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September 16th, 2011
05:00 AM ET
One of world's best boxers is training to be a rabbiBy Eric Marrapodi and Ali Velshi, CNN Brooklyn, New York (CNN) — Cutting the thick summer air, an industrial fan struggles to cool Gleason’s Gym. Two women trade punches to the face in a morning sparring session before heading off to work. Boxing gloves snap and thump, keeping the rhythm with the grunts and shouts. There is no music, no TVs, no smoothie bar. It smells like a boxing gym should: awful. In walks the rabbi in training. “Yuri!” a boxer calls out in greeting. The champ is here. Winning a belt does wonders for your popularity at the gym.  Yuri Foreman, right, spars with his trainer at Gleason's Gym. Thirty-one-year-old Yuri Foreman has a tight schedule today. He kissed his wife and son goodbye early and then pedaled over to the gym to train. From here, he will bike over to see a rabbi. Foreman is hitting the books, studying to be a rabbi with the same determination that helped him become a world championship boxer. One goal: to be the best He immigrated to the United States by himself over a decade ago by way of Israel but was raised in Belarus, part of the former Soviet Union. "I came to New York just so I could experience in my own skin the American dream,” he said. On his second day on U.S. soil, he found his way to into a boxing gym. He arrived with a singular goal. “I came here and I told the owner, 'I want to be a world champion.' ” Bruce Silverglade gets that a lot. He owns Gleason’s Gym. Gleason’s opened its doors in 1937. Silverglade said it's the oldest operating boxing gym in the United States. It has trained 132 champions. The first was Jake LaMotta, “The Raging Bull.” When Robert DeNiro studied to play LaMotta in the iconic boxing film, he came to Gleason’s to learn the sweet science. Dozens of other Hollywood productions have followed. On this day, a sheet of paper taped to the front door says the gym will be closing early because Warner Bros. is filming that morning. Fighters come from all over the world with pronouncements to Silverglade of their greatness. “I was impressed with Yuri because instead of coming from (around the corner), he came from halfway around the world with no support team," Silverglade said. “He didn’t come with a father or a mother for support. He didn’t come with any money.” Silverglade enrolled Foreman in his Give a Kid a Dream program, which provides free training to disadvantaged children. You’re the champ, so now what? Foreman had what it takes. He worked his way through the ranks and got a title shot. He won the World Boxing Association Super Welterweight title and was the best boxer in the world. But along the way, something changed. As he was climbing in the boxing ranks, he found something he had left behind in Belarus: his Jewish faith.  Yuri Foreman, right, is training to become a rabbi. “It was forbidden to have synagogues. Many Jews forgot about their roots. The only real reminder was in their passport; under nationality, it said 'Jew,' " he said. Living in Brooklyn, with its thriving Jewish communities, helped him reconnect with his roots. “It’s like my rabbi says, ‘This is the closest thing to Jerusalem,' ” he said of his new home. When his girlfriend, who was not Jewish, asked him basic questions about Judaism, he realized he didn’t have the answers. “She told me, ‘You know what, study some.’ So through her, she kinda introduced me to Judaism.” That was the moment it all changed. Six years ago, she converted, and they were married. Foreman dug deep into his faith and realized he wanted to go even further, so he began rabbinical training. A different kind of hard work A few miles from the gym, Foreman’s bike is locked up outside a stately brownstone on a leafy street in Brooklyn Heights. Inside the rabbi's house, he is sitting at the dining room table with the rabbi and two other rabbinical students. Sunlight floods the beautifully appointed home. The four men sit quietly around the table, books open. Rabbi DovBer Pinson uses his finger to follow the words on the page, right to left, as he reads aloud in Hebrew from a commentary and interjects quick English explanations. He gently rocks back and forth in his chair.  Yuri Foreman studies with Rabbi DovBer Pinson. There is no shouting, no pounding. The only sound is the rhythmic cadence of the rabbi’s reading. It is as far away from the gym as you can get. “You’d have to have a whole mountain of salt. Why would anyone do that?” the rabbi asks as he explains a finer point of meat purification rituals. The lesson ends with the rabbi closing his book. “Thank you, rabbi,” Foreman says as he taps his iPhone to stop recording the session. “I felt that it was important for him to continue to study no matter what he did for a living,” Pinson explains. The notion of a studying to be a man of the cloth while earning a living by fighting is virtually unheard of. “I think the idea of pursing a spiritual career takes a lot of perseverance and focus, and you have to be very committed that this is something you want to do very deeply, because you have to overcome a lot of