Fifty years later, Sandy Koufax's decision to atone instead of work on Yom Kippur remains a milestone in the American Jewish experience, a St. Paul legend deepened by a Minnesota rabbi's bold encounter with the hall of fame lefty.
The Los Angeles Dodgers ace already was a baseball icon in 1965, but when Koufax refused to pitch Game 1 of the World Series against the Twins at Met Stadium on Judaism's holiest day, he earned the reverence of Jews worldwide.
The Day of Atonement demands Jews repent for their sins by fasting and praying, 24 hours of solemnity that commenced at sunrise Oct.