Has there ever been so many Jewish NHL players of this caliber?

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doublechili

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Legitimately curious why a player's faith is important/significant?

I'm not trying to dunk on the thread, I'm just trying to understand. I understand there is a lot of pride/community around Judaism, but do Jewish people really feel as that much 'apart' from the rest of society that there is a running tally of all the famous/successful people that share the same faith as some sort of connection to them?

Although hopefully someday it will seem equally bizarre, with race/nationality it makes more sense. People of colour in NA have been disproportionately disadvantaged (putting it lightly) and still working towards being seen as equal. Hockey being the most inaccessible sports there is, more people of colour playing at the highest level in some ways signifies progress for the sport and society. By the same token, players that have grown up in untraditional hockey markets (i.e. places without winter) is also something significant to celebrate as hockey fans.

So why is it the same sentiment felt with Jewish players?
Your avatar is a Colorado Avalanche player holding the Stanley Cup over his head in triumph because his team beat another team. We all root for different teams, which means that we identify with them to some extent (fans wear their team's jersey, and some even paint their faces). And periodically there are international competitions where teams are formed based on nationality (World Cup, Olympics). Would we all still watch sports if a bunch of guys got together in a stadium and chose up sides right before the game started and wore generic different-color jerseys? "Go Red Team!!!"

Anyway, one can bemoan that people identify with a specific group and/or are proud of their accomplishments, but the general mentality of identifying is kind of the basis of being a sports fan, no?
 
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SnowblindNYR

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His Mom is Jewish my guy. Their Dad is Catholic. They probably celebrate both religions.

I understand this, I was just saying I would not have guessed because of his dad's last name. Then someone said Jewish names are German and Polish and I responded with Hughes being neither.
 

57special

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Legitimately curious why a player's faith is important/significant?

I'm not trying to dunk on the thread, I'm just trying to understand. I understand there is a lot of pride/community around Judaism, but do Jewish people really feel as that much 'apart' from the rest of society that there is a running tally of all the famous/successful people that share the same faith as some sort of connection to them?

Although hopefully someday it will seem equally bizarre, with race/nationality it makes more sense. People of colour in NA have been disproportionately disadvantaged (putting it lightly) and still working towards being seen as equal. Hockey being the most inaccessible sports there is, more people of colour playing at the highest level in some ways signifies progress for the sport and society. By the same token, players that have grown up in untraditional hockey markets (i.e. places without winter) is also something significant to celebrate as hockey fans.

So why is it the same sentiment felt with Jewish players?
It isn't, really, just a bit of trivia. You could also apply the bolded to anything on this site, though, so why single out this thread?
 

Atoyot

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Jul 19, 2013
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But individually you can adhere to one as a faith, no?
Traditionally with Judaism if your mother is Jewish, you're Jewish and you don't really get a say in it :laugh:

As I understand it anyways, Jewish members of the board feel free to correct me.
 
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Tawnos

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Traditionally with Judaism if your mother is Jewish, you're Jewish and you don't really get a say in it :laugh:

As I understand it anyways, Jewish members of the board feel free to correct me.


The whole thing is kind of beside the point anyway. If I were half-Irish on my father's side and half-Italian on my mother's side, I wouldn't say I was one or the other.
 
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OgeeOgelthorpe

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His Mom is Jewish my guy. Their Dad is Catholic. They probably celebrate both religions.

Judaism practices matrilineal descent.

Basically, if the mother is jewish then so are the children despite the father's ethnic/cultural/religious background. Even if the Hughes brothers are non practicing or convert to another religion they're still considered Jewish by Jewish law.
 

Kane One

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Judaism practices matrilineal descent.

Basically, if the mother is jewish then so are the children despite the father's ethnic/cultural/religious background. Even if the Hughes brothers are non practicing or convert to another religion they're still considered Jewish by Jewish law.
No, this isn’t anywhere near a strict rule. I’m not sure how many times this needs to be said here.
 

Tawnos

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Never been an issue before. How many catholics are in the nhl right now, mormans, JWS?

PEOPLE want to fixate on certain things sometimes

This is not the right question at all. An equivalent question would be to wonder how many French Canadians there are in the NHL. And that's been a question people have talked about for the entire existence of the NHL.
 
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OgeeOgelthorpe

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No, this isn’t anywhere near a strict rule. I’m not sure how many times this needs to be said here.

Matrilineality in Judaism - Wikipedia

Reform and reconstructionalist allow for bilineal descent. There's a caveat that you need to be raised a jew by reform standards or engage in a public act of identification.

Conservative and orthodox only allow for matrilineal descent. It's been that way since the covenant at Sinai.
 
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Atoyot

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Never been an issue before. How many catholics are in the nhl right now, mormans, JWS?

PEOPLE want to fixate on certain things sometimes
OP didn't mention there being an issue with it? People want to fixate on certain things indeed...


The whole thing is kind of beside the point anyway. If I were half-Irish on my father's side and half-Italian on my mother's side, I wouldn't say I was one or the other.
Yeah like I said, traditionally it's the case, as I understand it. I'm sure it's not adhered to as strictly today as maybe it once was.
 

Tawnos

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Matrilineality in Judaism - Wikipedia

Reform and reconstructionalist allow for bilineal descent. There's a caveat that you need to be raised a jew by reform standards or engage in a public act of identification.

Conservative and orthodox only allow for matrilineal descent. It's been that way since the covenant at Sinai.

