Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is scheduled to visit Israel in July to meet with former chief rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau.
Abdul-Jabbar plans to meet with Lau, the chief rabbi of Tel Aviv and chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, to discuss a film he is making based on the book “Brothers in Arms,” about U.S. troops who liberated concentration camps at the end of World War II.
Abdul-Jabbar, whose father served in the 761st Tank Battalion that liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, is co-author of the book. Lau and his brother were liberated from the camp.
According to Ynetnews.com, Lau said that Abdul-Jabbar’s father, Ferdinand Alcindor, asked his son to visit Israel and meet the boy who became a prominent rabbi. Lau said he remembers Abdul-Jabbar’s father from the Buchenwald rescue. — jta