Cleveland Browns kicker Greg Joseph attended a football-themed 5th birthday party at a local Jewish day school. Joseph, who is Jewish, joined 40 5–year-olds at Gross Schechter Day School in suburban Cleveland for Ezra Rosenblatt’s party on June 2, the Cleveland Jewish News reported . Ezra’s mother told the newspaper that she reached out to Joseph in a social media message but was not expecting much. “I know Greg Joseph is Jewish and went to Jewish day school, so I thought, well, you know maybe I’ll just take a shot in the dark and try to message him on social media,” said Brooke Lampl Rosenblatt. “I did it thinking maybe because of the Jewish day school connection, he would come.” He responded the following day that he would. In the end he stayed for almost the entire two-hour party and played football and other games with the kids, according to the report. He signed a Cleveland Browns hat for Ezra and wrote, “Never forget where u come from” next to a Star of David. “He’s a real mensch of a guy for showing up,” Lampl Rosenblatt said. “It’s very unique and special that he’s a Jewish football player, right? We don’t know that many Jewish professional football players. ... I think that it just shows your kids that if there’s something that they want to do, even if it’s not typical, they can do it.” Joseph played football and soccer at Donna Klein Jewish Academy in Boca Raton, Fla., and also attended American Heritage School in Delray Beach, Fla. He was signed by the Browns in September 2018. According to a report last October by the Cleveland Jewish News, shortly after making a game-winning field goal, Joseph had returned to his new home in Cleveland and affixed a mezuzah to his door. Rabbi Yossi Friedman of the Chabad of Downtown Cleveland, who helped Joseph and his parents, Glen and Ilana, put the mezuzah up on his door, said Joseph recited the traditional blessing during the process, Cleveland Jewish News noted, adding that Joseph was introduced to Friedman by Rabbi Yossi Denburg of Chabad of Boca Raton, Fla., near where Joseph grew up.
