The owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots football team inaugurated a sports complex in Jerusalem on Tuesday that includes Israel’s first regulation-sized American football field.
Robert Kraft, who was on a week-long tour of Israel with 18 NFL Hall of Famers, had previously donated $6 million to construction of the facility. Located in the northwest Jerusalem neighborhood of Emek Ha’arazim, the sports complex includes two soccer fields in addition to the dual-use football and soccer field, and is slated to open in two weeks for the 20th Maccabiah Games.
“This is an emotional moment for me,” Kraft said at the inauguration ceremony. “My life is about only doing things I’m connected to. To share this with great players who are here, and see how special this country is, is an honor and a privilege.”
Kraft recalled how he prayed every day towards Jerusalem after receiving tefillin for his Bar Mitzvah, and dreamed of actually being able to pray at the Western Wall.
“I was at the King David with my wife in 1963 and I remember being so disappointed to be so close to the Old City and not being able to go to the Kotel because of Jordanian soldiers on the walls,” Kraft said, referring to the Western Wall by its Hebrew name.
“I can’t describe the excitement I felt and the recognition I felt for God that we were allowed to go back to our holiest place,” he said in a reference to the Six-Day War, when Jerusalem was reunified under Israeli control and Jews were once again allowed to access their holy sites. “Now 50 years later, I’m here to stand before you and I’m able to help Jerusalem do this.”
Kraft first donated $200,000 in 1999 to build the first Kraft Stadium in Jerusalem—a state-of-the-art AstroTurf field used by Israel’s football league—after an Israeli football player told him that he and his friends had to play on uneven, crowded fields.
At the dedication of the new field, a number of the football legends expressed how impressed the were by Israel, ESPN reported.
Longtime Pittsburgh Steelers halfback, Jerome Bettis, said having “an opportunity for me and my wife to be baptized in the Jordan River, that was amazing. To have an opportunity, as a Christian, to see where Jesus Christ was born, was amazing. To walk in his footsteps. To go to the Church of Holy Sepulchre, those kind of things, things I read about in a Bible but to actually have an opportunity to walk and see it with my own eyes, they were amazing.”
Andre Reed, a longtime wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills, also appreciated the opportunity to visit holy sites during the trip. “You read a lot of things about the Holy Land, about Jerusalem, and all the sites and things Jesus touched, where he did his sermons, where he was born, where he was crucified, where he was resurrected, it’s all there. It’s a great thing to be a part of. As a believer, you’re overwhelmed,” he said.
Reed also expressed admiration for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with Kraft and his fellow Hall of Famers on Tuesday.
“You could hear just really how proud he is of his state and how resilient and tough they are,” Reed observed. “It really teaches a lesson. It’s really nice to see he’s so confident about not only his state and his people and [but also] what his region is about and how the region can make other nations better.”
“One thing that was resounding was the resolve of the Jewish people,” Bettis added. “We had briefings from a different set of people every day. The message that you get — outside of the things that happened in each person’s individual life — was their love with the state of Israel, their country. But also the understanding that they were a people who were bashed and beaten, and they were able to rise and overcome it. You get that message with every single person you meet.”
[Photo: Seatacular]