DIAMOND DREAMS

U.S.-born Israeli teen wounded in terror attack cheers on baseball teammates as they finish 3rd in European championship

Second baseman Nadav Kamer who dreamed of playing professional baseball now focused on regaining his ability to walk after being severely injured in a car-ramming in central Israeli town of Ra'anana

When the Ra’anana Cadets took the field in the recent European Baseball Championship in Lithuania, the emotional center of the team, 15-year-old second baseman Nadav Kamer, was back home in the Tel Aviv suburb recovering from a January terror attack that left him severely injured. But at the Loewenstein Rehabilitation Hospital, he was decked out in a Boston Red Sox jersey — his family made aliyah from the Boston area eight years ago — and was closely following his teammates online as they competed against the best junior teams in Europe.

“The heart and soul of this team was Nadav,” said Natan Bash, the national team’s coach, who explained how the players channeled their trauma — from Nadav’s injury as well as the Oct. 7 attack — into achievements on the field. “Before the terror attack, we practiced with Nadav, who was part of the team that won the regional tournament. Thinking about him, and about our friends and families in Israel, brought incredible energy and pride, as well as healthy leadership and togetherness. This was my 12th national team, but it felt different after Oct. 7. One motto we had was to leave everything better than we found it. Whether on the field, in the dugout, or even on the bus with a non-Jewish driver, we always wanted to represent Israel at its fullest.”

Nadav and his twin brother, Yoav, are part of Israel’s small but passionate baseball community, which is largely composed of communities with a strong presence of North American immigrants and their children, primarily in Tel Aviv, Modi’in and Ra’anana.

Before the attack, when Palestinian terrorists struck him with a car that they’d stolen after stabbing 79-year-old Edna Bluestein to death, Nadav, a second baseman, played baseball two to three times a week and dreamed of playing professionally. “I love baseball because there is no time limit. You can keep on playing,” he told eJewishPhilanthropy from his hospital room.

The attack has put that dream on hold for now. Doctors were initially pessimistic about his chances of recovery, but Nadav has since defied their expectations.

“His MRI was a mess. He had bleeds all over his brain,” his father, Allen Kamer, recalled of the early days of Nadav’s recovery. “The doctors said they wouldn’t expect language or movement to come back quickly, but those were the first things to return. They were very surprised at how quickly certain aspects of his brain healed.”

Baseball and tragedy are somehow linked in Israel. “In Ra’anana, there is one of the best baseball fields, which is dedicated to the memory of Ezra Schwartz,” said Ruby Schechter, Nadav’s coach who also serves as the chair of Ra’anana’s baseball association, referring to an American 18-year-old who was murdered in a 2015 shooting attack in the West Bank.

The Israeli junior team shakes hands with Ukrainian players at the European Baseball Championship in Lithuania in July.
The Israeli junior team shakes hands with Ukrainian players at the European Baseball Championship in Lithuania in July. (Courtesy/Louie Miller)

Schechter reflected on the local baseball scene: “We’ve had a lot of success over the past few years. Nadav was part of the Cadets, our junior high team, which won the national championship. Since we got the field, we’ve always had at least one team in one level come in first place. We have about 75 kids playing at different levels now, and we aim to grow that number to 150 or 200.”

Last week, six months after the terror attack, Nadav watched as his Israeli teammates exceeded expectations, finishing in third place. “They had some very big wins against good teams, and they got the bronze medal, which is very amazing!” he said proudly.

Schechter added: “The kids on this team, many of whom are only 14, are dealing with things off the field that no child should have to face. Having a teammate going through something like Nadav’s experience was incredibly challenging. But it also inspired them. They wore yellow ribbons on their hats or dog tags for the hostages underneath their uniforms. By the end of the tournament, we saw Lithuanian, British and Polish kids wearing Team Israel hats. There was a real feel-good vibe with the other teams, which gives hope amidst the rise of antisemitism. When you interact with a lot of people from different countries, you see that there are a lot of people that can see us for who we are and what we are.”

Nadav’s father finds the situation bittersweet: “Nadav was able to attend the playoff games in Ra’anana and the surrounding area, and he loves being able to go, but he wishes he could be playing. He doesn’t come across as feeling sorry for himself, but he definitely expresses his wish to play baseball again. Hopefully, he will someday. It’s a good goal to aspire to.”

The devotion Nadav used to put into his baseball practice, he now puts into his recovery. “He starts activities from 8:30 in the morning and goes until three-plus o’clock,” said his father. “He sometimes comes home in the afternoon for dinner and then goes back and sleeps at the rehab center during the week with one of us. So myself or my wife stay over with him every night. Nadav is very positive in his outlook. He wants to walk again. He wants to be active again. He almost caught up to level five math (the highest in Israeli high schools). He is still in a wheelchair, but he is working hard to get out and try to walk again.”

When asked if he had any second thoughts about moving with his wife and four children from the U.S. to Israel after what happened to his son, Allen replied, “The Boston Marathon bombing happened right down the street from us, and now there are school shootings. Things happen wherever you are, and you can’t control them. It’s awful that this happened, and it’s a challenge what the country is going through right now, but I’m a Zionist. I believe in Israel, and I believe it’s been a privilege to live here. God willing, Nadav will recover as much as he can, and we’ll keep going.”

Nadav agrees, “If you’re ever in a situation you don’t think that you can handle, just keep on moving on and be strong. Always look to the future, Don’t look to the past.”