Canadian rabbi on call for athletes

Rabbi Shmuel Birnham, who heads the Conservative Congregation Har El in West Vancouver, is serving as the official Jewish clergyman of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Rabbi Shmuel Birnham photo/jta/brad stringer

Rabbis and cantors will be on call to provide counseling to athletes who, having trained for much of their lives for a brief shot at Olympic glory, may find themselves facing crises for which spiritual guidance would be helpful.

“I ran track at Dickinson College” in Carlisle, Pa., said Birnham. “Even at that measly low level, I have a sense of what goes on. I cannot imagine the pressure of a once-in-a-lifetime chance.”

Birnham got the position due to his connection to Hong Chian, a local Buddhist doctor and a member of the multifaith committee for the Olympics. The two men became friends in 2004, when Chian invited Birnham to be a Jewish representative at a service for the Dalai Lama. — jta