Moneyball-iya: A Winning Formula
Moneyball-iya: A Winning Formula

Last Saturday night I treated my brother and brother in law to a 'boys night out'. We went to go see the baseball themed movie, Moneyball. It's the story of Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, who is handicapped with the lowest salary constraint in baseball, and his successful attempt to put together a winning baseball club on a budget by employing a revolutionary computer-generated statistical analysis to draft his players.

We three enjoyed the film immensely because we are all baseball fans and understood all the nuances in the movie. We elbowed each other any time footage of a favorite player from our youth appeared on screen (Roger Clemens, Ricky Henderson, etc.). But each time the three of us 'got' a baseball reference in the film; I couldn't help but wonder if my fellow theater goers (middle-aged sabras for the most part) understood what was happening.

Don't get me wrong. It is a very good film, whether you care for baseball or not, but if you like the sport you will enjoy it even more. But I still wonder what possessed Israeli theater owners, who are not known for showing films in this country with American sports themes, to show it. Surely the fact that Brad Pitt is the star had something to do with it. Or maybe it is one of the few American 'sports movies' that translates well even beyond the borders of the USA.

I was thinking about Moneyball all week and saw some direct parallels to the current state of the state of Israel. In the film, the Oakland A's are a cash-strapped small market team who lose their best players to the 'big boys', teams like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox who can pay them millions of dollars more. Israel suffers from a similar fate when some of our best and brightest academics, doctors and hi-tech workers leave Israel for countries in Europe or North America that offer much higher salaries.

But once Billy Beane comes to grips with the reality that he cannot throw around the kind of money that richer teams do, he looks for other solutions. He learns, with the help of his nerdy assistant, that traditional 'big-money', 'sexy' statistics, like how many homeruns a player hits, are not really what wins ball games. In fact, it boils down to simply getting on base. The more a player gets on a base, the more runs he'll score, the more value he brings to the team in terms of total wins at the end of the season.

The same thing applies to anyone considering making aliya. Salaries in this country won't approach what is earned in the diaspora, plain and simple. So, one should look at other statistics, certain intangible benefits to living in the only Jewish state in the world. Living in Israel might not produce a homerun in your bank account, but those daily 'only in Israel' moments, when a stranger helps you out, when a bus driver wishes you a  'shabbat shalom', when your army is made up of Jewish soldiers defending a Jewish homeland, well, each moment, like each time you reach base, it all adds up.

But the message is not just for new olim only. Many 'yordim' who have left Israel for the riches offered by diaspora salaries also need a wake-up call. In fact, it brings to mind an episode from this week's Torah portion Vayetze. The portion opens with young Jacob fleeing his brother's wrath and his father's home in the land of Israel and heading towards his shifty unlce Laban's residence. On the way, in Beit-El, he has a magnificent, spiritual dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder.

But that's not the only dream Jacob has. Pinchas Peli points out that decades later, after Jacob has taken 4 wives, fathered 11 sons, and become very wealthy – by using some very clever genetic engineering methods to acquire an abundant flock of spotted and speckled sheep from his uncle's herd- he has a second dream.

"I had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’ And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Beit-El, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.’”

Years ago at Beit-El, when he was still a young man with lofty spiritual ideals who had spent his formative years dwelling in tents in the land of Israel, Jacob dreamt of angels on ladders, but now many years later, after he had 'made it big' in the diaspora, his dreams had turned to sheep and goats (i.e. dollars, euros, etc.). Now, perhaps God was telling him, is the time to go back to your homeland, the place where you once had lofty dreams that were not based on money.

In Moneyball, Billy Beane undergoes a change late in the film. Unlike when he was younger, he makes a vital choice that is not based on salary. He learned his lesson.

You can call it Aliya, Moneyball, or Aliya-ball, but the point is the same. There are certain things that you can't put a monetary value on, and living in Israel is one of them.

And if you do come to Israel only dreaming of a big salary - dream on!