From Super Bowl to Super

Alan Veingrad is the only person in the history of professional team sports to become a fully Torah-observant Jew. And he was not just any player, but a member of the Super Bowl XXVII champion Dallas Cowboys. Today he has traded in his helmet for a yarmulke, his uniform for tzitzis and his clean-shaven, all-American face for a long, graying Jewish beard. Instead of playing to the cheers of 70,000 crazed fans and millions of viewers, he travels around inspiring Jews of all types to take upon themselves a life of Torah and mitzvos. He is truly the stuff of champions.… From Super Bowl To Super Shimon Rosenberg Jew Rachel March 70 | ZMAN • July 2011 ZMAN • Tammuz 5771 | 71 t was a hot summer’s day in 1986. Alan Alan Veingrad’s name was on the list. It was Veingrad had seen the inside of any type of Veingrad had just put in a full day’s Jewish sanctuary. He knew the date of the Igrueling practice, and he sauntered into on him as a Jewish football player and his Packer’s Monday night game against the the locker room of the Green Bay Packers, theJewish first religion time the indirectly limelight became had been an focusedissue. Chicago Bears better than he did the date of exhausted but in high spirits. “So, will you meet me for lunch?” Yom Kippur. But as he listened to the prayers It still seemed like a dream. Just days Weinstein persisted. of the High Holy Days, the twinge in his heart prior, he had been an undrafted player What was this man after? Was it tickets was unmistakable, and he sensed that there from an obscure college. Then, suddenly, to the games? Was it money? Maybe he was something missing in his life. he was told he had made the team and was was looking to strike some sort of business However, many years passed before he COVER STORY deal with him? Alan had nine dollars in his realized what that missing “something” was. Bay Packers, the professional football team pocket. But in the face of the gentleman’s basednow a in full-fledged Green Bay, Wisconsin.member of the Green persistence, he agreed. Moreover, on the following Sunday, Veingrad took down the address of the Interview with an NFL Player opening day of the NFL season, Veingrad country club where his new “friend” was a We live in special times. Baruch Hashem, would be starting at offensive tackle. This member and several days later the two met there is no shortage of inspiring accounts was a veritable dream come true. He had over lunch. of ba’alei teshuva, formerly unobservant come from nowhere to make the football Veingrad soon felt at ease and over a Jews who have chosen to embark on a life team and he was scheduled to start on one hearty meal, Mr. Weinstein told Alan about of Torah and mitzvos. Their stories often of the top teams in American sports. himself. “I am a local businessman. I own fall into one of several categories. There are Veingrad opened his locker and was a shoe store, a clothing store, and various those who have experienced a loss or failure properties across the state. I want to know of some sort. Then there are those who the Packer’s receptionist informing him that if there is anything I can do to help you and have really hit rock bottom, having been someonesurprised namedto find Loua note Weinstein inside. It wanted was from to to make you more comfortable in this city.” addicted to drugs or alcohol or even having Shlomo Zalman Veingrad today. speak with him. There was a phone number Mr. Weinstein proceeded to offer him done time in prison. Others come from scrawled at the bottom. room and board in his own home, as well as your typical, middle-class background and Veingrad didn’t know a soul in this a car to make it easier for him to get around are going about their ordinary daily lives strange city, and the name Lou Weinstein the city. Veingrad declined the offer, but until something somewhere awakens that meant nothing to him, but he was game. did agree to take down the phone numbers dormant Jewish spark and inspires them to Maybe it was curiosity, maybe it was begin living life on a more spiritual plane. naïveté—or perhaps a touch of both, but appropriate apartment and a car rental that As inspiring as it is to hear those stories, he soon found himself dialing the phone offeredof people decent who prices could and help quality. him find an it is something different when the returnee number. to Torah is not only a professional athlete, The elderly Jewish man who answered dessert, Mr. Weinstein nonchalantly turned but a Super Bowl champion. Other than the the phone was clearly thrilled to be talking to AlanWhen again. the waiter“We will had be finishedcelebrating serving Rosh election of the President of the United States, to the young athlete. Hashanah in two weeks. I hope you will agree there is probably not a more watched event “I’ve read about you in the Jewish to join me and my family at our synagogue.” papers,” Mr. Weinstein told him. “I also read “Lou Weinstein was not a religious the Super Bowl. Alan Veingrad was – is— in the local dailies that you made the team. Jew,” Alan Veingrad – now Shlomo Zalman suchin America a champion. (or perhaps He reached even the the world) pinnacle than Congratulations! I’d love to meet you for of success, at least in the eyes of the secular lunch one day.” person to open my eyes to the exalted world. And Zman is privileged to share with Veingrad was taken aback. “Excuse me, heritageVeingrad—recalls. we Jews have.“But Hehe knewwas whatthe firstthe you the story of his unexpected turnaround, sir, but why would you want to take me out Torah said about the obligation of every Jew of his courage, faith, and incredible for lunch?” to reach out to another Jew.” Shlomo Zalman determination. Alan Veingrad playing for the Dallas Cowboys. For Alan, the fact that he was a Jew smiles. “What he did that day was reach out The man who once wore a football meant very little. It had been 10 years since to another Jew, simply because he was a Jew.” uniform, today wears a black yarmulke, outstanding former NFL quarterback, he had last set foot in a synagogue, and his Two weeks later, Veingrad found himself sports tzitzis over his shirt and has a long staring at a current photo of his former Jewish ancestry was something he never heading to synagogue together with the beard. He eats only pas Yisrael, cholov Yisrael friend Veingrad. He burst into laughter upon even thought about. But when a Jewish elderly Weinstein, not far from the Packers’ and meat from Chassidishe shechitah. seeing the dramatic transformation that his Not long ago, a national news station former offensive lineman had undergone. had made it to the National Football League, It had indeed been quite a while since featured a clip of Bernie Kosar, an Kosar wasn’t so much making fun of his paper featured the names of five Jews who original home field, City Stadium. 72 | ZMAN • July 2011 ZMAN • Tammuz 5771 | 73.

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