Men's Club

THE TRIUMPH OF THE COMPETITIVE SPIRIT

In 1981 the film Chariots of Fire won the Academy award for Best Picture. The opening scene is the

funeral of Harold Abrahams played by Ben Cross. The story is told through the eyes of a teammate

attending the funeral. The 1924 Olympics British track team featured two prominent athletes Harold

Abrahams, a Jew who encountered Anti-Semitism, and Eric Liddell played by Ian Charleson, a devout

Christian, who had to deal with the disapproval of his missionary family. A fierce competition developed

between the two star athletes throughout the training regimen leading up to the actual Olympic races.

Harold Abrahams won a gold medal in the last race of his scheduled events. Eric Liddell won a gold

medal in a different race event. Harold Abrahams went onto a distinguished career as an elder

statesman representing British athletics. Eric Liddell followed his family’s path and became a missionary

in China. The teammate recalled at the time that the team was enthralled with the competition between

the two athletes, being young men as they were in collegiate athletics. At the funeral, the maturation of

the teammate allowed him to truly appreciate the significance of their achievements, through the self-

sacrifice, determination, intestinal fortitude, and moral courage that the two athletes had to endure to

reach their competitive goals. This process served as a springboard to propel them to success in their

chosen careers.

 

This story made me reflect upon my time in Hebrew School. Mitchell Yellin was my chief protagonist. He

always seem to emerge as the prized student in quizzes, tests, and other special assignments. I generally

placed as the second best student in the class. Through encouragement of the teacher, I continued to

study course work diligently. Once or twice, a seminal moment came to pass, and I placed as the top

student. It taught me success was in reach if you worked hard to overcome adversity to reach your

goals. As a freshman or sophomore in college at the De Paul University Business School, I had to take an

elective philosophy course. Father Walker was the instructor. During a lecture he proffered a question

to the class. Classmates either gave wrong answers, or were stymied and could give no answer. I went

up to him after class, and said once you saw nobody could answer the question, why did you not tell the

class the answer. He responded to me, I am not here to spoon feed you the answers, that is not how life

works.

 

The same is true for establishing your divine connection with Hashem, through Torah study and prayer.

As we age, our physical senses diminish in capacity. If Hashem should take my sight away, I would get a

Siddur in Braille. If Hashem would take my hearing, I would get a cochlear implant, If Hashem would take

my legs, I would get a wheelchair. I will always fight to display an emblematic competitive spirit, until

Hashem takes my breath away.

Shalom

​