass out like what is what you know and all these things was happening while I was playing for the Knicks and I was very somewhat somewhat secretive about it because I was still learning and I was still taking upon my approach to understand exactly what I was learning and the rabis and I would sit down we would talk we'll learn for hours and no one would have a clue about it right we I go and play against the Celtic score 41 points and then that night I'm with the rabbis learning right and this was happening my entire time and when I went to Israel to go visit I visit Israel in 2010 actually and once I robbed in Israel I felt like I had a complete connection I feel like this was home this is like this is I felt I felt the right away I had no other type of um other type of like objection except for just this is home I felt it I felt it like right away I was I was speaking earlier about that like when you get to Israel you go to Jerusalem you feel like this is home it's like no no other feeling um and so when I finished my time playing with the Knicks and I went to Miami and played my final year with the Miami Heat I wanted to go over Israel and continue to go to go home and also to learn so I took my career over to to to Israel I play from a uh p yushan and then I also went to Yeshiva I went to Ora and so even then now I'm faced with another challenge right cuz my teammates didn't quite understand what's happening there they see I wake up 6:00 in the morning I'm going to diving I'm going to Yeshiva for an hour for a she then I'm going to get a coffee then I'm in the weit room training like a rockar right I'm in I'm in the weight room early training hard like you know and then I get to practice and I have all this energy and I'm like flying through the air and all these things and then once practice over I'm back in Yeshiva and then now they they're starting to realize like well something's happening here you don't want to hang out with us he's not going out the party with us he's only going to coacher restaurants and my teammates start to understand exactly the path that I was on and what I was able to accomplish and I what I said earlier about this is that having that golden Lane I think a lot of times when we when we have a the idea of of what that means everyone has their own personal relationship with Hashem right you know Hashem Hashem deals with you on your level that you are able to receive the information from God right so everybody has their own relationship so I can't judge anyone for what they're doing what they're not doing because you have your own Journey your own path at the end of the day Hashem loves you and and and so for me I was able to just kind of take that notion and and go for it um and so you know with with with with understanding this week's paraa right we see that we see that ysep a sadic uh passed away and then also the the B Israel the the the 12 tribes also passed away their Generations have passed away and we see that you know Pharaoh you know didn't know ysep a sadic and he wanted to you know afflict more a more more pressure on on B Israel and and and plot more more more pressure on them and the interesting part about this par is that as we see when that when mosha reenu went back to MIM to try to convince uh the people not you know that this is that these promises are going to happen these Miracles are going to happen but yet Pharaoh applied more pressure he's like all right well we're going to make it harder for you now we're going to you know turn the heat up a bit for lack of a better term right and so and M Rea went back to Hashim like listen you know what's happening and and what I understood from that is that whenever whenever there's more Affliction whenever there's more pressure whenever there's more you know hatred toward us we have to have the the faith the imuna the biton to know that Hashem is always with us no matter what inside our heart we know who we are we know the the H Co we know the laws that we're dealing with we know the mitv that we're holding by we have our golden Lane we understand the tour from an intellectual level and that's going to keep us away from any any hurt harm or any danger right and so uh with that being said right I want to thank you for allowing me to to to to share a few words I'm not sure if there's a Q&A moment or anyone has any questions for me um we can definitely you know ask some question I'm I'm here to answer if you if you have any guys don't be shy guys where are you going to be for shabas I'll be in Brooklyn oh I I will be in Brooklyn for sabage the hardest player you ever had to guard the hardest player I ever had to guard never we can't we can't we can't use Shaq Shaq was like impossible to guard um LeBron James LeBron was the hardest of guard for sure uh how did they feel about me going to Judaism they they saw it the entire way uh even even before I I I finalized my conversion I was having people over for Shabbat and didn't quite know how to keep Shabbat but just for my learnings I was like inviting people over come over Friday night let's let's have a meal shabbat shalom and I wasn't even sure what that even meant but I was on that path of learning and trying to figure it out but I was open to you know what I'm saying like to bring people over and hang out uh but yeah that was cool they saw my C Door they saw my learnings they saw my my my when I talked to them what I was saying all my teammates was like I knew he was I knew he was going to go that route you know so that's how it was best the best teamate I ever played with the best team I played with Steve Nash player or a person as a player as a player and also as a person that is a very good cool guy exactly so both you think doing all the extra learning and everything things made made it more difficult for you because you were spending more time or made it easier for you to succeed professionally because you were had more meaning or more Focus uh the learning made it easier for me I was