“Let the honor of your students be as dear to you as your own,” Rabbi Eleizer famously said. But this is a little easier when you’re a teacher—because that’s the job. If Popovich was running an academy—a nonprofit, mission-based educational organization—these accomplishments would be quite impressive. The fact that he managed to do this while operating at the highest level of a cutthroat game where he’s actually helping, if not producing, his competition? This is something he has done outside his commitment to winning, both as an ideal and as an expectation of his employment. This is not the
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