Basketball is not always thought of as a particularly Jewish sport. Dolph Schayes, likely the best Jewish basketball player in history, is not remembered in the same way as Sandy Koufax or Hank Greenberg. But looking more closely, there’s something there.
“The idea of coaching a basketball team… what we’re really doing is building a cohesive unit that can do more together than any of any of them could do on their own,” Lindsay Gottlieb, head women’s basketball coach at the University of Southern California and guest of honor at the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s Impact event Wednesday, Oct. 22, at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center said.
“That is so Jewish,” Elana Hutter Davey, who conducted the on-stage Q-and-A, replied. “That’s how we function.”
The women’s event served as an opportunity to celebrate Jewish women and Jewish community and to build up the latter as only the former can.
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That celebration began in the evening’s introduction as Beth Merrill was joined onstage by her mother, Faith Cookler.
“Throughout my life, my mother demonstrated what it means to show up to lead and to give back,” Merrill said of the woman who raised her and was standing next to her, “taking leadership positions in my Jewish Day School, co-founding a Jewish High School, and leading the Anti-Defamation League on the local and national level.”
“I’m especially proud of you Beth, first for being a terrific mother… and also for carrying on the family tradition of giving back through leadership, learning, love and philanthropy,” Cookler said. “When I see how you and Jonas are raising our grandchildren with Jewish values, traditions, activism and a strong connection to Israel, it gives me hope for the future.”
Merrill introduced Portland’s Israeli community shliacha (Israel emissary) as well as Eliana Yoken. A high school senior who’s involved with the Student to Student program through the Federation, Yoken spoke about the first time she encountered antisemitism in second grade.
“I was sitting at lunch with friends, when one girl said her mom was pulling her out of school because there was too many Jews,” she said. “I didn’t know how to respond. I just nodded, but inside, I felt confused and hurt. I didn’t understand why being Jewish made me too much, and honestly, I was eight years old; I shouldn’t have had to.”
She credits her participation in Student to Student for helping her step into her voice.
“I’ve learned how to share my story in a way that’s honest, educational and impactful. I’ve gained the confidence to speak about my experiences and the pride to stand in my identity,” Yoken explained. “Now, in my second year, I mentor new participants and help them prepare to bring their stories into classrooms, too.”
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Family is something that’s immensely important to Gottlieb. Before she was a wife and a mother, she said she felt like she “always had 15 children” in the form of her players. Now she has a husband and two children in addition to a roster’s worth of basketball players, but her commitment to each part of her life is as steadfast as the others. She’s managed this by bringing them together.
“When I was pregnant with our son, I remember saying to my team, ‘I still want to be that coach that is present. I still want to be that coach that’s in the office after practice when you just want to hang out. I just want to have a baby with me,’” Gottlieb recalled. “I think just growing up around the team is good. Then when we’re home, I hope they see just normal mom things, making pancakes together in the morning.”
Integrating the various passions of her life has been something Arielle Goranson has found a powerful way to do through the work of the Federation.
Goranson, the chair of Portland’s chapter of Dignity Grows, became a mother and a public health professional long before she started working with Dignity Grows.
“I wanted to feel connected to people, to the place I lived, to this community,” she said. “So, I started to ask myself, ‘How can I bring my professional self and my personal self closer together?”
The answer appeared in the form of an email about a Dignity Grows packing party – where volunteers load menstrual and basic hygiene supplies into tote bags to be distributed to those who need them most.
“Something about it clicked. This felt exactly like the kind of activity that I wanted to model for my kids. I emailed her to ask how I could help,” she said.
She quickly took on a leadership role – both locally and nationally, having recently spoken at the National Summit on Period Poverty to highlight the work of Portland’s Dignity Grows chapter.
“I found a way to bring my professional experience, my Jewish identity and my community life together. I’ve met incredible people, and I’ve built new friendships,” Goranson continued. “This is the essence of the work that the Jewish Federation does in our community and around the world.”
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Later, Gottlieb spoke of learning leadership – and Jewish values – from her father.
“The way that he viewed and taught leadership was about empowering others and not trying to gain power. It was about lifting up the community and being part of the community,” she said. “I think it was very rooted in social justice and building a life and legacy around how you impact others versus just pursuing your own individual ascension.”
It’s a trait that has served Gottlieb well in coaching – a journey that started her senior year in high school after a knee injury cost her a chance at playing her final prep season. Her school coach gave her a shirt which read “assistant coach” – she spent every game on the bench with her teammates the rest of the year, still a part of the group that meant so much to her.
“At that moment, I felt like I had a place. I felt like I was still included, and even though my heart was broken to not play, it was [my coach] saying, ‘I see you. We’re still going to take care of you,’” she said. “ I literally call on that every single time I have a player with an injury, because in that moment, they need you to show up for them in so many different ways. That was a really great lesson for me as a young person.”
Another young person, Sofia Remmo, had just been onstage to talk about her bat mitzvah project, “She Shoots, We Score.”
“I created a GoFundMe, organized a day of basketball and a bake sale for young girls like me, and I’m so excited to share that thanks to the generosity of my family, friends and this community, we surpassed my goal and raised over $2,000,” Remmo said.
This led to opportunities for more young people, as Remmo sponsored a pair of tables for Next-Gen young adults at the event.
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Remmo introduced Impact chair Elana Hutter Davey who, later in the evening, circled back to what she thought was a particularly Jewish topic.
“Let’s talk a little bit about resilience. You brought it up to me. It’s the word when I think of Jewish community, we specialize in resilience,” Hutter Davey said.
“I will say, more than what their jump shot looks like or what their transition defense looks like, the players I have that are most successful are the ones that can handle adversity better,” Gottlieb said.
Hutter Davey also asked about building team culture. Gottlieb pointed to the mentality that her team is taking into the coming campaign, where they will be without superstar forward JuJu Watkins due to a knee injury, but also pointed to those who had spoken before her.
“I don’t know that I’m going to give you better advice than what you have. The women who have spoken have just made me feel stronger and better in the hour that I’ve been here,” she said. “You have the culture. It’s so neat to see Jewish women’s empowerment with a Portland flavor and flair. It’s unique. You have it right, but the challenges are evolving. You’re each evolving. So, I would say the formula, if there is one, is to lean on each other, to pour into the culture. Culture is something that’s inherited. It’s something that’s evolving. You have to pour into it every day, pour into that culture, pour into one another. Believe in yourselves.”