Jew of the Week: Dick Savitt

First Jewish Tennis World Champion and No. 1

Richard Savitt (1927-2023) was born in New Jersey. He grew up playing basketball, but bad knees forced him to drop the sport. Meanwhile, Savitt had started playing tennis at the age of 14 just for fun. He ended up making it all the way to the state championship—having never taken a single tennis lesson in his life! By the time he was in university, he was ranked 8th best among American juniors. After serving in the US Navy during World War II, he captained Cornell’s tennis team and won several titles. He went on to win both the 1951 Wimbledon championship and the 1951 Australian Open, becoming the first Jewish tennis player to win either title. It put him on the cover of TIME Magazine, and he was the first Jewish athlete with that distinction, too. Unfortunately, Savitt faced antisemitism at a time when tennis was considered an elite “country club sport” and many country clubs still banned Jews from membership. Savitt was snubbed from the 1951 US Davis Cup team, and from being ranked the world’s number one player. Many believe this was due to antisemitism, but Savitt himself liked to think that wasn’t the reason. (The New York Times declared him the world’s No. 1 anyway, despite his official ranking remaining at No. 2.) Savitt has been credited with making tennis a more popular sport among Jews, and in Israel where he helped run the country’s Israel Tennis Centers. He also played a big role in supporting and expanding Israel’s Maccabiah Games, and himself won multiple Maccabiah gold medals. Savitt was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1976, and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1979. After retiring from tennis, he worked in the oil and finance industries. Sadly, Savitt passed away earlier this year.

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Words of the Week

…There is not any city of the Greeks, nor any of the barbarians, nor any nation whatsoever, whither our practice of resting on the seventh day hath not come, and by which our fasts and lighting up lamps, and many of our prohibitions as to our food, are not observed; they also endeavour to imitate our mutual concord with one another, and the charitable distribution of our goods… and, what is here matter of the greatest admiration, our law hath no bait of pleasure to allure men to it, but it prevails by its own force; and as God Himself pervades all the world, so hath our law passed through all the world also.
– Josephus (c. 37-100 CE), Against Apion 2:40

Jew of the Week: Ishay Ribo

Israel’s Most Popular Singer

Ishay Ribo (b. 1989) was born in Marseille, France to a family of traditional Sephardic Jews from Morocco and Algeria. When he was a child, the family became more religious and made aliyah. At 13, while studying in yeshiva, Ribo began writing music and took up playing the guitar. A few years later, he formed a religious heavy metal band with friends. During his time in the Israeli military, he served in the Technology and Maintenance Corps and sang in the IDF choir. In 2012, he was invited to work with popular Israeli musician Idan Raichel, and in 2014 with renowned rabbi (and composer) Yitzchak Ginsburgh. That same year Ribo released his debut album, which was certified gold. His third album went platinum, with the song Lashuv HaBaita becoming the number one song on Israeli radio. He followed this up with Sibat HaSibot, which became the most-played song on Israeli radio in 2021. Ribo’s unique style combines modern sounds and lyrics with ancient Biblical verses and even passages from across Rabbinic literature. (His popular Seder haAvodah, for instance, weaves together verses from the Yom Kippur prayer service and Talmudic account of events in Jerusalem’s Holy Temple.) Last week, Ribo became the first Israeli ever to perform at Madison Square Garden, to a sell-out crowd of over 15,000. Ribo’s music is beloved by Jews around the world, and by both secular and religious Israelis. He has been credited with bridging the divide between the two. He also has the distinction of being the most popular Orthodox Jewish artist on YouTube (currently with 314,000 subscribers and over 400 million views). Ribo has five children and still studies Torah regularly in a kollel (a Torah-learning institution for married men).

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Words of the Week

The celebration of Rosh Hashanah coincides with the sixth day of Creation, the day when Man was created… For it was man who recognized the Creator within Creation, and brought about the elevation of the entire Creation to that recognition, and thus to the fulfilment of its divine design and purpose.
– Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Jew of the Week: Yossef Romano

War Hero, Weightlifting Champion, Holy Martyr

Yossef Romano

Yossef Romano (1940-1972) was born in Benghazi, Libya to a family of traditional Italian Sephardic Jews. The family made aliyah when he was six years old and settled in Herzliya. Romano became an interior designer, but his real passion was weightlifting. He started to compete professionally, and soon set Israeli records in the lightweight and middleweight categories. He was Israel’s weightlifting champion for nine years straight, and also coached the Hapoel Tel Aviv team. His greatest dream came true in 1972 when he represented Israel at the Munich Olympics. He promised his family that it would be his last competition and he would retire from the sport for good when he came back home. Unfortunately, on the first day of competition, he injured a knee tendon and needed surgery. Romano decided to stay and support the rest of the Israeli Olympic team. The night before his flight, Palestinian terrorists stormed the Israeli compound and took the Israeli athletes hostage. Romano was a war hero who fought valiantly in the Six-Day War, and immediately attacked the terrorists. He managed to beat one down and disarm him, but was shot by another, before being brutally tortured and killed. His bravery gave five of the athletes time to escape, including (former Jew of the Week) Shaul Ladany. The remaining 11 were all murdered by the terrorists during the botched rescue attempt. Romano’s wife, Ilana Romano, campaigned for years to have the International Olympic Committee formally honour the victims, and her request for a moment of silence at the 2012 Olympics was denied. She did manage to get the IOC to contribute $250,000 towards a memorial. This week marks the 51st anniversary of the Munich Massacre.

Words of the Week

The Jew is that sacred being who has brought down from heaven an everlasting fire and has illumined with it the entire world. He is the religious source, spring and fountain out of which all of the rest of the peoples have drawn their beliefs and their religions. The Jew is the pioneer of liberty…
– Leo Tolstoy