As a member of the orthodox Chabad sect of Brooklyn, Salita (28-0-1, 16 KOs) is bound by rules that most people in the boxing world would consider “distractions.” Because of his religious beliefs Salita is required to take time out from his training to perform ritual prayers three times a day and must eat strictly kosher food, even when he's on the road.
The toughest of these rules - at least for a boxer — is the Sabbath which is the Jewish day of rest running from sundown Friday through sundown Saturday. Salita cannot train or fight within that time frame, and must also refrain from boxing on as many as 70 Jewish holidays.
The Two Worlds Of Dimitriy Salita
Kiddush Hashem on HBO!
As a member of the orthodox Chabad sect of Brooklyn, Salita (28-0-1, 16 KOs) is bound by rules that most people in the boxing world would consider “distractions.” Because of his religious beliefs Salita is required to take time out from his training to perform ritual prayers three times a day and must eat strictly kosher food, even when he’s on the road.
The toughest of these rules – at least for a boxer — is the Sabbath which is the Jewish day of rest running from sundown Friday through sundown Saturday. Salita cannot train or fight within that time frame, and must also refrain from boxing on as many as 70 Jewish holidays.
Salita doesn’t see any of this as conflicting. “I don’t really move from one world to another and back again, because every person has many facets, and the two cultures have meshed into one,” says the 26-year-old Salita, who fights under the ring alias “Star of David.”
The typical training schedule is anything but, for Salita, who juggles both training and prayer sessions daily. “When I’m at camp, I wake at 6:30 and say a prayer thanking God for all he has done for me. Then I go out for my morning run, have breakfast and after that say Tfillin. To say Tfillin, I have two boxes made of leather and wood. Each box has prayers inside. I put one box on my head and the other on my hand closest to my heart. There are many meanings to Tfillin, and one is that the mind controls the heart’s desires; so if I feel tired and don’t feel like doing my morning run, my head will control my heart and I’ll do the run. It takes 30 minutes to do Tfillin. I do two other prayers, one in the afternoon and one at night, but those are only five minutes long.”
Besides being a genuine contender, Salita has become a unique fight attraction. When he was being promoted by Lou DiBella Entertainment (he’s now with Square Ring), Salita fought many times on DiBella’s Broadway Boxing shows at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Whenever he did, Hassidic Jews would form a large contingent of the audience. In August of 2005, when Salita fought for a minor world title, the Hassidic singer Matisyahu — who blends traditional Jewish themes with Reggae, rock and hip hop — performed while accompanying the boxer from the locker room into the ring.
Needless to say, a fighter with such “baggage” would be a challenge for most trainers, who generally require boxers to adhere to a strict training regime without distractions. Jimmy O’Pharrow, a black former boxer who runs the Starrett City Boxing club in the East New York section of Brooklyn, not only took Salita on when he first began fighting at 13, but the 83-year-old now occasionally goes to the synagogue with him. “Jimmy is an honorary orthodox Jew,” Salita says.
Salita is as devoted to O’Pharrow as he is to his mentor and Rabbi, Zalman Liberow of Flatbush. In fact, the trainer’s words appear at the top of Salita’s website, a quote from O’Pharrow that sums up much about the boxer: “My gym’s like a league of nations. I seen every kind of kid come through the doors, but I ain’t never seen one like this Dimitriy. Kid looks Russian, prays Jewish and fights black.”
Salita’s style of fighting was forged in the inner-city environment at Starrett City. “Jimmy runs an old school gym, a ghetto gym,” Salita says. “My style isn’t European, isn’t even American. It’s a city style. It’s black. I don’t know how else to say it. But some of us white boys got it like that. The radio at Starrett was always tuned to HOT 97, blasting a lot of Biggie and Tupac. I think that changed my style. That’s what gave me some rhythm.”
Salita explains that O’Pharrow doesn’t mind work under the restrictions imposed by his religion because he’s such a disciplined fighter. “I don’t drink, smoke, do drugs, or stay up late at night,” Salita says. “I do everything Jimmy asks me to do, so he doesn’t complain about my time spent with Judaism.”
The first time Salita’s religion had a direct impact on his career was when O’Pharrow took him to the U.S. Nationals in 1997. “There was a conflict with the Sabbath,” Salita says. “I made it to the finals, but I told them I couldn’t fight because it was on a Saturday. They didn’t like my decision at first but then changed the time of my fight until after the heavyweights, which came after sundown. I won the Nationals, but I was not taken to the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Budapest because I couldn’t fight on the Sabbath.”
Like all young boxers, Salita wants to win a professional world title, but he has another mission, too. “A lot of Jews who have been oppressed for years will not speak up in public or on TV, except rabbis, because they’re afraid. Even me, when I first started boxing, some of my friends and family told me to keep it (Judaism) quiet and not cause trouble. But I feel it’s important to talk out about Jewish pride and issues for Jews so other people see that some of the stereotypes – like Jews can’t fight – are wrong,” Salita says.
Once upon a time in America if you said out loud that Jews can’t fight you were at risk of getting a bloody nose. During the so-called “Golden Era” of Jewish boxing in the 1920s and 1930s, sons of immigrants who lived in ghettos were among the best fighters in the world. In fact, Allen Bodner, author of “When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport,” says in his book that, “Jews entered the ranks of American boxing in large numbers and by 1928 were the dominant nationality in professional prizefighting, followed by the Italians and the Irish.”
Among the best of the Jewish boxers was Max Baer, who in 1933 defeated Max Schmeling, the German world champion; Benny Leonard, considered one of the greatest lightweights in history; Barney Ross, winner of titles in three different weight divisions; and “Slapsie” Maxie Rosenbloom, who won the light heavyweight championship in 1932 and fought an incredible 298 times, winning 222. None of them, however, were orthodox Jews.
