Roman Sorkin has been considered the best Israeli basketball player in the Premier League for several years now and certainly the most influential. He demonstrated that once again in Thursday’s Super Cup game against Hapoel Tel Aviv, as the Maccabi Tel Aviv star recorded 16 points and a 20 efficiency rating in his team’s 101–83 victory at Menora Mivtachim Arena.

However, Sorkin is, of course, much more than a basketball player. Away from the court, Sports Rabbi discovered that the 30-year-old big man (2.08 meters) is a fan of books by the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 through 2013.

“Wow, wow, where did you get that from?” Sorkin responded during an interview conducted with him in the locker room after the championship celebration. So now, we’ll reveal where it came from and bring you Sorkin’s full answer.

At the beginning of last season, after Sorkin once again finished first in the Sports Rabbi rankings, we presented him with a gift and took a commemorative photo. In retrospect, we noticed that he was holding Rabbi Sacks’ book “The Great Partnership”. On another occasion, the site’s photographer, Yehuda Halickman, heard Sorkin asking for the book. We had wanted to ask him about it for some time and now the opportunity had finally arrived.

“Yes, not just Rabbi Sacks’ books. In general, I really like philosophical books that deal with religion,” Sorkin shared. “I love it. It’s something I really, really enjoy and it’s very beautiful. It helps me. People make fun of me because I read a page before a game, but whether it’s a page, two pages, or more, it gives me a bit of a chance to escape, to think about things that are bigger.

“Sports is the central thing in my life, but there are things in life that are much bigger than that. It gives me a little escape. I really love it. It’s something that helps me a lot, teaches me a lot, calms me down, and I learn so much from it.”

Roman Sorkin – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman