Jerry Jeudy’s weird reason for wearing Star of David isn’t offensive and could be constructive

The Alabama receiver wore the necklace at the NFL combine.

Former Alabama wideout Jerry Jeudy took to the podium at the 2020 NFL combine, and reporters noticed the potential first-round pick was wearing a necklace with the Star of David, a traditional symbol of the Jewish faith.

His explanation, via our Henry McKenna, who was in attendance: “So my last name (is) Jeudy. People sometimes call me ‘Jeu’ for short, so I got a Jewish star. I’m not Jewish though.”

I’ve seen some debate about it on Twitter, which probably isn’t the place to take the temperature on something like this. There are those who are and aren’t offended and, as you’d expect, some claims of cultural appropriation to boost a personal brand.

But as someone of the Jewish faith, my first instinct was to find out more and see if he knows what the Star of David truly means before he wears it. So I looked around and couldn’t find any previous articles about Jeudy and the Star; this seems to be the first time reporters have noticed and asked about it.

Chabad has an in-depth article about the history of the symbol itself, about the connection between God, Jews and the Torah (the holy scriptures), much of which I learned just now by reading it despite years of attending Hebrew school.

But it’s the same symbol Jews were forced by Nazis to wear in Europe to identify them, one of the countless horrors of the Holocaust. It’s that symbol that then, in turn, was placed on the flag of Israel. To me, that’s a people taking back the symbol used against them and using it to proclaim their survival.

If Jeudy doesn’t know that history, he should, and more power to him if he continues to wear the Star of David knowing all of that. I have no problem with that! Heck, his wearing the star helped me learn something about my own religion today.

To see a non-Jew wear the star at the NFL combine with pride was a strange sight, and although Jeudy may need some education on the subject, I have no problem with him continuing to do it.

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