Tamir Goodman’s Speaking Engagement Testimonials

Rabbi Adam Miller (Temple Beth Am May 28th 2010) said,

Temple Beth Am thoroughly enjoyed the visit from Tamir Goodman! Tamir is an inspirational and engaging speaker who connected with members of our congregation across the age spectrum. Tamir’s personal journey as an Orthodox Jew blessed with a passion and talent for basketball moved many of our adult members. A gifted storyteller, Tamir used well-timed humor and his honest emotions to draw the audience into his tale. His dedication to Judaism, Israel, and the Jewish people made a distinct impression upon those in attendance. The children of the congregation are still talking about Tamir’s visit. They really enjoyed the time they spent learning basic basketball skills with Tamir. Donning his jersey, Tamir had students running drills up and down our social hall. At the same time, he managed to share with them parts of his personal story. A few students remarked afterward on the importance of seeing a SUCCESFUL positive Jewish role model who was willing to put his Judaism first. I highly recommend inviting Tamir to speak at other congregations and in other community settings. He would be an ideal choice for Day Schools and synagogues alike. My only regret is that our facility does not possess a basketball court where we could have arranged a game featuring Tamir!

Rabbi Adam Miller

Temple Beth Am, Framingham, MA

New England USY

It was a pleasure having Tamir Goodman as our guest speaker for our USY Spring Convention. Tamir was a fascinating speaker and our teens were captivated by his life story. Not only did our group thoroughly enjoy listening to Tamir speak, but they loved having one on one time to schmooze with him throughout the weekend. I highly recommend Tamir for any age group. It is not easy holding the attention of 160 high school students, but Tamir did this easily and the teens were enthralled. It was wonderful having Tamir with us for our convention. Thank you for your help. Joyce Juda, Director, New England Region United Synagogue Youth

Young Israel Oak Park

On behalf of Young Israel of Oak Park, we wish to healthy thank Tamir Goodman for being our guest speaker during our annual YIOP Dinner. His inspirational and entertaining talk enthralled the audience. There were many times when our members broke out in applause and you could hear a pin drop as Tamir told his story of perseverance and faith in his Jewish beliefs. He certainly proved that you can be an Orthodox, observant Jew in the midst of a secular sorrounding.
Hearing about his injuries and how he turned "lemons" into "lemonade" was amazing. Instead of dropping out of sight, he turned his popularity into an opportunity to give back to those less fortunate with the creation of his Haifa Hoops for Kids.
Tamir's casual, friendly, intimate style made his story easy to listen to, and the almost hour that he spoke just flew by! In addition to speaking in the evening, Tamir also held a Basketball Camp for the children of our members, and from all reports, the youngsters had a great time. Tamir was patient and funny and gave attention to all the participants. They loved him, and maybe even learned a thing or two to improve their game.
It takes a special person to appeal to young and old, and Tamir certainly fits the bill. We would habe no hesitation to invite him back again, should circumstances allow for a second visit.

We can say with certainty that any audience who has the privilige of listening to Tamir's message will be entertained by his moving story, and share the pride he feels as an Orthodox Jew.

Cordially,

President Gil Stebbins and Rabbi Michael Cohen

Temple Israel Sharon Mass

I am writing this letter to recommend that the young man, Tamir Goodman, be invited as a guest to your shul for Shabbat. Tamir spent a Shabbat with us and it was, to be sure, a remarkable experience. Tamir is an exceptional young man whose experience reflects a Jewish experience of powerful impact. He chose his commitment to the Almighty over a commitment to the almighty dollars that sports offered, eschewing professional basketball for a higher ideal. For our children (and adults) for whom sports often equates to religion this is an inspiring message of devotion and Jewish commitment. Tamir spoke beautifully, connected with our young people and was both entertaining and inspirational.

Tamir also gave generously of his time to sign autographs, talk basketball with the kids and give a little clinic to a local team. In every way he was gracious, kind and a real mentsch.

If the message you would like to get across is one of commitment to Jewish values in a secular world Tamir is a guest speaker to have. I recommend him highly and will be delighted to answer any questions you may have.

B’shalom,

Rabbi Barry Starr

Temple Israel Sharon Mass

Rabbi Eli Silberstein (Chabad at Cornell University),

Dear Friends,
I wanted to share with you the incredibly valuable resource that Tamir Goodman can be to any campus Chabad house.We had him last Shabbos. The students were hooked. His message is so powerful and extremely important to the students. He had them laugh and inspired like no other speaker had before him. He's also an outstanding bal midos with a bitohchen and emuna pshuto which I have rarely seen. he inspired me personally. As soon as shabbos was over, dozens of students had already befriended him on facebook, leaving him messages about how inspired they were... Do yourself a favor and invite him to your Chabad house.
e mail his agent: Agustin Alterman at: aalterman@trianglefs.com
If you need more info, you can e mail me personally"

Rabbi Dovid Tietchel (University of Illinois) said,

Just want to share with you, Tamir Goodman was just here for shabbos, and he was amazing,

Friday night we had literally a standing room only crowd, he spoke to them for 45 minutes, they sat spell bound.... his story,

farbrenged after that till 2am

Shabbos the whole day ppl came by, we did this in connection to Sinai Scholars Shabbat, we invited them to Seuda Shlishit as well, where he spoke right to them,

Moitze Shabbos a video and clinic at the campus rec for another 2 hours.

Today we did a philanthropy event with ZBT, for Children with Autism, 175 students came out to watch the kids, Tamir made a clinic for the kids with special needs, he really connects with them. After that a clinic for the students.

He was on a roll from beginning to end, never resting, and just left to Kansas, and from there to Northwestern.

He gave a real G'oin Yaakov, he is a real shliach, inspiring all beyond u can imagine, his words, his image all, was very special.

I encourage you all to bring him to your campuses, call me if you need more info or need help to make it happen."

Dovid.

Rabbi Arieh (Cleveland JSU/NCSY) said,

I met Tamir Goodman last week, recently retired professional basketball star from America and Israel, and he spoke for us at Seudah Shlishit on Sunday, and we are currently scheduling him to speak at our JSU clubs in Cleveland and for other events." "I cannot stress enough how the teens were GLUED to Tamir's incredible story and message. He has a new program that he's promoting in Israel with his current club Maccabi Haifa and it's worth hearing about." "He is now living in Cleveland, but making nationwide speaking tours and he will be in your location soon. YOU WANT TO BOOK HIM. He's here to speak, and there's no club that can not tremendously benefit from his message and the hype he brings."
"I am going to give Tamir with your permission all your contact so he can call you when he is coming to your area, but please don't wait, and call him and ask him when he's coming to where you live, because he wants to come." "He will currently be in NY in October and in Boston in January and has open dates in November." "Feel free to contact me or him for more info."
tamir@tamirgoodman.com - Arieh

Rabbi Ari Katz (Yeshiva of Central Queens) said,

Thanks so much! It worked out great. He was truly inspirational and amazing. I knew that he would be great but he was truly outstanding. The students loved every minute of it. He should be used at every Jewish day school throughout the country. This way he can inspire as many students as possible. We need speakers like this that can relate to day school students as he did."

Rabbi Adam Englander (Hillel Day School December 2009) said,

Thank you so much for arranging for Tamir Goodman to visit our school and present to our 4th-8th grades this past Chanukah. The speech and video were tremendously inspiring and the students walked away with a renewed sense of Jewish pride. The basketball clinics he ran after the talk were fun and instructive. He gave a pep-talk to our girls’ basketball team before their championship game and I guess it paid off – we won! I would highly recommend Tamir for any similar setting.

Wayne Goldstein (Temple Emanuel May 24th 2010) said,

Hey Tamir-the shul is still buzzing from your visit over the weekend and I want to thank you again for your inspiring words to our community. Your message is strong and clear and makes me proud to be a Jewish basketball player as well (played a little D3 at Clark University but not quite the same as your experience).

You a real positive dugmah for all of us and I look forward to staying connected and of course join you in a game on my next visit to Israel (hopefully next summer).

Travel safely and all the best. Warmly, Wayne

Chaye Kohl (Akiva Hebrew Day School May 24th 2010) said,

Tamir, Thank you for sharing your inspiring story this evening at the Young Israel of Oak Park dinner. I was with family in Chicago and drove back in time to attend the dinner - I am so glad that I got to hear you speak. The quiet, unassuming way in which you tell your story is effective in bringing the message to the audience. Your way of seeing the silver lining in the clouds that eventually show up is a message that young people should hear.

I hope to organize your visit to Akiva Hebrew Day School sometime in the early part of the 2010-11 school year. B'Hatzlacha in your work - it is truly G-d's work!

Kol tuv,

Chaye

Shizue Taerbaum (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) said,

"Tamir, It was so great to see you, talk with you a bit, and hear you speak again this past weekend for the second time. I meant to e-mail you after you visited Illinois, but I forgot and was reminded this weekend. I'm sure you get this a lot, but I just wanted to thank you so much for taking time from your schedule and your family, to come to college campuses and shabbatons and inspire us. As a Jew on a journey of my own, I can say that hearing your story has truly impacted my life, and I have already found myself referencing your stories when I engage in deep conversation, whether Jewish or secular, with friends and family. I am especially transformed and struck buy your lessons and opinions on prioritization because that is a struggle that I think anyone can relate to, especially a college student like myself. It was very special to me that I could hear a story from a professional basketball player and still connect that to my own life. I'm sure you meet many, many new people all of the time, but it is so flattering and I am so appreciative that you truly took the time to meet everyone who wanted to meet you when you came to our school. I find that I often get caught up in the fast-lane of life and your way about sharing your challenges, how you overcame them, and why they were significant to your life has really affected the way I look at new issues and also the way I perceive Hashem's presence in my life. Your humbled, yet outgoing and open personality has allowed you to really impact anyone who you speak to and I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to meet with you and experience that. May you continue to be successful and share your wealth of knowledge because I have gained so much from it and I hope that other people can as well. I hope to keep in touch and I'm sure that I'll at some point see you around! Thank you again for your advice, inspiration, and time."

