The New Half-time Show

I don't watch Israeli basketball, nor have I ever gone to a live game at the stadium, so I had no idea the Israeli teams have cheerleaders. I don't know why I assumed they do not, as cheerleaders are pretty basic in basketball, I just never heard about them or saw mention of them in the news items (I do glance at the Israeli sports news headlines).

I mention that because I was surprised to read the following news item - a group of religious fans, at a recent Hapoel Jerusalem basketball game, got upset over the cheerleaders dancing to the tune of Shalom Aleichem, saying that their dancing insults Jewish values.

It seems like it was a one time thing, though I don't know if the general idea of having cheerleaders dancing was a one time thing or if their dancing to Shalom Aleichem was a one time thing. A number of fans registered their protest, and a city councilman has joined the protest, telling the team management to not repeat the incident.

In response, the team has purchased 70 siddurim and is designating an area for religious fans to daven mincha and/or maariv during the halftime break. Religious fans are happy, saying that the minyanim at the games have been growing increasingly large with each game. One fan is quoted as saying that tens of fans get together at the games to daven, and "we also daven for the team to win". (source: mynet)

I don't see the team saying they are or are not going to continue with the cheerleaders. Perhaps the fans will have a choice for the halftime show, either to watch the cheerleaders dance or to go out and daven. Or maybe they will have some sort of voting to decide who to put out at half-court, either the cheerleaders or the daveners.