Ariel Smith, formerly known as Chris Smith, grew up in Lakewood and played in the NBA for the New York Nicks. After retiring from the NBA and going through a Jewish conversion, Orthodox, Smith has changed his name to Ariel, made aliya to Israel and is now restarting his basketball career playing for the team in Nahariya.
source: NY Post
not quite the Lakewood star you would expect, but he is a star, and I don't mean specifically in the basketball sense..
I think his comment about eventually not being buried in a Jewish cemetery because of having a tattoo is a widely spread myth. I have met religious people who tried ti hide their tats from the previous life, and others who were proud of their tats as they saw them as symbols of what they returned from and how much they have changed.
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