It was 2007 and the Boston Red Sox had just won the World Series in Denver. Back at his hotel, three-time Major League Baseball all-star and World Series champion Kevin Youkilis had a “big party.” 

“All of sudden, we started breaking out [dancing to] Hava Nagila. The pride of celebrating a joyous occasion brought me back to my childhood and the traditions we learned in synagogue,” Youkilis said in a webinar on Wednesday, reflecting on his “proudest” Jewish moment and calling himself “lucky” to have largely avoided antisemitism as an athlete.   

But since his retirement in 2014 — and particularly in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel — Jewish athletes have been thrown a curveball, facing exclusion and increased antisemitic sentiment both on and off the field. 

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, for example, fans displayed a banner reading “Genocide Olympics” alongside Palestinian flags. In February, the Israeli Under-19 baseball team was refused participation in a German tournament over fears of “troublemakers attacking Israelis” and “the political situation.”  

In response, the Anti-Defamation League and Maccabi USA launched a new web series dubbed “Game Changers,” with the goal of bringing together athletes and advocates “to explore how sports can inspire dialogue and challenge antisemitism.” 

“I was very lucky, I didn’t have many incidents [of antisemitism],” Youkilis, 46, said during the inaugural webinar, which was moderated by Alex Freeman, ADL’s director of sports engagement and also included remarks from Morgan Zeitz, a University of Michigan student and Maccabi USA athlete. 

“Guys would joke around, ripping and good fun, but there was never anything directed at me that I felt was antisemitic,” Youkilis, who primarily played for the Red Sox and had stints with the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox, continued. “People asked questions based on ignorance. Like everything in life, when you are a minority and all these things are happening and there’s a lot of rhetoric out there, you have two ways to go about it. You can get really reactive and angry, or you can educate. I think education is always the best tool.” 

“What we’re seeing is fascinating,” said Youkilis, who since MLB retirement served as hitting coach for Team Israel in 2023 and is currently on the board of directors of Israel Baseball Americas, a nonprofit that brings Israel Baseball to communities across North America and provides resources to Israel’s baseball team. “That spike after Oct. 7 is the most concerning for me. The tragedy occurred and now you see people [emboldened] to be more antisemitic online. The one key thing I’ve learned online is most of these people are anonymous, so you have to be very careful about picking your fights on social media.” 

Throughout his career, Youkilis’ focus “was always on, how do I get better every day? How can I help our team win?” he recalled. “The Jewish side of me was really through family, through my father, brothers and cousins. Judaism for me was more about the community aspect than the religious aspect while I was playing baseball. When we would go to New York, there was no doubt that I was going to Carnegie Deli.”

But his Judaism was top of mind one day each year — Yom Kippur. “Are you going to play on Yom Kippur? That became a big thing,” he said, recalling that while playing for the Red Sox, he attended High Holiday services in Brookline, a heavily Jewish suburb of Boston.  

“Growing up, my dad taught me the Jewish way of working hard,” said Youkilis. “Find your passion, go hard at it and love it. For me, that moment after winning a World Series was a very special moment.”