I was able to to have a sense of of calmness when I played right from the learning um I had a sense of like I don't know Tranquility when I played because of the learnings and I slowly start to start to apply my learnings within not only my the sh but inside of my mind and cultivating those thoughts and these things and it was helping me have freedom and fun and joy with the game while I played how your back my back's stronger than ever what's a greater High hitting a buzzer shot or learning a nice piece of fish orar what Ah that's good that is good the the I think I think hitting a buzzer shot is like it's almost as if like when I went when I went through my my conversion process right when I went through my reconnecting process I like to call it it was uh it was a similar feeling cuz I went through my reconnection with in B and you go inside the B is like eight rabbis with the beard as long as rabbis here is and with the with the hard questions to ask and you got to be ready for but that was also once I passed it it felt like a buzzer beer shot you said that you said that U at 12 years old your mother who inspired you to kind of like go back to the roots the to the learnings of Moses was there a were you guys raised in a in a household that was very religious or 7day Adventist or something why why the Books of Moses why not other books and why specific that yeah well I was raised in a very religious household my mom would would pray she was the type of woman that prays and cries when she prays right and so it was just I guess her connection with her prayers and and and and how she dealt with God and her relationships and she wanted to give it over to to to me and my brother and I was the one that took the information and and wanted to learn about it that's how it started was there like a like a Tipping Point a moment where like y 12 when not eight or 10 or 16 or 20 why that specification I have no idea you got to ask her that question I think my brother was my brother was eight I was 11 or 12 or so some somewhere around there I think part of the reason why because even for people who are born Jewish and are not really religious growing up a lot of them become more religious when a parent passes away or something like that where they have to you know uh pray sh say kage three times a day I think that's one of the finding moments for in their lives of why they become Mor I was curious as if there was something similar in your mother's life at your age of 12 that may haveed to something like that but if you've never asked yeah know I think I became more religious when I when I moved to Israel um when I first got into Judaism I had a lot of questions and I was I was very curious and I was very humble and I didn't take any preconceived notions when I got into Judaism um and so when I start learning I think that is that was a turning point for me is that I start understanding what I'm learning I start living to what I'm with what I'm learning and they say that the learning when you apply the learning that's the wisdom wisdom right and so that's that's kind of that's how I approached uh my learnings and that's what was that was a turning point for me one final thing just a statement I think uh you know being a fan of the game and being a fan of you and watching your game progress from Phoenix to things just in general from start to end and how you said um where you played with certain Comics as a fan you know you were a ferocious you know starting out you were a ferocious animal and then towards the end you were you were like poetry and motion so I think that as fans you noticed that change in your game as well so yeah thank you AC aside from that you know we're a minori we have a lot of anti-Semitism you're a double minority so I mean what was the reaction you got from the Jewish Community when you came back and your family yeah I think for me uh for my family uh on my father's side of the family are all Christians basically and my uncle was uh a pastor in Florida and when he saw my learnings and he saw my dedication uh this was maybe a month or two months or so before he passed away he was like nephew what you're learning is right and that was that was a very strong moment for me because I was I was doing it because I felt the urge to I wasn't doing it for like any ver any verifications or anything and so my uncle when he mentioned that to me he was very sincere about it um and then shortly after um he passed away I think the learning of or um when I got to orak the rabbis saw my dedication to Torah and they saw that I was really eager to learn and they were eager to teach you know teach how to read the sidor we had private times with read cidor that's not a part of the rabbi's normal day of work you know um and the questions I were asked they see I'm there with with a notepad and pencil and pin out and highlighters and these things and so it was a beautiful it was a beautiful connection uh with the rabbis of or um there's always been you know people that don't quite understand the journey um and I understand their their their views because at times when I first got into Judaism I didn't quite understand the journey but I had a humble approach to my particular way of learning um and so but over time it'll you know as they see the learning they see the the the benefits of of of these things and then hopefully that'll help kind of weave off some of the anti-semitic uh uh um slurs or or attitudes last question guys last question yes Rabbi um man all of them I mean Rabbi Kaplan teaches the the the you know the partial each week Rabbi metalon teaches the gamor uh Rosa Schiller always gives us you know uh motivation um yeah R by RBI Gaffin you know I mean or Bri wit yeah Bri witz also yeah exactly Rob brt is always there to give over information and help us with with what it takes to be mentally prepared for uh for this new way of living right or is great we're GNA send to me yeah you was there word okay okay beautiful okay okay amazing w