hurdles,” Pinson says. “Any intense study will help a person become more focused in life and more centered and aligned, so I think there’s some correlation between these two,” the rabbi says of the interweaving of Foreman’s current and future career paths. The next round Pinson is a well-respected Kabbalist scholar and Hasidic rabbi who focuses his scholarly efforts on Jewish mysticism. But Foreman demurs when asked what branch of Judaism he will serve as a rabbi. He is Orthodox in some ways - he keeps kosher, which he said does not affect his ability to fight - but he is unorthodox in other ways. The clean-shaven Foreman has no intentions of becoming a long-bearded rabbi with a congregation. "Right now, my goal is to work with young adults and with kids who perhaps need a little push, need a little motivation that I can offer them through boxing or personal experience. That would be my thing now." Foreman has been studying for over three years and is about a year away from completing his rabbinical studies. Many boxing commentators have wondered whether his career in the ring may be coming to a close as well. A nagging knee injury forced him to limp through a bout with Miguel Cotto at Yankee Stadium last year. Foreman suffered a knockout and lost his title to Cotto. In his next fight, he lost again. A string of losses can shake a fighter’s confidence badly. He is taking time off to rehab his knee and plot his next steps as a boxer. Foreman said his studies - and his faith - keep him grounded. If and when he fights again, as with every fight, he'll first send up a special prayer. "Protect me, protect the person I'm fighting, but help me to win." Watch American Morning weekdays 6am to 9am ET. For the latest from American Morning click here. |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him" (John 3:36). I feel for people who want God but reject his Son. It does not work.
No religion works. I find it very sad that some people need a supernatural father figure and the empty promise of eternal life.
hesalive:
No religion works. I find it very sad that some people need a supernatural father figure and the empty promise of eternal life.
Sorry about the double post. CNN sent me to limbo for a bit.
Ey mon!
Do de Limbo!
Ephesians 2:2
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Amen.
Wow, HS, another phrase from a book of bronze age mythology. Want me to quote some "Top Gun" for you? Its being re-released in 3D, you know.
Is that the only point you are trying to make? all jews are going to hell? And that has to do with this story how?
Trying again. Cmon CNN.
We had warrior monks. Why not a rabbi boxer, huh? Humanly speaking, it's kinda romanticizing... I think most men must be taught morality and trained to combat because the world is full of real villains. Restraint in using power is real strength many times though, because of humanity's fallen nature.
I mean all men must be taught morality, the Christian one especially. If a man is pacifist because of his faith and refuses to be trained, it must be honored to some extent.
Kind of like a Muslim pig farmer. ....an oxymoron.
I've fallen and I can't get up.
Whatever happened to "turn the other cheek?" I guess you don't believe in the teachings of Christ.
tallulah13, turn the other cheek refers to believers know they can stop throwing His pearls to swines.
Amen.
HS, that made no sense on any level. It wasn't even a grammatically correct statement. It was just a mash-up of your favorite bible phrases.
Amen.
@ CM I wrote another blog explaining myself better but it was not posted. Basically, encourage ppl to read with an open mind, start with the G o spel of John, then the book of M a the w and finish the N.T. Coming to the S cri p ture with a hum ble heart isn't a bad idea either. @ duh You are SO correct in saying ppl do this. Not all, but definitely some. You are incorrect, however, in saying God does not exist. Obviously your opinion does not have creedence because you have never read or studied the Bible cover to cover. When you can prove your opinion and reveal Jesus's bones, we'll talk. I won't hold my breath.
Do you really think anyone can just read the Bible and comprehend it on their own? NOT! That is how all the different cults got started...by people using their finite brains to try to understand it. It's also how you get all the naysayers, scoffers and people taking scripture out of context, only to twist it and try to make it say something it does not say. Well let me clue you in, CM: It takes the Lord thy God Himself to open the eyes of the blind and show them the truth. You cannot understand His Word without Him.
@When: Amen to you. Of course, the Holy Spirit must teach the humans to understand the things of God. When, American atheists bash the Bible without reading it at all. At least reading the text is the starting point; the reason I'm urging everyone to read the Bible firsthand. It's the basic and honest thing to do in order to know something. Atheists may have been afraid of reading the Bible, like some Muslims, because they are so super-sti-tious. In that case, they should not talk about the Bible since the subject is beyond their knowledge.
