By Cindy Mindell

The patron “saint” of Jews in sports is Sandy Koufax, the southpaw pitcher for the Dodgers (Brooklyn and Los Angeles) who famously refused to start Game 1 of the 1965 World Series when it coincided with Yom Kippur.

Ever since, thousands of Koufax’s metaphoric children have taken the mound and field and court in professional sports venues and on college campuses, and must often wrestle with the same dilemma: play or pray?

For Woodbridge native Rachel Plotke, an observant Jew, Muhlenberg College has provided the perfect solution. A sophomore in her first season as a starting shooting guard on the women’s basketball team, she is the leading scorer for a Muhlenberg team that is 16-1 and ranked 11th in Division III. She ranks second among all players in the NCAA’s three divisions in three-point shooting percentage with a minimum of 150 attempts.

Plotke launched her basketball career in fifth grade at Ezra Academy in Woodbridge, playing on the girls’ team. The following year, she played on the JCC of Greater New Haven boys’ travel team, led by Coach David Teitelman. After graduating from Ezra, Plotke went on to Hamden Hall Country Day School.

Plotke says that she found Muhlenberg an attractive option because of its large and active Jewish population, and because of The Noshery, the kosher section of the campus dining hall.

Rachel Plotke (second from left) and friends promote Muhlenberg Hillel’s Chanukah celebration.

“I am lucky to be a part of a strong Jewish community at Muhlenberg,” Plotke says. “Although it can be challenging sometimes to balance my religious and basketball obligations, I am able to attend Friday night services and dinners as I like,” even if it means running from Friday afternoon practice to make it to the Hillel House.

An outstanding three-point shooter, Plotke is the only player in any of the NCAA’s three divisions to rank in the top five in the country in both three-pointers per game and three-point shooting percentage. Last month, Plotke scored a game-high 21 points to help Muhlenberg team win the Centennial Conference women’s basketball championship. She is one of two sophomore team members to be named to the All-Centennial Conference First Team.

Echoing the iconic Koufax quandary, Plotke has faced schedule conflicts when pre-season training coincides with the High Holidays. “However, my coaches and team are very understanding about my missing some workouts, so that hasn’t been much of an issue,” she says. “I think one of my biggest challenges has been having to stay at school over break without having kosher meat options for meals. I have managed this by choosing vegetarian options, but still, as an observant Jew, my choices are more limited.”

Plotke has been a member of the coed community service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega (APO), since freshman year, when she and several friends were looking for a way to get more involved on campus.

“APO provides great opportunities to give back to the community, and I love being a brother of the fraternity,” says Plotke, whose favorite regular project is Challah For Hunger, a bi-monthly Hillel challah bake and sale to benefit Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger. (Yes, all APO members are considered “brothers.”)

Last year, Plotke learned about the National Hillel Basketball Tournament, an annual spring weekend event held at the University of Maryland. She recruited and trained four fellow Jewish freshmen who had never played basketball, and the team raised funds to cover their registration fee. As the Ledger went to press, Plotke was preparing for the 2016 tournament, to be held over the last weekend of March.

Off the court, Plotke is a Dean’s List student as a psychology major and public health minor. She serves as a tutor in psychology and is conducting research with one of her psychology professors. At the end of the semester, as part of Muhlenberg Integrated Learning Abroad, she will travel to Panama to study public health issues up close.

As for Jewish high school students starting to think about college, Plotke recommends consulting the source. “Talk to Jewish students directly,” she advises. “They have the best insight on how Jewish life is on campus or even off campus, at local synagogues.”

CAP: Rachel Plotke is the leading scorer for Muhlenberg women’s basketball team.