\n
Elie Kligman is waiting for me at the top of the stairs. He\u2019s leaning on the railing, dressed to a tee for a traditional Shabbos service: a deep blue pullover, dress pants, polished loafer shoes. His hair is neatly tucked back and adorned with a kippah, the head covering required for all Orthodox Jewish men. He\u2019s two minutes early.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 7:36 on a Friday night, and the sun is just starting to dip over the horizon. I\u2019m standing outside the Chabad House of Ann Arbor, a few minutes before the candle-lighting that marks the beginning of the holy day of rest. I open my phone to a message from Kligman: He\u2019s on his way. It\u2019s the last text he will send until Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 6:50 p.m. at Ray Fisher Stadium. Junior right-hander Gavin DeVooght is on the mound for the Michigan baseball team. He\u2019s fiddling with his glove, a little nervous that the Wolverines\u2019 lead has been cut to only one run. He delivers a fastball that gets whacked, popped up to center field and caught for a flyout. The game is over.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nKligman watches the ball arc through the air, then takes off, already halfway to the locker room. The game started at 4 p.m., and sundown isn\u2019t for another hour \u2014 so today, he got to stay all the way through. He hurries to take his leg guards off and shoves them in his locker. There\u2019s no time for me to meet him outside the dugout. He has to book it to his apartment down State Street to change for Shabbat dinner.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
It\u2019s late summer of 2025, and Wolverines assistant coach Jake Valentine is staring at the phone number of a graduate transfer prospect. He\u2019s a catcher from Sacramento State, a versatile switch hitter with four years of college baseball under his belt. The only catch: He\u2019s a practicing Orthodox Jew. From Friday night until Saturday at sundown, he cannot play. He cannot travel, work or use technology. He will require special culinary accommodations to conform to a Kosher diet.<\/p>\n
Valentine picks up the phone and dials him anyway.<\/p>\n
At this point, Kligman is accustomed to the rhythm of the offseason. The strangeness of the last game, the carefree fun of summer ball, the familiar moment of being back to the drawing board. He\u2019s wrapping up his last taste of a lighthearted spell with the Portland Pickles, but Kligman isn\u2019t quite ready to be done with the game that\u2019s shaped so much of his life.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nHe\u2019s playing MLB: The Show<\/em> in his room when his phone starts ringing. Kligman recognizes the name \u2014 it\u2019s a recruiter from Michigan who followed him on X, asked for his number and said he\u2019d call back. Kligman\u2019s heard that one before. There are a lot of coaches he\u2019s still waiting to hear back from, and honestly, he doesn\u2019t blame them. Kligman answers the call. It\u2019s a surprisingly quick conversation, finished before he even wins the game. He puts his controller down and smiles. He\u2019s heading to Ann Arbor.<\/p>\n***<\/p>\n
I open the Chabad door to the sound of chanting. The sun hasn\u2019t fully set, but in Orthodox tradition, it\u2019s a mitzvah, a good deed, to begin Shabbat early. I pick up a prayer book and follow Kligman, who\u2019s already anxiously walking over to the service. We enter the shul room, filled with a dozen men all standing up, facing toward the east. The rabbi continues to recite the blessings.<\/p>\n
Kligman guides me to a table at the very back right of the room, opens his prayer book and sits down. When I follow suit, trying not to make myself conspicuous, I realize the rabbi is staring at me. Suddenly, everyone in the room is staring at me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve forgotten to bring a kippah.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nAfter what feels like an eternity, the rabbi and Kligman bring a spare one over for me. I carefully place it on my head and adjust it until I\u2019m positive it won\u2019t fall off. I sit back down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The rabbi continues chanting, far too fast for me to understand. Eventually, I resort to glancing at Kligman through the corner of my eye, turning the pages when he does. He\u2019s leisurely sitting, his leg partially resting on the empty chair between us. He knows when to get up and when to sit back down. This is routine for him.<\/p>\n
At the end of the service, the rabbi comes over to us, and Kligman explains that I\u2019m a journalist who wanted to visit him on Shabbat. The rabbi smiles and formally welcomes me to Chabad, before turning to Kligman. I awkwardly stand there as the rabbi chastises him for being late.<\/p>\n
Kligman doesn\u2019t sweat it. He nods respectfully and apologizes. When the rabbi heads downstairs, Kligman tells me not to worry about it, that it\u2019s never happened before.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve gotten so used to it that it\u2019s not even really a burden anymore,\u201d Kligman told The Michigan Daily. \u201cSometimes it takes a little more forethought, like I gotta text (Michigan coach Tracy Smith), \u2018Hey, I gotta be out of here at a certain time today.\u2019 Or yeah, I have to unfortunately miss some games and practices. But overall, this is just the normal experience for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nWe\u2019re walking to return the books to the wooden shelf by the door, and Kligman asks if I\u2019m staying for dinner. \u201cOf course,\u201d I tell him, and he grins. \u201cThat\u2019s the best part.\u201d<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
