Book Review: Step Up to the Plate

Baseball, Judaism & How to Win the Game of Life, by Rabbi Yisroel Roll (Targum Press)

Roll, an author and psychotherapist as well as a pulpit rabbi, has collected an assortment of life lessons in his latest self-help/spiritual guide. Like baseball, many of life’s joys and obstacles can be summed up in terms of sportsmanship, teamwork, and sacrifice in pursuit of higher goals.

His lessons are at once comforting and thought-provoking. Each chapter begins with an analogy to the ball field. For example, in “A Stan-Up Double: Love,” Roll writes “Remember, everyone would rather hit a double than a single, and when it comes to physical pleasure and love, all the delicious pleasures in the world don’t even compare to the pleasure of loving another person.”

In other words — and forgive me for speaking somewhat unkindly on this worthwhile publication — but the sports angle is just a lure, a bit of honey to draw the reader in. And with all due respect, I find such ploys somewhat dishonest. Any reader buying this book based on the title and cover will wonder where, precisely, is the baseball, other than the fleetest of passing references and metaphors, building up to the real lesson to be learned?

Roll has written previous books on the general topic of religious well-being, so one wonders why he felt it necessary to go this route?

Visit Targum.com for more information. (Note: the sample pages link was not active as of this writing.)

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Kaplan’s Korner on Jews and Sports © 2009 New Jersey Jewish News

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