David Michael Blatt is an American-Israeli basketball coach currently coaching the Cleveland Cavaliers. A former professional player himself, Blatt was born in Framingham, Massachusetts to a Jewish family. He played for Princeton in college, where he was on a basketball scholarship and studied English Literature. During his sophomore year, he was recruited to play in Israel for the summer at Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, an experience that panned out to be life-changing. Blatt won a gold medal with the USA team at the 1981 Maccabiah Games. Following the games, he began playing basketball in Israel's super league. He later began coahing teams such as Hapoel Galil Elyon, Maccabi Tel Aviv, and Dynamo St. Petersburg. Blatt is recognized for leading a comeback for Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2014 - taking the championship title in the Euroleague. After the win, Blatt parted ways with the Israeli team and landed a coaching gig with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He is married to Kinneret Blatt and has four children. Blatt has been awarded with several honors throughout his career, amongst them: The 2014 Euroleague Coach of the Year, and 2015 NBA Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for March.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev chose to honor eleven outstanding leaders of Israeli civil society, who will light a torch at the Independence Day ceremony.
Even though Jews are slightly overrepresented at the Olympics, the stereotype that Jews are not athletic continues to exist.
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