Rabbi's Weekly Torah Thoughts
Torah Thoughts
BASEBALL'S LATEST SCANDAL
Major League Baseball (MLB) is dealing with a serious scandal- evidence shows that the Houston Astros used advanced technology to steal signs in 2017 and perhaps in other years. These hand signals are used by the catcher to let his pitcher know which pitch to throw. The Astros' set up was revealed in the sports publication The Athletic.
A feed from a camera in center field, fixed on the opposing catcher's signs, was hooked up to a television monitor that was placed on a wall steps from the team's home dugout at Minute Maid Park, in the tunnel that runs between the dugout and the clubhouse. Team employees and players would watch the screen during the game and try to decode signs ... When the onlookers believed they had decoded the signs, the expected pitch would be communicated via a loud noise - specifically, banging on a trash can, which sat in the tunnel. Normally, the bangs would mean a breaking ball or off-speed pitch was coming.
While other teams attempt to decode signs, the Astros' system violated MLB official rules. This unfair home field advantage calls their recent success, including winning the World Series in 2017, into question.
The Torah legislates against this sort of cheating. In Leviticus we read, "You shall not falsify measures of length, weight, or capacity. You shall have an honest balance, honest weights ... I am the LORD your God, who freed you from the land of Egypt." (19:35-36) Jewish law bans fraud and deception in business and in personal interactions.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT - Other biblical verses on this topic.
- You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." (Exodus 20:13)
- "You shall not steal; you shall not deal deceitfully or falsely with one another ... You shall not defraud your fellow. You shall not commit robbery." (Leviticus 19:11, 13)
Shalom,
Rabbi Pont
High Holiday Sermons
Yom Kippur 5780 - Rabbi Michael Pont - Antisemitism Continued
Kol Nidre 5780 - Rabbi Michael Pont - Antisemitism
Rosh Hashanah 5780 - Rabbi Ron Koas - Making Wine
Watch the Rabbis' 5780 Sermons Online:
Kol Nidre 5780 - Rabbi Michael Pont - Kol Nidre Sermon
Yom Kippur 5780 - Rabbi Mihcael Pont - Yom Kippur Day Sermon
Rosh Hashanah 5780 - Rabbi Michael Pont - Teaching Your Child to Drive
Rosh Hashanah 5780 - Rabbi Ron Koas - Making Wine