I\u2019m deep in conversation about whether it\u2019s appropriate to have zucchini in a matzo ball soup. I must make a shocked face when Kligman dumps it in his bowl, because he gives me a puzzled look. I tell him there\u2019s no way zucchini and matzo balls taste good together. \u201cWhy not?\u201d he said. I realize I can\u2019t really think of a reason why not.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFine, what\u2019s your ideal matzo ball soup, then?\u201d I ask him.<\/p>\n
Kligman shrugs. \u201cSoup. And matzo balls, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nDespite the strict rules of kosher, meals have never been a problem for him. Kligman eats here at Chabad for Shabbat, and otherwise, he prepares his own food at home and brings it to practice. He uses an app to find kosher restaurants for away games, and Michigan director of baseball operations Danny Stolper either DoorDashes food for Kligman or picks it up himself. It\u2019s far from a hassle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first heard about him, I was like, \u2018Alright, that\u2019s gonna be interesting,\u2019 \u201d Stolper told The Daily. \u201cBut it\u2019s been pretty smooth, and actually been a lot easier than I was anticipating.\u201d<\/p>\n
The walk down to the dining room feels familiar. The table is plastered with traditional Jewish appetizers: the soup, challah bread and wine for Shabbat blessings. Including the women I didn\u2019t see at the service, there are about 60 to 70 people in attendance. Kligman and I are sitting in the back right corner of the room once again, with some girls from New York and the rabbi\u2019s young daughter. Even if Orthodox men and women cannot pray in the same room, they\u2019re still allowed to eat together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I refill my glass of water, drain it and think about what it\u2019d be like going to a college where no one shared my religion. \u201cWas it weird?\u201d I ask Kligman. \u201cYour freshman year at Wake Forest. There couldn\u2019t have been a lot of Jews there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely different,\u201d Kligman says. \u201cI was definitely the only practicing Jew there, obviously, besides the rabbi on campus. So I became really close to that family. But I enjoyed the people in the community. We always had some good dinners there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nI\u2019m about to ask him if this is around average attendance for Michigan, but Kligman beats me to it, informing me that this is a smaller crowd than usual. Still, it\u2019s loud and teeming with life.<\/p>\n
Kligman leans back in his chair and soaks in the noises of the dinner. The rabbi\u2019s been giving a sermon about Chabad principles for the last 10 minutes, but for a room filled with very religious people, a lot of them seem to be talking anyway. A boy with round glasses is making fun of the way his friend holds his fork. Two girls at the table across from us are gossiping in hushed voices. This is familiar for Kligman.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up in the Chabad world,\u201d Kligman said. \u201cSo that\u2019s where I\u2019ve been going for a while. At Wake (Forest), Sac State, everywhere. \u2026 But here, this is a pretty established place.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Kligman, life has always been about feeling part of something bigger than himself. He explains that\u2019s part of why he wanted to play for the Wolverines. He felt a strong sense of school spirit when he visited, and that was just another aspect of his lifelong search for community.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times, if you get too caught up in your own personal goals, then it becomes a little bit too much about you,\u201d Kligman said. \u201cAnd especially for me, in the position I play, most of my time needs to be focused on how I can help the pitchers, how I can help the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playing around the country with four different teams, Kligman has traveled from coast to coast. And wherever he goes, he finds a way to intertwine faith and community. It\u2019s why he chose \u201cLow Down\u201d by Lil Baby as his introduction when he steps up to the plate. It\u2019s a modern rap beat similar to the tracks of his teammates, but it also starts with the line \u2018Go to lunch in the Jewish community.\u2019\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cI had other walkup songs,\u201d he explains in between bites of spaghetti. \u201cBut I settled on that one.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kligman\u2019s always kept community close to him, even though it\u2019s taken many different forms. Initially, being the first Orthodox Jew in Division I baseball was a lonely journey \u2014 but his father, MLB agent Marc Kligman, was there to support him. And eventually, his brother, Ari Kligman, followed in his footsteps. When Elie and Ari played together at Sac State, they didn\u2019t have Chabad, but they had each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen there\u2019s a struggle happening or we just need to talk, we go to each other a lot for that,\u201d Elie said. \u201cIf my swing isn\u2019t doing good, he\u2019s the one that can help fix it. Which is funny, because he couldn\u2019t really hit himself. But he knows me so well.