Duh....the reason people keep twisting it is because god doesn't exist, so they use their brains and egos to turn it into their version of self righteousness.
As we have seen, there are as many interpretations of the bible as there are readers, possibly because some people claim (without evidence) that this is the word of a god who, if one looks again at the evidence, doesn't exist.
Good post When.
Reminder to all the non-believers ...
Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Amen.
Good quote for believers: "You have no proof that your bible is anything more than a collection of bronze age myths. You have no proof that any god ever existed."
Of course, I'm quoting myself, but at least I know I exist.
You can't read the Bible and understand it by yourself because it was originally written in Hebrew and has been mistranslated so badly that in English it just doesn 't make any sense. Read "The Bibie Unauthorized" and you will see what sense it really does make and how it really is applicable to today's world. Then it is good to learn from an Orthodox rabbi how to learn it in Hebrew and you will understand the methodology of how to learn it and gain insight from it the way G-d meant it to be.
@Stalkers: Say whatever you want. If I'm allowed, I'm coming to USA because I love the country. I'm coming to annoy you in person ; )
cuz my stupidity doesn't annoy you enough from here.
boxer, rabbi – either way, there is a significant risk his mind ends up as mush.
True, but the more he studies those Bronze Age scriptures, it will likely come sooner than later.
@Beth, only the students who refuse to study say everything is questionable. They never read and never learn just like you. The Bible's quality is self-evident. Those who did not pass grade 12 literature cannot get it, though smart 4th graders can read and com-prehend.
Questioning is the way to discover truth. If you do not question, and merely act on what is told to you, then faith is hollow. Jesus himself says, "Seek and you will find."
Damian, not that sort of questioning, but a kid whining that the textbook is not worth reading and start watching cartoons on TV. That sort of things – laziness and childish refusal to study. Damian, it's me, Naomi and CrystalRiver.
The bible has so many errors and so many horrors that it is only quality if you use it as rolling papers. It's not even good toilet paper. But rolling paper, that's the ticket. Holy smoke.
ColoredMountains, Jesus Christ's truth is perfect. Mortal man(woman) that stay carnal is not perfect. You are seeing the imperfection in your carnal self ColoredMountains.
Amen.
I think we need to turn this into WWE. I'd love to see a Rabbi do a cage fight with an Imam.
Well there could be a couple of characters that are. The WWE had a mixture of races but no Jew or Muslim.
It could be a triple threat with a Christian. Perhaps Pulverizing Paul vs. Mauling Mohammed vs. Daniel the Devestator. The match of the millenia.
"Let's get ready to GOSSSPELLLLLLLLLL!!!!"
@J.W: The Iron Sheik (from TAYrahn, EErahn...WWF wrestling champyun...olympic wrestling champyun) may be muslim, although they never explicity used that angle in character.
I forgot about the Iran Sheek they need a new version of him. They have a couple of Indian guys but it does not necessarily say they are Hindu. I know that Shaemus usually wears a cross on his necklace. I don't know if he is Catholic or Protestant though.
Right to Censor was a group that was intended to poke fun at the Mormon Missionaries/Jehovah's Witnesses.
Wasn't Goldberg a jew?
And let's not forget "Austin 3:16"...a direct reference to the Bible.
Chris Jericho's "Walls of Jericho" manuever is a reference to the Book of Joshua...
LOL I forgot about Goldberg and the Walls of Jericho. I think what they really need is a Buddhist monk. Shaemus is my favorite I think. He has the move called the Celtic Cross. I just wish I knew if he was Catholic or Protestant.
Jews, you have no salvation apart from your Messiah Jesus, just like any other humans. God meant to save you only through Jesus His Son before time began.
Wrong, wrong and altogether wrong. You can have him, we don't want him.
Welcome back naomi, we missed u!
smog-colored, that is.
Jesus was born a Jew, lived as a Jew, a Rabbi in fact, and died a Jew. If her returned to earth today would you try to convert him?
No admissible evidence in any USA court of law that Jesus ever existed. He is a convenient myth, established to control the masses by Emporer Constantine around 330AD.
J, re-read your Talmud, it proves Jesus is the son of God, walked this earth as a flesh man, died for our sins, ascended into Heaven, sits on the right side of our Heavenly father.