Rachel said,

"Hi Tamir, I was at the national Jewish retreat and just wanted to let you know that of all the lectures, yours was truly the most inspirational to me. Thank you so much for taking the time to come speak to us, it was absolutely delightful. Thanks!!"

"Hi Tamir!

I was at the Sinai Scholars/ JLI retreat this past weekend and wanted to say thank you for an awesome and inspiring speech. Hope you and your family are well!"

“All of us Sinai Scholars really liked your speech. Proud to have met a professional Jewish athlete... there's not many of you out there haha.”

Cathleen said,

"Thanks for speaking to the Sinai Scholars this weekend, it was sooo inspirational! You've really made me start looking at how to use individual talents to help others :) I'll be sure to stop by and say hi to your brother the next time I'm in Cooper City!!"

. Arielle said,

"I really enjoyed your talk at the Sinai Scholars retreat!"

“Hey Tamir,”

“How are you?”

“Yasher koach for doing a great job on the retreat, I heard really good things from students. Do you do campus Shabbatons?”

Yochanan

John said,

“You were a truly inspirational speaker! Thank you for coming to the Sinai Scholars retreat."

Sarah Samuel says,

"Hello I was at the retreat. You are a very good speaker and very inspirational, thank you for sharing your story with us."

Jennifer says,

"Hi! I just wanted to say thank you once again for taking the time to talk to me. I really appreciate it and hope we can stay in touch!”

Rabbi Yitzchok Dubov said,

“I wanted to thank you again for coming to the retreat this year and speaking with the students. It was a tremendously successful session as you saw from the emails you got and from the responses I got.”

Yoni Miller said,

“Today, everyone couldn’t stop talking about you and the endless good things they had to say, after your speech yesterday I saw endless amounts of kids on their computers on face book (and on there I phones) searching you and adding you.. You are truly a role model for us and Donna Klein and hope you come back soon.”

Jeffrey said,

“Thanks so much for coming to "The House" yesterday. It was unbelievable to get a chance to meet you and hear your story. I can still remember reading the SI article 10 years ago and thinking (as a Jewish basketball player), this guy is the man! You've done unbelievably well in your physical career and I am sure Hashem will guide you know through your spiritual career. You are a true inspiration!”

Rabbi Arieh Friedner (Cleveland NCSY)Said,

"I met Tamir last week by accident and he was immediately gracious enough to come speak for a group of my NCSY teens on Sunday and absolutely blew them away. His story, delivery, lesson, and programs behind it are all incredible, and I'm looking forward to working with him and you on getting the word out."

Josh Teller (Camp Nesher Toronto) said,

“Hey Tamir, so im 15 years old and i live in toronto.and i go to or chaim.you were supposed to come to our school for a basketball clinic. which i was excited for but anyways. I go to camp nesher and you came there to play basketabll with us and you gave out those chaifa Heat sweatbands. So the main piont of this purpose ios just i love basketabll and im on my school team and i wear that sweat band every practice and every game!
so thanks!”

(Chabad of Binghamton),

" I wanted to thank you once again for coming to Binghamton on Sunday. Your story was truly amazing and inspirational. I wanted to first make sure you made it to MSG ok and also pass along a message from the Rochester Chabad Rabbi's son who wanted to thank you for the sweatband. I ended up giving him the one I was wearing on the ride home because he saw the colors and thought it was 'cool.'

It was awesome working with you and if you are ever in the Rochester area over the next year let me know!"

Lauren (Chabad of Binghamton) said,

"thanks for taking time to speak to us today you were really inspirational!!

you made me take a look at the picture

and i really appreciate it

keep me posted on what your doing."

Randy & Sam Simonson (University of Illinois) said,

"I just wanted to say thanks for the basketball clinic at U of IL my son Sam and I attended on Sunday. You did an excellent job with the kids and really kept the program moving with lots of different activities. It was really wonderful to watch you interact with the kids, and how they responded to you.
We also enjoyed talking with you at the Zeta Beta Tau house over lunch.
Thanks!"