There is a Yiddish term called “mensch,” which perfectly fits Dimitriy Salita. The dictionary describes a mensch as, “a person of integrity and honor; a person having admirable characteristics such as fortitude and firmness of purpose.” To get to the championship he longs for, Salita will do it his way or no way at all. “I will never compromise my beliefs. Never,” Salita says. “It’s not a question. I have a personal relationship with God. My boxing is such a big part of my life, but it won’t get in the way of my religion. It can’t and it won’t. Anybody who wants a good whuppin’ from me is just going to have to wait until sundown.”
yasha from brooklyn ;)
dovid!!!! way to go!!!
Side note
Didn’t know we had 70 Jewish holidays. I must have been hibernating.
SheaB
A boxer’s goal is to beat his opponent until he passes out (i.e. has a brain injury). Would we praise a shomer-shabbos thief? How about a shomer-shabbos street walker? Do you see what I’m getting at?
kik
Wow this is amazing!!!!!!
mendy
we should bring him to crown heights to patrol the streets.
saraj
70 holidays? what did beis rivkah teach me? lol
Leah
holidays are also including shabbos.
How dare you bash someone thats making a kidush hashemeven if itsin a sport as violent as boxing is!?
AH
To Side Note and saraj: 52 Shabbosim in a year, plus 13 days on which most melachos are forbidden (four during Pesach, two for Shavuos, two for Rosh Hashana, one for Yom Kippur, and four for Sukkos/ShmA”tz), plus a couple of other days when melachah is allowed but not recommended (Purim, Tisha Beav), and you’ve gotten pretty close to 70. What, you’re expecting him to give HBO a detailed explanation of the differences between these days?
To SheaB: See Choshen Mishpat 421:5 before you start hurling accusations.
kik
Omg, SheaB, I know when there is a need of accusations. this is not the time…..this is definitely not the time.
THIS IS A KIDUSH HASHEM THRU AND THRU, and I am so proud of this writer! and proud that people are reading it!
supporter
How dare someone compare what this boy does to thieves and street walkers.
To AH from Side Note
It wouldn’t be very complicated at all. One could say, between the Jewish Sabbath and our Jewish holidays there are almost 70 days that one may not…(do whatever)….
My comment was a “side note”, as written-and if you like it or not that part of the article is inacurate.
Shabbos is not Yom Tov, if it were our Kiddush and parts of Tefila would be different.
So before you go worrying about HBO, whatever that is, please read properly: Side note means a side note and a fact is a fact.
To Leah and AH
Read the article:
“The toughest of these rules – at least for a boxer — is the SABBATH which is the Jewish day of rest running from sundown Friday through sundown Saturday. Salita cannot train or fight within that time frame, AND must also refrain from boxing on as many as 70 Jewish HOLIDAYS.”
The article mentions refraining from his sport on Shabbos every week AND an additional 70 holidays. Who knows, this may likely be a mess up on behalf of the article’s writer. But the fact is that it is not a true fact-and it is that inacurancy that was commented-not on Salita himself.
Let’s not get all defensive when it is not even needed.
in the hood
I think he is making a kiddush hashem
no doubt! When are we all going to look POSITIVELY @ life? Stop judging everthing & everybody!!
ls
to sheaB: the difference between the things that u brought up 1 athief steals something with out the other persons consent or knowledge and by boxing u both know why your facing each other with only undies on 2 the goal in boxing is not to rattle your opponents brain until hes out cold so learn the rules before u talk and no we dont know what ur getting at
shabbos plus 70 holidays
The article makes a clear distinction between Shabbos and Yom Tov (read: “must also refrain …. as many as 70 Holidays”) so the number 70 does not include Shabbos. But if you take into account the fast days, Chanukah, Purim, the 3 weeks and Chabad Yomim Tovim, you might get a number close to 70.
boxing fan
I think that the comparison of Dmitry to a thief is totally uncalled for.
What he is doing is making Orthodox and Hasidic Judaism look a little more approachable.. and isn’t that a great Kidush Hashem?!
If other Jews see that you CAN still live a “normal” life while living one that adheres to Torah, well, then they may start making that turn to be more observant, and that will help speed the coming of Moshiach, right?
And as the article points out, over the years there have been many, many great Jewish boxers.. and I’m sure that lots of you, and your fathers, went to fights when you were kids..
Dmitry truly is a light in this community.
Crownheightss
Side note are you insane disecting this article like a Gemorah what difference does it make in this context. Its out of place.
You could compare wall street brokers and unfortuntely some business man to thieves, robbers etc. Dont dare compare a world class athlete of any sport to that. It is a foolish comment.
Berl
There must be enought Chadishe Yomim Tovim to make it to 70. We have a lot coming up during Kislev. I wouldn’t be appropriate to re-arrange someone’s face on such a day.
About the violence in general to make life better for your self and people its okay. King David did it for the good of the people.
What for????
Lubavitcher suck! all you people do all day is curse everyone out. Any little thing youre the first ones there dissin’. Think before you talk!
m&m in Flatbush
Great kid – we know him for many years as he rose thru the ranks. kept his observance thruout.
Good fighter, very level headed and many bochurim can learn alot from his demeanor and yiras hashem.
This is a big fight for him and we wish him lots of luck
CHT
to all this discussions regarding 70 holidays: the journalist is just a goy who got it wrong. What else to discuss about this?
Jewish Protection League
Dmitriy Salita displayed great skills in wining IBF International, and WBA Intercontinental titles
Dmitriy Salita beat Campos better than Paez Jr., Montano and Frankl did. However, wasn’t given enough credit by max kellerman. I want jewish people reflect on antisemitic comments by max kellerman and Jim Lampley.
I got a lot of phone calls from people who watched HBO PPV and they all said that criticism of Salita was antisemitic.