'Like Israel, I never gave up'

"I never gave up, I never gave up, like the State of Israel," New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft recalls the events of last February, when his team was on the verge of defeat in the most important game of the NFL season -- the Super Bowl. The third quarter of the game was about to end, and the rival team, the Atlanta Falcons, was ahead 28 to 3.

"We had a 99.6% chance to lose," he recounts, and immediately compares his team to his people. "What were our [Israel's] odds in 1948? In 1967? In 1973-" he wonders. The outcome is now common knowledge: His team made the greatest comeback in the history of the Super Bowl and achieved the impossible, winning for the fifth time. Kraft, a religious Jew and enthusiastic Zionist (once slated to become a rabbi) never passes up a chance to compare his team to the State of Israel when it comes to overcoming adversity and emerging victorious.

Kraft arrived in Israel last week with a delegation of 18 football legends -- Hall of Famers who wanted to get to know this tiny country in the Middle East. On the way they managed to generate a lot of enthusiasm in Israel for the popular sport, which has become almost synonymous with America.

Kraft has taken the Israeli Football League under his wing, and has provided a lot of support over the years in hopes that one day the sport will become as popular in Israel as it is in the U.S.

In Kraft's view, sport can serve as a bridge to bring peoples closer together. He is involved in a host of philanthropic efforts to that end, in Israel and around the world, including donating millions of dollars to the construction of a new sports campus in Jerusalem (inaugurated this past Tuesday). He does this not only because he feels connected to Israel, but also because he wants future generations of the Kraft family to view Israel as home.

He reveals that the athletes who came with him were pleasantly surprised when, upon arriving in Israel, they discovered that it is quite different than it is portrayed in the American media. "There isn't the incidents of terrorism that are reported. They assumed it was everyday life. They didn't think they would have the freedom of access. They didn't think they could live like they live in America."

Kraft has visited Israel more than a hundred times for business. But his first visit was in 1963, when he was on his honeymoon. Jerusalem was still divided then. "I'll never forget it. Someone had given us a present. I had never traveled outside the U.S."

"I looked over at the wall [in Jerusalem] and there were Jordanian soldiers with rifles and sandbags sitting on top of the wall. It really angered me; here I had been a young kid growing up, putting on tefillin, saying the Shmoneh Esreh [Amidah prayer] and facing Jerusalem. I grew up in a traditional home, and now I was in the Holy Land and I was unable to go to the Western Wall!"

Kraft, who was born exactly 26 years before the Six-Day War, on June 5, 1941, recalls how four years later, when the city was reunified, the experience was completely different. "Four years later, shortly after the Six-Day War happened, I came on one of the very first missions after the war. And I will never forget going to the Wall and praying there. It was one of the most uplifting moments of my life."

Q: Do you still pray regularly? Before games?

"I no longer use petitionary prayer, I mean I go [to synagogue] on the holidays. I used to put on tefillin on every morning. Except for yahrzeits or the High Holidays or going once in a while on Shabbat, I don't [go to synagogue]. But do I pray before games? I still say the Shema, I try to say it every night before going to bed, giving thanks to the Lord, and when I am looking for special help and power."

Q: Has a game ever interfered with your ability to observe your faith-

"Well, almost. Playing on Yom Kippur. We once had a game scheduled on one [Yom Kippur] and we were able to have it rescheduled. We have always been able to figure the dates out and put them in the system with the people who matter and explain to them. Fortunately, in 23 years, only once did we have a problem, and we got it fixed."

Asked about the delegation's reaction to a terrorist attack that occurred in Jerusalem during their visit, Kraft says his companions were more concerned about the biased reporting of the incident in the global media than they were about their personal safety.

"I think we discussed how unfortunate it was to see some of the media reporting, especially in the BBC. ... So I think they saw a little bit of the media bias," he says. "I think Israel is blessed to have strong political leadership and a lot of good people in government, and I think the U.S. views Israel as its best ally in the world, and please God may that continue for many decades to come."

Q: Do you think Israel is doing a good job presenting its case to the world?

"No I don't think Israel has always had the right messaging in terms of public relations. I think they can do a better job at it. Maybe they should have had their own cable channel like Al Jazeera at least to get their case out, because I don't think their case has been fairly represented over the decades."

"I think it [Israel] is a fabulous story, I think it is a great story of hope, of never giving up, working hard, being entrepreneurial, being spiritual, being respectful of the concept of Shabbat, all those come together."

Kraft is one of the most powerful figures in football today. Wherever there is a crisis, he is usually there, saving the day. In 2015, when legendary player Tom Brady was under attack in the "Deflategate" affair, the scandal failed to mar the Kraft brand or the New England Patriots, which went on to win the Super Bowl title.

Kraft grew up in Massachusetts, considered a liberal state, and came to be affiliated with the Democratic Party over the years. But at the same time, he thinks of U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican, as a close personal friend. He recently told the New York Daily News about how Trump was one of a handful of people who helped him get through the loss of his wife, Myra.

"When Myra died, Melania [Trump] and Donald came up to the funeral in our synagogue, then they came for memorial week to visit with me. Then he called me once a week for the whole year, the most depressing year of my life when I was down and out. He called me every week to see how I was doing, invited me to things, tried to lift my spirits. He was one of five or six people that were like that. I remember that."

Q: You compared football to Israel, but football has never been considered mainstream here.

"Because they [Israelis] haven't been exposed to it or educated. The more people understand it and learn it, the more they will love it. It requires intelligence -- everything that Israel is about. Unfortunately we are competing with two sports -- soccer and basketball -- that require no equipment. You can play them on a field of dirt. You just need a ball and a net."