Avi Rosenbloom is black. He is the adopted son of a Jewish family in Marin. At 21, he was playing for the Israel Football Leauge’s Ramat Hasharon Hammers. And now — as IBA News reports in this video — he’s in the Israel Defense Forces.
We have reported on Rosenbloom before. In May of 2014, we wrote:
“You can’t hit people hard,” he said of the IFL. “They don’t like it. I had to adjust. I broke the league record for penalties.”
The Hammers were called for more than 1,500 yards in penalties — about 150 yards per game. Still, the team tied for the second-best record in the league and had a five-game winning streak at the start of the season.
Rosenblum said he enjoyed the fans, though many do not fully grasp the intricacies of the gridiron.
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Now back home, he has a job coaching at El Cerrito High School with head coach Kenny Kahn who, like Rosenblum, is also an African American Jew. They’ve known each other for years, and Rosenblum considers Kahn a mentor.
You can read more about Rosenbloom’s time with the Hammers and his time as a high school athlete.