Jori Epstein, a journalist and author who covers the NFL for Yahoo Sports, will share stories of her career inside and outside football at Tiferet Bet Israel’s scholar-in-residence weekend on Dec. 5 and 6.
“Anybody who’s looking into the world of sports, I think would find her fascinating,” said Rabbi Kevin Lefkowitz of the Blue Bell synagogue. “She’s also an observant Jew covering the NFL. She’s a woman covering the NFL. And there’s a lot of different … stories mixed into her own story that I think a lot of people might find appealing.”
Epstein’s writing ranges far beyond the football field. She wrote “The Upstander: How Surviving the Holocaust Sparked Max Glauben’s Mission to Dismantle Hate,” the 2021 memoir of a Polish-born survivor who settled in Dallas. She has also written for The Dallas Morning News, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.
But given the NFL’s status as the most popular sports entity in America, and the passion of its followers, many of those attending the event probably will want to hear stories about the league, and how Epstein’s personal background influences her work.
“From what I’ve heard, people are really interested in hearing about how she balances being an observant Jew covering the NFL, how she uses her Jewish upbringing and her Jewish influences to tell — she’s a professional storyteller — the stories that she does,” Lefkowitz said. “What did her Jewish upbringing teach her about how to cover the NFL? Everything that we’ve learned is going to influence us in some way and I think people are pretty fascinated about that one.”
Additionally, Lefkowitz said, Epstein has utilized her platform covering the NFL to write about what the league’s players, coaches and executives have done in response to the Oct. 7 attacks and antisemitism.
“I think it’s important for people … to learn from experts in their field, and if we have an opportunity to bring somebody to share their expertise, I think that’s when people take advantage of it,” added Lefkowitz.
The weekend is sponsored by the congregation’s Irwin L. and Thelma Peikes Scholar-in-Residence Endowment Fund, a fund started by Tiferet Bet Israel congregants.
However, Lefkowitz said the event is not just a lecture, but an opportunity for congregants to connect with the speaker.
“On Shabbat evening, [Epstein will] speak … in the sermon slot, and hang around for the oneg for a few minutes, and people can mingle,” he explained. “Then on Shabbat morning, she’ll again speak during the sermon slot, and then … we’re going to have a Kiddush luncheon in which she’ll stay and mingle, and then she’ll do a question and answer for people to really ask the questions and get to know her outside of the presentation.”
Lefkowitz explained that the fund was established before he joined the congregation roughly two years ago and has been a “robust” program for the synagogue.
“They have brought some significant names to the community,” he said. “I wanted to, in that vein, bring people who I think can capture the moment that we’re in, who can both engage our current membership in a serious way, and possibly attract those from our greater community, members of our congregations and otherwise, to our space.”
Lefkowitz explained that the congregation’s goal for the scholar-in-residence program is to “meet the various needs that our congregation has — and everybody has a different approach to Jewish life. I want to give as many hooks into Jewish life as we can find for people to latch on and to find meaning in Judaism and in our TBI community space.”
Aside from the scholar-in-residence program featuring Epstein, the synagogue in April will present Sarah Tuttle-Singer, the new media editor at Times of Israel and author of the book “Jerusalem Drawn and Quartered: One Woman’s Year in the Heart of the Christian, Muslim, Armenian, and Jewish Quarters of Old Jerusalem.”
“We’re excited to platform her voice in our congregation,” said Lefkowitz.
Regarding both Epstein and Tuttle-Singer, Lefkowitz said, “they’re scholars in their own rights and … it’s a real honor to be able to bring them here and I’m excited to do it.”