This was not how Meyers Leonard envisioned his return.
Foremost, as a result of he by no means needed to go away.
And but within the wake of the disgrace of a single unlucky, hurtful, ignorant second two years in the past, the previous Miami Heat middle returns with the Milwaukee Bucks for NBA playoff video games in Miami as a examine of one of many core tenets of the very tradition he unwittingly disparaged.
As a examine in atonement.
“Judaism is about second chances,” Rabbi Pinny Andrusier, director of the Chabad of Southwest Broward, instructed the South Florida Sun Sentinel this week when requested about Leonard. “We have Yom Kippur once a year.”
As within the faith’s Day of Atonement.
“But our prayers, for those unfamiliar, every single morning we acknowledge that during this day, in the morning since last night, in the afternoon since this morning, we might have done something to offend a fellow person or God,” Andrusier mentioned. “We’re always asking for forgiveness.”
As did Leonard, on to Andrusier within the fast wake two years in the past of uttering an anti-Semitic slur whereas reside streaming video gaming.
In March 2021, whereas sidelined by damage whereas a member of the Heat, Leonard was taking part in Call of Duty: Warzone on-line and mentioned to fellow avid gamers within the warmth of the video battle: “F – – – – – g cowards. Don’t f – – – – -g snipe at me. You k – – e b – – – -h.”
The fallout over that second-to-last phrase was fast and extreme. Leonard was fined $50,000 and suspended per week by the NBA. He was traded shortly thereafter by the Heat in what amounted to a wage dump, instantly launched by the buying Oklahoma City Thunder.
Leonard didn’t return to the NBA till he was signed final month by the Bucks, who’re within the midst of a best-of-seven opening-round NBA playoff sequence in opposition to the Heat.
Which means being again in South Florida for video games Saturday and Monday on the Kaseya Center, the brand new identify of the Heat’s area.
“It’s crazy how life works out,” Leonard instructed the Sun Sentinel. “I loved Miami, and I always will. And I will love Miami for the people who helped me, who made me realize what I had done that was so hurtful, that helped me.”
For some, the Leonard story turned a chapter closed, one other regrettable, vile second of anti-Semitism that has been on the rise.
To Andrusier, the Leonard story is a dwelling doc, testimony to atonement.
“As soon as it happened, he was at my house for the first Friday night to share his side of the story,” Andrusier recalled this week of that Shabbat dinner. “And what I was always most impressed with is he never denied, he never made excuses. He owned up to it. I sincerely believe that he didn’t even realize what he said was an anti-Semitic remark. But the moment he learned and discovered that it was offensive to the Jews, he immediately owned up to it and was sincerely apologetic.”
That session, that second, Leonard mentioned, is when the therapeutic started and ongoing development took maintain.
“The rabbi that I sat with, and, of course, nobody knew about this, because I wanted everything to be private,” Leonard mentioned, “I talked to him a day after every part occurred. And he mentioned, ‘Would you come to my Chabad and sit with me?’ I mentioned, ‘Of course, when?’ He mentioned, ‘8 a.m. tomorrow.’ So 48 hours basically after every part occurred, I used to be at his Chabad, pouring my soul out.
“And I keep in mind he stopped me about 5 minutes in and he mentioned, ‘Meyers, I need to tell you something.’ I imply I’m pouring tears. He goes, ‘You’re a superb man with a superb soul. You simply made a mistake, however I promise you, I’ll get you thru this. It’s going to take a while. But I simply know the individuals in my group will perceive, and they’re going to see very clearly you’re a superb man who made a mistake.’ “
Basketball turned secondary.
Because one factor even greater than Leonard’s 7-foot-1, 260-pound stature is his character. He has a booming voice that belies his innate need to be favored, one thing that turned overwhelmingly evident throughout his two seasons with the Heat.
“I want people to like me,” he mentioned. “I at all times have. It’s my Achilles heel. But I would like them to see, ‘Oh wow, this is real and genuine,’ it’ not simply, ‘Oh Meyers made it back to the league and he’s accomplished.’ “
This was not Kyrie Irving selling an anti-Semitic trope on his social media after which getting again to bouncing balls. This was not Kanye spreading anti-Semitic bile earlier than returning to his limelight.
This was actual, non-public, heartfelt, Andrusier mentioned.
“We set forth for him a path of really discovering and learning who he offended,” Andrusier mentioned. “So I took him to homes to deliver matzos for Passover. I took him to see people with numbers on their arms, Holocaust survivors. And took him to Century Village to meet other survivors.”
A course of, Leonard mentioned, that continues to be ongoing, together with with different South Florida Jewish clergy, together with Rabbi Efrem Goldberg at Boca Raton Synagogue.
“It’s not like a check the box and move on for me, at all,” Leonard, 31, mentioned. “It may be very a lot a lifelong factor for me.
“The factor is the Jewish group wants allies. And I’ll always remember what Efrem instructed me. He mentioned, ‘Meyers, one of the most unique opportunities you have is you made mistakes, but as soon as you apologized on your social media, I forgave you. But Jewish people in the Jewish community, they need people like yourself to speak out. Because Jewish people can talk to Jewish people all they want about anti-Semitism and hate and all that, but when someone like yourself, regardless of a mistake or not, says this is wrong, it helps.’ “
So Leonard constructed a group, a group of these he damage and a group of these he then embraced. Among those that shall be at Monday’s Game 4 of Heat-Bucks as Leonard’s friends shall be Andrusier and his 13-year-old son, Shmuly.
“I think if there’s anybody who deserves the opportunity to be forgiven and to be the ambassador or a spokesman against hate, for second chances, I think Meyers is the perfect candidate,” Andrusier mentioned. “I nonetheless keep in mind, as he was listening to the tales of the Holocaust survivors, the tears trickling down his cheek.
“He’s sincere, he’s authentic and deserves this opportunity. I’m rooting for him.”
For Leonard, will probably be a second to replicate on the worst of instances as properly of private rebirth.
Of atonement.
“I will have plenty of people in attendance who are very close friends of mine now,” he mentioned. “I hope they are saying, ‘He made a mistake, but look at what he did afterward.’ “
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Source: www.bostonherald.com