Canadian-Israeli philanthropist Sylvan Adams celebrated the opening on Tuesday of the Sylvan Adams Sports Center at the Jerusalem YMCA, the largest facility of its kind in the Middle East, made possible by the Montreal-born philanthropist who moved to Tel Aviv in 2016, The Jerusalem Post reports.
Adams completed the center after construction of the complex was halted by a lack of funding for nearly a decade.
The Jerusalem Post sat down with Adams to discuss his passion for the creation of this complex, his role in bringing the Jr. NBA to Israel and his further philanthropic involvement within the Jewish community.
“I am extremely proud and frankly a little humbled to be involved in this 140-year-old iconic institution. For me, this is the most important YMCA in the world,” said Adams of Jerusalem’s historic YMCA, located on King David Street, which is one of the few places in the capital where both Arabs and Jews feel equally at home. From British Mandate period onward, The YMCA has been seen as neutral ground for Jews, Christians and Muslims to socialize and engage in sporting and social events alike.
“It’s a very special place given that Jerusalem, our beautiful city of Jerusalem, is home to the three Abrahamic religions and people come from all walks of life here. They come from all religions, all levels of religious observance, and here everyone workouts and plays together.”
The Montreal-born philanthropist believes wholeheartedly that having a 'state-of-the-art facility,' where everyone feels welcome through the melting pot aspect of coexistence the Jerusalem YMCA produces, can help build cohesion in spite of conflict through sport, health and wellness.
"It's a unifier for the city, a city which has such a diverse population, and is frankly a symbol for the country," said Adams, "We actually can get along if we focus our energies into positive things."
Adams, himself a competitive cyclist, became interested in the Jr. NBA program through his friend Larry Tannenbaum, who owns Toronto Raptors. Tanenbaum and a group of NBA franchise owners visited Israel in 2017, and decided to launch the Jr. NBA basketball clinic as a way to promote understanding among Jewish and Arab Israeli youth.
"It was a natural partnership with the NBA, that is doing this kind of outreach," Adams said. "This is great to develop the sport, and maybe it will inspire some kids to come out here [to the Jerusalem YMCA] and bring their [game] to the highest level in the sport and have another Omri Caspi or another Israeli playing at the highest level someday."
"It's great to give them the NBA jerseys, which is inspirational for them, but I look at it more as building from the grassroots level [of building coexistence], and I believe that is a more important project then the aspirational part." Adams continued.
"Sports is a language unto itself, the Jr. NBA kids are all playing the same thing, they all know what the objective of the game is and they [begin] to care less about the things that divide them. And you know maybe they will make friendships here that will last a lifetime." said Adams when commenting on the cohesion the Jr. NBA in Jerusalem could produce between cultural factions.
The isolation of religious cultures within Israel can be seen as the major underlying borders to coexistence in Israel, while sports in itself is used as an escape for most people in order to shy away from the politics of the outside world, the commonalities shared in which sports are played on can help build bridges across cultures when these cultures play together, according to Adams.
"Sports in general are great unifiers of people." Adams said.
"If you live in isolation of one another, the chance of you having benevolent thoughts about your neighbor are much lessened. If you're playing sports together, seeing each other [regularly] and have common ground, the chances of you developing those friendships that could last a lifetime are significantly higher," he continued.
The facility in discussion had been built under a development agreement the YMCA had prior to the involvement of Adams. The project had run out of funding and remained stagnant in it's construction for close to 10 years, up until the YMCA met with Adams a couple years back and asked the philanthropist if he could assist in providing funding to finish the sport complex.
"It took me about five minutes to decide that this was the project for me." Adams said.
There are many sports complexes and projects all over the country that Adams has been thinking and still is thinking about providing his assistance towards. Adams chose to open the complex in Jerusalem now, "because this is the place where we have the most diversity. At this kind of a facility (one that holds no religious affiliations), under of the auspices of the YMCA which [holds] neutral ground for everybody, this is the place to be."
As a member of the Jewish diaspora and the son of two Holocaust survivors, Adams spoke of hardships faced as a Jewish person growing up in North America and his views on growing antisemitism in that part of the world.
"Antisemitism is a scourge and a disease, that we thought was eradicated after the horrors of the Holocaust. My parents are Holocaust survivors, and we thought the words 'never again' really meant never again, and it is quite shocking today to be living through an era where antisemitism is not beyond the pale that it had been for decades. That people can actually voice antisemitic opinions and hostilities openly is shocking, and it is both coming from the extreme right and the extreme left, and that's even more disheartening that it comes from both extremes.
"Growing up myself, I grew up in Quebec City and there were very very few Jews and you would hear antisemitic remarks from ignorant kids who were repeating things that they heard. I had a few [altercations] in school to defend my honor, but i think it was just an ignorant form of kids taunting each other and I don't think at that time I think the world was a less antisemitic place than it is today, because there is a tolerance now [for this kind of speech] which I think is very dangerous." Adams concluded.
Adams moved to Tel Aviv after making aliyah in 2016 because "Israel is a beacon, and is home to the world Jewish community," he said, "My wife always thought that her and I would end up here, so she said let's do it, 'it will be an adventure' and she was right on both accounts. We really found our home here."
The Montreal-born philanthropist continues to make exceptional charitable donations and contributions to worthwhile causes and projects all throughout the State of Israel. From bringing the Giro d’Italia to Jerusalem, to contributing $5 million to the Israeli space project 'SpaceIL,' to opening up the Sylvan Adams Sports Center at the Jerusalem YMCA, along with the Israeli Junior NBA, which is now headquartered at the YMCA - Adams continues to make his mark from project to project in attempts to better the country, both economically and socially, for future generations to come.