Hockey star Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal on Sunday to clinch a gold medal for the United States men’s hockey team. The win broke a 46-year Olympic drought for Team USA, which hadn’t taken gold since the famous “Miracle on Ice” team that upset the Soviet Union on its way to gold in 1980.
Jack’s brother, and was also named the best defender in the Olympic tournament by the International Ice Hockey Federation after scoring an overtime goal to send the US team to the semifinals.
The Hughes family, which also includes brothers Quinn Hughes, a defender for the Minnesota Wild, and youngest brother Luke, who also plays for the Devils, has long been lauded as a Jewish hockey dynasty. They are the first American family to have three siblings picked in the first round of the NHL draft, and Jack was the first Jewish player to go number one overall.
Jack, who had a Bar Mitzvah, has said that his family celebrated Pesach and Chanukah (though he did admit that he’d get better gifts on Christmas). His mother, Ellen Weinberg-Hughes, has a Jewish father and is proud of her Jewish lineage. She was also a hockey player, and In recognition of her accomplishments Weinberg-Hughes is a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
Jack Hughes’ golden goal ushered in a burst of Jewish pride on social media, with one user calling it “the greatest Jewish sports moment of all time”. The Hockey News tweeted that Hughes was “the first player in hockey history to have a Bar Mitzvah and a Golden Goal! Pretty cool!”
Maybe it’s the punster in me, or maybe my sound perception is not what it once was, but upon hearing the name of the golden goal scorer I immediately thought of J'Accuse, an open letter written by Émile Zola in response to the Dreyfus Affair. It was published on January 13, 1898 in the newspaper L'Aurore. Zola addressed the president of France and accused his government of antisemitism and the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus. Dreyfus was a French Army General Staff officer who was sentenced to life in prison for espionage. Zola pointed out judicial errors and lack of serious evidence in Dreyfus' trial. The letter was printed on the front page of the newspaper, and caused a stir in France and abroad. Zola was prosecuted for libel and found guilty on February 23, 1898. To avoid imprisonment, Zola fled to England, only returning home in June 1899. Emile Zola died on September 29, 1902, from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a blocked chimney. His death was officially ruled an accident. But Zola was threatened by anti-Semites who did not appreciate his defense of Dreyfus, and today it is widely suspected that he was murdered. If that indeed was the case then Zola was murdered for defending a Jew who was falsely accused and for bringing attention to the prevalence of Jew hatred throughout France at the end of the 19th century.
Perhaps the association between Jack Hughes and j’Accuse is more than a pun. There is a debate raging today about the effectiveness of Jewish philanthropies investing in “combatting antisemitism.” Some feel that the effort is critical for the safety of the American Jewish community. Others argue that antisemitism is the world’s oldest hatred and it will never be eradicated. Some have suggested that all of the money currently spent on fighting antisemitism should be invested instead in cultivating Jewish literacy and promoting Jewish pride. I think we need to take a nuanced approach. We must follow in Emile Zola’s example and call out antisemitism and work to make Jew hatred unacceptable to express nor act on in polite company. But “not being hated” cannot be the basis of Jewish identity. (Neither can celebrating the accomplishments of a hockey player who happens to also identify as Jewish). The American Jewish community will earn a gold medal in Jewish identity by cultivating Jewish joy, Jewish knowledge, and Jewish pride.
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