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Michigan, Elie doesn\u2019t have his brother, but he has his teammates. Three of them \u2014 David Lally Jr., Evan Haeger and Matt Ossenfort \u2014 are also his roommates. They have conversations about Elie\u2019s faith and think about what it means. He is a co-captain even though he\u2019s new to the program. Baseball is in his blood just as much as Judaism is.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve learned so much in terms of his religion and everything like that,\u201d Lally told The Daily. \u201cAnd it\u2019s honestly special because I had absolutely no knowledge of that coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elie wishes he could still share Shabbat dinner with his brother and family. Then again, he also wishes he could keep getting lessons from Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz, one of his father\u2019s clients. He wishes he could still snack on the challah his mom used to bake from scratch back home. \u201cThere\u2019s no way to explain how good it is,\u201d he says, wistfully staring at the bread on the dinner table.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If Elie\u2019s relaxed demeanor tells me anything, though, it\u2019s that he\u2019s content. From the moment he got off the phone with Valentine and signed with the Wolverines, he\u2019s felt like he belonged here. His teammates have made sure of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t think we\u2019re gonna get another recruit,\u201d Lally said. \u201cWe thought we were gonna be out of a roommate, because we already had signed the lease and everything. Then (Valentine) texted me and said, \u2018Go get him.\u2019 It was Elie, and he sent me his contact. I FaceTimed Elie right as (Valentine) sent that, I was at the field, \u2026 And I was like, \u2018Well, I\u2019m on the team. You want to room with me?\u2019 And he was like, \u2018Sure.\u2019 I told him all the details, and he was like, \u2018Sweet.\u2019 The day that he showed up on campus, he\u2019s the absolute man.\u201d<\/p>\n
I can see why Elie\u2019s teammates look up to him. He\u2019s navigating something no one has done before \u2014 but in his eyes, he\u2019s not overcoming a barrier. He\u2019s sharing his story.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially these days, what people see in the media about the Jewish religion is not usually a positive thing,\u201d Elie said. \u201cFor me, I get a chance to teach people about what it really is. I mean, I\u2019m living it every day, so they get to see how I\u2019m doing it, what I\u2019m doing. That provides more of a positive impact on them than what they can see online.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elie eats very slowly. The flurry of conversation slowly dies out as people finish their meals and trickle out the door. Before she leaves, Shayna, one of the girls at our table, asks if either of us wants another matzo ball. Elie laughs. \u201cThat would be great,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Everyone besides the rabbi\u2019s family and a few out-of-town friends have left. Elie stays behind to help clean up. He spends a few more minutes with the rabbi to finish his prayers, then heads off toward State Street \u2014 to his other home.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Elie opens the door to the sound of cheering. His roommates are sitting in the living room, ecstatic that he\u2019s finally back. Lally\u2019s eager to chop it up about the game. They stay up and hang out together for another hour and a half before Elie heads to bed for some much-needed rest.<\/p>\n
The rest of the team will be at the stadium at 11 a.m. tomorrow for gameday. Elie \u2014 if he can manage to get up in time \u2014 will be back at Chabad at 9:30 a.m. for Saturday services. At this point, he\u2019s accustomed to the rhythm of midseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really just games every day,\u201d Elie said. \u201cNight game, it\u2019s pretty much dinner, go to bed. Day game, (it\u2019s) eat, hang out, do some homework, ideally go to sleep early.\u201d<\/p>\n
From Friday night to Saturday at sundown, Elie Kligman\u2019s home is Chabad. For the rest of the week, he\u2019s just like any other player in the Wolverines\u2019 dugout. He belongs on the diamond of Ray Fisher Stadium, with a helmet covering his head and a bat in his hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elie\u2019s played in many places where he\u2019s found that sense of belonging. But he\u2019s chosen this one.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\n
Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elie Kligman is waiting for me at the top of the stairs. He\u2019s leaning on the railing, dressed to a tee for a traditional Shabbos service: a deep blue pullover, dress pants, polished loafer shoes. His hair is neatly tucked back and adorned with a kippah, the head covering required for all Orthodox Jewish men. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[163,2431,2432,4492],"class_list":{"0":"post-4845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-dinner","9":"tag-elie","10":"tag-kligman","11":"tag-shabbat"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4845"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4847,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4845\/revisions\/4847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}