Led by unofficial tour director Rabbi Reuven "Bob" Taff, 21 members of Sacramento's Mosaic Law Congregation are en route to Israel for a 10-day trip that will include a visit with Omri Casspi's famiy at his home outside Tel Avis. Although the rookie forward is in Sacramento preparing to play for the Kings in the Las Vegas Summer League, with practices beginning Wednesday, his parents extended an invitation to the groups after learning of their plans through a mutual friend. "I have a friend over there who happens to be close with Omri's father," said Taff, "and he made the arrangements. Ilana (Casspi's mother) initially said she wanted to cook for us, but I said, 'no, no, that's too much trouble.' So we settled on light refreshments. We'll go over there after we land in Tel Aviv about 6. p.m., Tuesday. We asked everyone in our group to bring a Kings T-shirt. One family even designed their own T-shirts with a Kings logo intertwined with the star of David, and Omri's jersey number (18) in Hebrew. I also went to Arco Arena and had four shirts made - the ones they had at the rally that say, 'New Kings on the Block." We're going to present the shirts to Omri's parents (Shimon and Ilana) and his sister (Aviv) and brother (Eitan) when we get there. This is such a historic moment for the state of Israel. If Omri has an impact ... it would be incredible."
The rangy 6-foot-9 Casspi, a small forward who played for Maccabi Tel Aviv before the Kings selected him with the second of their two first-round picks (23rd overall) in the recent NBA Draft, will become the first Israeli to play in the NBA. Taff, who says the size of his bi-annual travel groups had been almost halved because of the economy, expects a sizable representation from the Jewish community at the Kings home opener. "I don't think there's any doubt about that," he added. "They take their basketball very seriously in Israel."
We'll catch up with Taff and the weary travelers after they meet with the Casspi family on Tuesday. Hopefully, we'll have some photos from the scene. Meantime, here's a quick glimpse of the Sactown adventurers. (Rabbi Taff is in the pink shirt).
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