A rabbi walks into a football stadium... and studies religious text, sparking jokes online

Football is a religion to some people, but one rabbi decided to prioritize his actual religion at the Israel v Scotland Nations League game. He was seen reading from a holy text in the stands, and social media responded in kind.

The rabbi was spotted by a cameraman at the game on Tuesday night, which took place at Hampden Park Stadium in Glasgow. “I think he missed the goal,” one of the TV announcers said. “Must be an interesting read,” the other responded.

Some gave the rabbi mad props for combining study and sport – particularly as Israel, which ultimately ended up losing the match 3-2, needed “all the help it could get.”

“There’s never a bad time to do Daf Yomi,” one person wrote, referring to the regimen of studying one page of the Talmud per day for seven-and-a-half years.

Another joked that the rabbi was watching football at 7pm, and heading to the Jewish prayer service known as Maariv at 8pm.

For those wondering who the mystery rabbi was, Yeshiva World News reported that his name is Rabbi Zev Leff, a well-known rabbi in the Orthodox community in Israel. He was reportedly in Scotland visiting his grandchildren, who attended the game with him.

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