Israeli NBA rookie Omri Caspi scored 14 points for the Sacramento Kings in their game against the Denver Nuggets this week, and although his team lost in the end, 109-112, Caspi was the clear winner as far as the local Jewish community was concerned.
Haggai Shoham, the Bnei Akiva emissary to Denver, Colorado, reported in an enthusiastic e-mail message that the game was very close, and Caspi gave it his all. Television viewers got to see the Bnei Akiva and Israeli flags waving proudly in the bleachers, he wrote, and all of the local channels carried the game.
“As one would expect from an event attended by most of the Jewish congregation in Denver,” Shoham reported, “security at the entrance to the basketball arena was tight and every person who entered was checked, but as some of the people on line said – the inspections would not have passed the State of Israel's security standards.”
Caspi made a surprise appearance at a dinner in one of Denver's synagogues wearing a kippah (skullcap) and gave autographs to all of the youngsters present.
Caspi at the synagogue.