This conversation is more or less meaningless in 2024 in North America. I have a brother with two kids who is married to a Catholic woman. If his kids decide they want to follow Judaism, they're not going to have a hard time finding a way to do so. Outside of certain ways of practicing, Judaism is not so inflexible as all that.
 
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Guttersniped

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Legitimately curious why a player's faith is important/significant?

I'm not trying to dunk on the thread, I'm just trying to understand. I understand there is a lot of pride/community around Judaism, but do Jewish people really feel as that much 'apart' from the rest of society that there is a running tally of all the famous/successful people that share the same faith as some sort of connection to them?

Although hopefully someday it will seem equally bizarre, with race/nationality it makes more sense. People of colour in NA have been disproportionately disadvantaged (putting it lightly) and still working towards being seen as equal. Hockey being the most inaccessible sports there is, more people of colour playing at the highest level in some ways signifies progress for the sport and society. By the same token, players that have grown up in untraditional hockey markets (i.e. places without winter) is also something significant to celebrate as hockey fans.

So why is it the same sentiment felt with Jewish players?

It’s not uncommon for of Something/American decent, if that “something” is more rare, often know if a famous is Lithuanian, Polish, Arminian, Egyptian, etc

And the bigger immigrant groups, like the Irish and Italians, celebrate their heritage with holidays/Parades (Columbus Day, St Patrick’s Day) and talk about all the time.

And to turn to religion, which celebrities who are/or were raised Evangelical, Mormon, Muslim etc gets discussed too. It’s not just a Jewish thing.

There haven’t been a lot of Jewish sports stars, there’s a joke about it in 1980’s comedy Airplane:



So having one Norris Trophy winner, and potentially more individual award winning stars, is a notable trend. You personally not caring about this doesn’t make it less notable to others.
 
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Rowlet

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Legitimately curious why a player's faith is important/significant?

I'm not trying to dunk on the thread, I'm just trying to understand. I understand there is a lot of pride/community around Judaism, but do Jewish people really feel as that much 'apart' from the rest of society that there is a running tally of all the famous/successful people that share the same faith as some sort of connection to them?

Although hopefully someday it will seem equally bizarre, with race/nationality it makes more sense. People of colour in NA have been disproportionately disadvantaged (putting it lightly) and still working towards being seen as equal. Hockey being the most inaccessible sports there is, more people of colour playing at the highest level in some ways signifies progress for the sport and society. By the same token, players that have grown up in untraditional hockey markets (i.e. places without winter) is also something significant to celebrate as hockey fans.

So why is it the same sentiment felt with Jewish players?

Judaism isn't exclusively a religion, it's an ethnoreligion, since Judaism doesn't promote proselytizing, there is much less genetic diversity than religions that do. This means that even if a person of Jewish descent isn't religious, they are still among the group of those who descended from the people of Judea.
 

BenG

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Of course it is. This is almost like saying Christians are not tied to Christianity. It has morphed into an ethnic identity but there is still an inclination to qualify people who identify as Jewish as non-practicing.

There likely are any "ethnic identities" that are more closely tied to a religion than Jewishness. E.g. you can describe someone as Polish but that doesn't trigger any particular connection to a specific religion.
I think it’s more that Jews originate from Judea. So it is more akin to an ethnic group or nationality.
 

BenG

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We have evolved (in Western society at least) where we strive to move beyond tribalism for the betterment of society and this is reflected in our laws.

Of course to deny our instinct for tribalism isn't realistic and I doubt we will ever evolve past it but it can serve as a societal foundation.
I don’t think the idea to evolve past our unique cultures into a single homogenous group but rather to celebrate our individual heritages together in peace. Sadly, most people don’t get past the violent tribalism part since most societies devolve into to blaming minorities for the failures of politicians/society as a whole.
 

Rowlet

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Of course it is. This is almost like saying Christians are not tied to Christianity. It has morphed into an ethnic identity but there is still an inclination to qualify people who identify as Jewish as non-practicing.

There likely are any "ethnic identities" that are more closely tied to a religion than Jewishness. E.g. you can describe someone as Polish but that doesn't trigger any particular connection to a specific religion.

Christians prosletyzed, Jews didn't. Christianity doesn't have a distinct ethnicity because people convert, Jews do because conversion is really hard and almost all Jews today are descendants of the people of the tribes of Judea.
 
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BenG

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Legitimately curious why a player's faith is important/significant?

I'm not trying to dunk on the thread, I'm just trying to understand. I understand there is a lot of pride/community around Judaism, but do Jewish people really feel as that much 'apart' from the rest of society that there is a running tally of all the famous/successful people that share the same faith as some sort of connection to them?

Although hopefully someday it will seem equally bizarre, with race/nationality it makes more sense. People of colour in NA have been disproportionately disadvantaged (putting it lightly) and still working towards being seen as equal. Hockey being the most inaccessible sports there is, more people of colour playing at the highest level in some ways signifies progress for the sport and society. By the same token, players that have grown up in untraditional hockey markets (i.e. places without winter) is also something significant to celebrate as hockey fans.

So why is it the same sentiment felt with Jewish players?

I think it is the same with any minority that has overcome to accomplish something special. Especially in a domaine that is not common for them. We saw the same with Kadri after winning the cup, Subban winning the Norris, Anders Lee becoming captain, etc.

Canadians do this all the time with fellow Canadians go became famous actors, musicians, even Jonas Salk lol
 
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