He had to choose between a mound and a mandate. Between pitching in the biggest game of his career — and keeping his vow on the holiest day of the year.
For Dean Kremer, the first Israeli-born player in MLB history, the moment came quickly and without warning. Game 4 of the 2023 ALDS. The Orioles needed him. The crowd chanted his name. Cameras zoomed in on his face. But inside Kremer, a quiet storm was brewing.
Because it was Yom Kippur — the Great Sabbath, the holiest day in Judaism.
Born in California to Israeli immigrants, Kremer grew up between two worlds: American baseball and Jewish tradition. When his teammates ate bacon for breakfast, he learned Hebrew. When the team played on Saturdays, he prayed with his family.
“There were times when I wondered: Can I be a great MLB pitcher and a believing Jew?” Kremer admits.
The ALDS schedule weighed heavily on his heart: Game 4 fell on Yom Kippur. Memories of Sandy Koufax in 1965 came back to him — when the Dodgers legend refused to throw Game 1 of the World Series because of the holiday. Now, nearly six decades later, the torch was passed to Kremer.
Three days before the game, he requested a private meeting with the management. “I need to talk about something sacred.” And the Orioles listened. No pressure. No blame. Just respect.
“They told me, ‘Whatever you decide, we stand behind you.’ That made it harder… and more beautiful,” Kremer says.
In the end, he chose to play. But not on Yom Kippur.
That morning, Kremer fasted, fasted, and prayed alone. He hid a Star of David under his shirt and wrote the names of his deceased loved ones on his glove. When he stepped out onto the mound, he didn’t feel like he was betraying his faith—he was taking it with him.
The result? It wasn’t a fairy tale. The Orioles lost, Kremer didn’t pitch well. But for him, it was a different kind of victory: “Everyone was looking at the scoreboard. I felt a kind of spiritual victory.”
Dean Kremer isn’t Koufax. He doesn’t want to be a clone. He wants to be himself—the kind of person Jewish kids can look up to and believe: there’s no need to choose between faith and athletic excellence.
In a world where many athletes shy away from the “big questions,” Kremer is quietly living them. And it may be the most enduring pitch of his life.
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