Bracha Deustch, known as “Beatie”, is an Israeli athlete of American origin. Her specialty is the Marathon, a 42Km race.Beatie is the mother of five children and haredi, that is, an Orthodox Jew; She has been selected to represent the State of Israel at the Olympic Games in Japan in the specialty of Marathon.
Initially, when the Olympics were planned for 2020 there was no problem, but due to COVID19 the Olympic Games have been moved to 2021, and the date for the Marathon coincides with Shabbat. Beatie is opposed to participating in the Shabbat race, and has communicated this to the International Olympic Committee. The Committee’s pointless response has been that she is making things very difficult and that they are confident that she will be able to find a Rabbi who will grant her permission to run this Marathon on Shabbat.