Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on February 11, 2022

Most of Ethan Wereks teammates on the Chinese Olympic hockey team had never met a Jewish person before he joined the roster.

But Wereks family tree was once planted in Chinese soil.

Like the six athletes suiting up for Israel in this years games, Werek didnt need to be born in the country on his jersey to play for its national team. Yet his right-of-return story is no less Jewish than theirs and it predates the Jewish state. How this Canadian came to play for the Chinese national team is a Jewish homecoming more than a century in the making.

In a way, playing for the hockey team is Werek returning the assist China gave his ancestors.

As the 2022 host country, China automatically qualified for Olympic hockey, but because it had a weak national program, it needed to naturalize professional players with connections to the nation. Enter Werek, a journeyman forward drafted by the New York Rangers in 2009 who has since played in various pro leagues.

I kind of pinch myself every morning, he said in a phone interview from the Olympic village in Beijing. I just feel so lucky to be given this opportunity.

Courtesy of Ethan Werek

Werek playing for HC Kunlun Red Star, the KHL team based in Beijing.

There was also a career benefit to Chinese citizenship: it made it easier for him to play in the KHL, the top hockey league outside of North America which has a franchise in Beijing. Hes played on that team since 2019. During hockey season in China, Werek has taken the time to visit the synagogue his grandparents used to attend. Their names are still engraved in the building.

An only child, Werek grew up in a household that celebrated Jewish holidays, though his fondest memories formed at the table of an aunt who cooked a disgusting amount of food for seders.

A rising hockey star at 17, he moved to play junior hockey in Kingston, Ontario, where he boarded with a Jewish family. With games most Friday nights, his hosts would prepare an early Shabbat dinner so that he could fill up on challah before heading to the rink. (He still talks to them every week.)

I was like, oh my God, Ive been there before, Ive played there before, Werek recalled, and just that connection over time the water slides outside the rink and everything it was just so cool.

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Perhaps owing to a dearth of ponds that freeze over in the winter, Israels hockey program makes Chinas look like Russias. So Werek has volunteered to contribute to establishing the sport more firmly there this summer. Hes going to live in Tel Aviv and help out with the Israel Elite Hockey League, a one-month semi-pro league, by running hockey camps at the two rinks in the Tel Aviv area with part of the goal to make equipment more accessible to kids.

Anything I can do to grow the game there, he said.

In the meantime, hes an Olympian. The Chinese team will be an experiment in communication half of its 24 players speak only Mandarin and the other half (plus the head coach) speak only English. While the team has a pair of translators on staff, it wont have one in skates.

Werek, who was assigned a Chinese name, Wei Ruike, for fans to use, can barely pronounce it.

Ive gotten pretty good at charades and hand gestures, he said.

Courtesy of Ethan Werek

Werek, far left, with teammates in the Olympic village.

He has learned how to say Happy New Year in Mandarin, though.

And hes not put off by the fact that Judaism is alien to most of his teammates. Hes used to it.

Back in Ontario, Canada, while playing junior hockey, Werek befriended a teammate from a small town and invited him to his Jewish host familys house during Hanukkah, not long after they had lit the menorah.

He looked at the table, Werek recalled. He goes, Oh, candles fancy dinner!

Wereks Chinese teammates have not benefited from the sort of training and opportunities afforded talented Canadians. They have never sniffed international competition, and even without active NHL players in this years Olympics, China is a steep underdog. But Werek says in spite of the language barrier, hes bonded with the team, and enjoyed teaching them the finer points of the game. His enthusiasm has sparked his own.

I guess in hockey at the age of 30, Im kind of the older age, he said. But I feel I got a shot of youth just being around these guys and seeing their passion for it.

How to watch team China mens hockey this week:

China vs. U.S.A.: Feb. 10, 8-10:30 a.m. on USA

China vs. Germany: Feb. 12, 3:40am on Peacock

China vs. Canada: Feb. 13, 8:10 a.m. on Peacock

Special thanks to the Jewish Sports Review.

His great-grandparents found refuge in China. Now this Canadian Jew is starting for its hockey team.

See original here:

His great-grandparents found refuge in China. Now this Canadian Jew is starting for its hockey team. - Forward

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