When the Denver Broncos face the Carolina Panthers in Sunday’s Super Bowl 50, only one team will emerge victorious. But two rabbis are giving the nation’s most-watched sporting event a win-win outcome.
Rabbi Judith Schindler of Temple Beth El in Charlotte and Rabbi Joe Black of Temple Emanuel in Denver have devised a wager that will see both their Reform communities donate to charity, ReformJudaism.org reported. Two-thirds of the money raised in a joint online fundraiser for the bet will go to a charity chosen by the synagogue in the winning city. The other third will go to the losing city.
If the Panthers win, the larger share will go to the Shalom Park Freedom School in Charlotte, which offers summer programs to low-income children. If the Broncos win, the larger share will go to Denver’s Jewish Family Service, which provides meals to families in need. As of Wednesday afternoon, the synagogues had raised more than $4,100.
Schindler makes a convincing case in a promotional video that the Panthers are God’s team. The team’s star quarterback Cam Newton recently named his son Chosen — bringing to mind the phrase the “chosen people,” she says. And Newton said at a press conference on Monday that his 1-month-old baby is already walking, which as Schindler notes, strongly suggests the child has superhuman powers.
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