ARTS AND CULTURE

Tomer Hemed

Athlete

You know you’ve arrived as a soccer player when someone decides you’re worth four million pounds. That’s precisely what British soccer team Reading was reportedly willing to pay for Israeli striker Tomer Hemed, currently of Brighton.

Hemed’s high price has been hard earned. He started as a teenager in the youth leagues in the early 2000s, got called up to Maccabi Haifa and was tossed between various teams in the Israeli Premier League. In 2011 he went international, playing for Mallorca and then Almeria before ending up at Brighton & Hove Albion. This past year, Hemed played a key role in the club’s ascension to the English Premier League for the first time in history.

At the same time, Hemed is reportedly “a leading figure” in Brighton’s Jewish community, attending synagogue every Friday and lighting candles at a Chanukah ceremony, which he called “an emotional moment for me. … For me to be away from Israel and get a lot of love is very important.”

In March, Hemed displayed his national and religious pride with a Star of David haircut that he showed off on social media. ( Photo credit: Twitter.)