The glove is a powerful thing

Avid fans of America’s favorite pastime have an easy time conjuring up the image. A tense, quiet moment followed by a rapid-fire streak of white, and a moment later, a crack and a roar as the ball soars far, far, far and then… a collective groan. The outfielder caught the ball in his wide-open glove, with a deft spin of the wrist, and the inning is over. All because of a glove.

The glove is a powerful thing.

In advance of baseball season, many students of Yeshiva Darchei Torah eagerly head out with their parents and buy new baseball gloves.

Their rosh yeshivah, Rabbi Yaakov Bender, has one request. “When you go to buy a new glove,” he tells the boys, “ask your parents if they can buy a second one for a boy in your class whose parents can’t afford one.”

This year, Rabbi Frischman, the menahel of the middle school division, addressed the boys in advance of Rabbi Bender’s annual directive.

“Why don’t you get together to present a gift to Rabbi Bender,” he suggested. “Pool together money to buy gloves for your friends who don’t have one.”

Inspired, a group of sixth and seventh graders banded together and ultimately raised enough money for 25 new baseball gloves, which were then distributed by their rebbeim as needed.

And so, somewhere in the Five Towns, there’s a crack and a roar as the ball soars far, far, far. And then the outfielder, with a deft spin of the wrist, catches the ball in his wide-open glove. The inning is over, all because of a glove.

The glove is a powerful thing.

A very, very, powerful thing.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 962)