Amen.
no salvation, eh? How holier thou art. I'm sure g_d will thank you for speaking for him. Since he is so busy, he is leaving it up to you to judge others, huh? Jerk.
1 While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: 2 “This is what the LORD says, He who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is His name: 3 ‘Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ 4 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to be used against the siege ramps and the sword 5 in the fight with the Babylonians: ‘They will be filled with the dead bodies of the people I will slay in My anger and wrath. I will hide My face from this city because of all its wickedness.
6 “‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal My people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. 7 I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. 8 I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against Me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against Me. 9 Then this city will bring Me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.’
10 “This is what the LORD says: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without people or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither people nor animals, there will be heard once more 11 the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD, saying,
“Give thanks to the LORD Almighty,
for the LORD is good;
His love endures forever.”
For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,’ says the LORD.
12 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In this place, desolate and without people or animals—in all its towns there will again be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks. 13 In the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them,’ says the LORD.
14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
15 “‘In those days and at that time
I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
He will do what is just and right in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved
and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called:
The LORD Our Righteous Savior.’
17 For this is what the LORD says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, 18 nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have a man to stand before Me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.’”
19 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 20 “This is what the LORD says: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, 21 then My covenant with David My servant—and My covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before Me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. 22 I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before Me as countless as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.’”
23 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 24 “Have you not noticed that these people are saying, ‘The LORD has rejected the two kingdoms He chose’? So they despise My people and no longer regard them as a nation. 25 This is what the LORD says: ‘If I have not made My covenant with day and night and established the laws of heaven and earth, 26 then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.’”
(Jeremiah 33)
Another questionable selection of a very questionable translation from a very questionable book written by many questionable men.
@Beth, everything is questionable to you because you refuse to read or study. The Bible's quality is self-evident to all honest humans who actually read the text and study it.
Lord?? How about Serfs, Kings, Queens, Barons, Squires, Knights? Doesn't it ever dawn on your pea brain that all this nonsense had more to do with the feudal period of our species' history than today's democratic systems? There is much more wisdom in ancient Rome and Greece from 3,000 years ago. How come you're not into Zeus?
My brain functions are really questionable.
Reality of Israel in the 21st century:
See the following:
origin: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20E1EFE35540C7A8CDDAA0894DA404482 NY Times
New Torah For Modern Minds
“Abraham, the Jewish patriarch, probably never existed. Nor did Moses. The entire Exodus story as recounted in the Bible probably never occurred. The same is true of the tumbling of the walls of Jericho. And David, far from being the fearless king who built Jerusalem into a mighty capital, was more likely a provincial leader whose reputation was later magnified to provide a rallying point for a fledgling nation.
Such startling propositions – the product of findings by archaeologists digging in Israel and its environs over the last 25 years – have gained wide acceptance among non-Orthodox rabbis. But there has been no attempt to disseminate these ideas or to discuss them with the laity – until now.
The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, which represents the 1.5 million Conservative Jews in the United States, has just issued a new Torah and commentary, the first for Conservatives in more than 60 years. Called "Etz Hayim" ("Tree of Life" in Hebrew), it offers an interpretation that incorporates the latest findings from archaeology, philology, anthropology and the study of ancient cultures. To the editors who worked on the book, it represents one of the boldest efforts ever to introduce into the religious mainstream a view of the Bible as a human rather than divine doc-ument.
The notion that the Bible is not literally true "is more or less settled and understood among most Conservative rabbis," observed David Wolpe, a rabbi at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles and a contributor to "Etz Hayim." But some congregants, he said, "may not like the stark airing of it." Last Passover, in a sermon to 2,200 congregants at his synagogue, Rabbi Wolpe frankly said that "virtually every modern archaeologist" agrees "that the way the Bible describes the Exodus is not the way that it happened, if it happened at all." The rabbi offered what he called a "LITANY OF DISILLUSION”' about the narrative, including contradictions, improbabilities, chronological lapses and the absence of corroborating evidence. In fact, he said, archaeologists digging in the Sinai have "found no trace of the tribes of Israel – not one shard of pottery."
Congratulations to Yuri Foreman! A great example of Purpose & Passion. I love to see Immigrants' success stories. It shows how much access we have to make our individual dreams come true. Laziness is a sickness that afflicts many citizens that were born here.
WEll said!!!
