Duxbury Football team meets Jewish legislator after antisemitic comments

• Author: JERUSALEM POST STAFF
• Date: 30 March 2021
• Published date: 30 March 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

As a consequence, the team received a mandatory lesson in antisemitism just before the Jewish Holiday of Passover, CBS Boston reported on Monday.

Massachusets' Jewish State Senator Barry Finegold, who also played football in high school and college, reached out to the football team after the incident became public.

According to CBS Boston, Finegold said he had a "great conversation" with the team Saturday to discuss the Jewish faith and the Holocaust, stressing in a press release that it was not an easy discussion but an important one.

"I believe we can use the incident in Duxbury as a crucial learning opportunity," Finegold wrote.

The team is currently under investigation for using words like "Auschwitz," "rabbi" and "dreidel" during a game earlier this month against Plymouth North High School which first reported the comments. The play-call system is no longer in place.

Football teams often use agreed-upon code words to signal play calls to each other. Legendary quarterback Peyton Manning, for instance, was famous for calling out "Omaha" on the playing field, a choice he later said was totally random.

"It's my understanding that 'Auschwitz,' 'rabbi,' and 'dreidel' were some of the words used," New England ADL Executive Director Robert Trestan told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Trestan said reports of antisemitic or otherwise derogatory language are not uncommon in local and professional sports. "What's unusual in this case is that it seems to have been planted within the team's playbook and strategy of calling plays," he said.

School officials launched an investigation...