Shalom Tamir! Morris Esquenazi (Chabad Jewish Student Group – UCF) said,
"It was truly amazing to hear your story this last weekend in NY at the Chabad on Campus Shabbaton. I'd like to get a chance to share your story with the larger Jewish community here in Orlando, FL at my university. There are nearly 6,000 or more Jews here and an extremely strong and growing Chabad on our campus. We'd like to welcome you to our campus and have you speak and share your motivating story. Please let me know what we can arrange. I was thinking some time in January or maybe even February if possible."

Jeffret Smulevitz (Camp Nesher) said,

"Hey Tamir don't know if u remember me or not u came to Camp Nesher this past summer I'm that guy with the really weird shot, you told me to send you a message, just never got around to it, I'm in Yeshiva in Israel this year I was so upset when I heard that you retired I wanted to come watch some of your games this year.
Just thought you should know, ever since you told us your story about growing up playing basketball and staying religious while playing basketball it really inspired me to try to be like that...my keepah never leaves my head while playing sports anymore, thanks so much."

. Fran Sooslau (Pinellas County Jewish Day School) said,

January 6, 2010

"To Whom It May Concern:

Tamir Goodman came to the Pinellas County Jewish Day School on December 18, 2009 to speak with the students about his experience balancing his Jewish identity with his love of basketball. As he addressed an auditorium filled with students ranging in age from ten to fourteen years, one could hear a pin drop. All of the students were involved and engaged through the entire session in which Tamir told of his commitment to his religious beliefs and how he searched until he found a program that would allow him to not play on Shabbat or Jewish holidays. His inspirational story taught the students how commitment helps dreams come true. Following his address to the students, Tamir held a basketball clinic for the middle school basketball team where the players participated in a series of drills and warm-ups that will help them in their upcoming games. I would strongly recommend having Tamir Goodman speak to any age group about his amazing journey, his experiences in the world of NCAA and professional sports and his life after basketball. He is a true role model for today’s youth and a fine young man. I am so thrilled we had him spend time with our students.

Sincerely,"

Fran Sosslau

Interim Head of School

Pinellas County Jewish Day School

Clearwater, FL 33756

Susan Berg (Striar Hebrew Academy) said,

"Hi Agustin,

I want to share with you the overwhelmingly positive response from our community to hearing Tamir’s story at our annual dinner Saturday night. Tamir captivated our audience with his emotional life story, inspiring both young and old to accept their own life challenges as blessings from Hashem. We were deeply moved (and a few to tears) by his unwavering commitment to Orthodox Judaism, as this is at the heart of our mission as a Modern Orthodox day school. Needless to say, Tamir impressed and inspired everyone who heard him." Thank you, Susie

Zachary Shwartz (MA Gann Academy Jan 13th) said,

"I just wanted to thank you for coming to Gann today to speak with us and to play with us. It was one of the best speeches I have ever heard and I will remember it forever. You have inspired me and my friends in so many ways and I just wanted to personally thank you for it." Thanks, Zach.

Josh Targe (MA Gann Academy Jan 13th) said,

"tamir, i love you. You are an inspiration to all jewish kids who play basketball. You are also the inspiration for the naming of my fantasy basketball team. shalom".

Naomi Lieberman (MA Gann Academy Jan 13th) said,

"I'm from Gann. And I thought you were very inspiring when you spoke today, because I am also shomer shabbas and it's really hard for me to work around shabbas to do everything I want to do. So thanks!"

Aaron Karas () said,

"Hey man thanks a lot for speaking and running warm ups for us today. It was really cool and I enjoyed it a lot."

Maya (MA Gann Academy Jan 13th) said,

"Hi Tamir! you spoke at my school today and you are by far the best speaker ive ever heard! thanks so much for coming".

Chana Pinkwas (MA Gann Academy January 13th) said,

"B"SD
Hi Tamir,
I was among one of the many students you came to speak at today at Gann Academy. And I just wanted to thank you so much! I myself am a Baal Teshuva and sometimes wonder if it is still possible to balence the life I came from and my new frum life. How will I be 20 years from now? Will I be able to have accomplished everything I've always dreamed of? Or will I be restricted because of my beliefs and being a frum Jewish girl? But today when you came to speak to us and shared of your success in the secular world, while still being able to retain a strong jewish identity, it gave me hope and the strength that I too will be able to do it. I just wanted to thank you so much and wish you hatzlacha in everything! Have a happy birthday and you should have a year filled with all of the brochos, hatzlacha in everything, health, only revealed good and the koach to continue inspiring others!
All the best,"
Chana Pinkwas

Raphy Sassieni (MA Gann Academy Jan 13th) said,

"You are amazing. Your story is great. Did you end up practicing with the varsity? Did you school on them? lol"

Gabe Bressler (MA Gann Academy Jan 13th) said,

"You are a legend im gonna raise my kids to be just like you"

Matthew Hasson (MA Gann Academy Jan 13th) said,