I'm really fat and lazy but I was hatched not born.
personally, if the man wants to box, shut up, go away , and let the man do what he wants. the fact that he is a rabbi means nothing. now i think it would mean more if the boxer was also my accountant...then i may have some arguement as to why i don't agree with his "other" side of life... WHICH AFTER ALL IS HIS LIFE. so please stop imposing your views on others by telling them because of a job you hold you can't do something, thats ignorance at its best!
Stop imposing your point of view, also.
Boxing is a dangerous sport that virtually guarantees brain damage over time. Don't make boxing a career. Be safe!
Brain disorders are essential for religious belief. Boxing is an ideal source.
I can tell by Beth's post she hasn't read Revelation 16:2
And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
Amen.
HeavenSent...
Vishnu, the second member of the Indian Trimurti, or trinity, is the Preserver of Order. When universal chaos descends upon the world, Vishnu saves mankind by appearing in a certain form, known as an avatar. Out of the ten avatars that Vishnu will fulfill before the Universe ends, he has taken the form of only nine: a fish, a turtle, a boar, a lion-man, a dwarf, a Brahmin, the epic hero Rama, the famed god Krishna, and Buddha. The tenth form is known as Kalki, the man riding upon a horse. Vishnu will come to Earth as this form in order to destroy it and recreate it.
Even older than your sci-fi/horror/fantasy story of Revelation
Heaven Sent... see next page (#2) for the myth of Zoroaster - also older than yours...
Heaven Sent... The Egyptians take a little different tack on it ... also older than your myth:
The Egyptians believed in the afterlife and the continuation of mankind forever. They did not provide for a definitive end of the world in their mythology. Rather, the Egyptians once considered the end of the world and its subsequent prevention.
Ra sent out his eye in the form of the goddess Hathor to destroy those who would not worship and believe in his good name. Although he only meant to destroy the evil in mankind, Hathor slaughtered many and was said to "wade in blood." In order to prevent her from destroying the entirety of mankind, Ra tempts her with a flood of barely beer dyed red to resemble blood. She becomes drunk and forgets her thirst for man's blood, saving the world from her deadly rampage.
See, people have been dreaming up horror/fantasy stories for a long, long time. Yours is just another one.
p.s. And just like you, Heaven Sent, people spent their whole lives believing that those stories were true, and even fought bitterly to defend them.
I don't know how much I may have influenced George Foreman, heavey weight boxing champ, whe I learned that he planned to come out of retirement (I can't remember the date) but, he didn't return to the ring. I case you don't know it, G. Forman was a minister with his own little congregation. Basiclly what I said to Foreman via email, was that boxi was the only sport with the intention of hurting your opponet and I did not believe that it was the will of God that a person should, for the sake of money, to intentionaly hurt another human being. Forman replied saying that boxing was a highly traind scientific sport. I replied to him stressing that it was not will of God for one man to hurt another for fame and money. Forman did not reply, but he didn't return to the ring either.
Foreman was a juvenile delinquent before taking up boxing and may have hurt someone really, really bad if he didn't get off the streets.
Religious teachers should not beat up people... But I'll be happy to know about any Jew knocking off bad Gentiles, because bad Gentiles deserve to be beaten up for some extent to get a lesson not to abuse the Jews. Israel must grant religious freedom to Messianic Jews within her border.
Heyyyy Adelina!
too funny. No wonder they won't let her into the country.
She talks like Shirley Temple. i swear I could hear Shirley Temple's voice when I read her post! 😯
Well, she certainly seems to dwell on "The Good Ship Lollypop", and not in the real world.
But along with God's servants increasing knowledge, so too is the other edge of the sword―many shall reject God's wisdom and come to a willing ignorance and overthrow brought about because of their own rejection of the Holy One and His written Word, the Bible:
Amos 8:11-12
11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
Amen.
Yo! Adriatic!
Rocky the Rabbi? The Foreman Rabbi? Sugar Ray Rabbi? Zion's Fist? Does he have a nickname?
Will he box against a woman? I'll knock him on his...well, you know...!
Nice article guys, but I thought there have been numerous religious leaders who have boxed in their youth?
Didn't MLKjr box as a young man? Or am I thinking of someone else?
Boxing is a sport that damages your brain. At some point he needs to stop. Religion is kind of like that too. 😀
POW! That was my 1-2 punch. It needs work, I know. I was just sparring, not too heavily either.
KERPOW! Thanks for the zinger... still laughing...hehe