Yuri Foreman (Hebrew: יורי פורמן; born August 5, 1980) is an Israeli professional boxer who held the WBA super welterweight title from 2009 to 2010. He was born in Gomel, Belarus, but currently fights out of Brooklyn, New York.^[1] Foreman has also pursued Jewish religious studies during his boxing career, and in 2014 was ordained as a rabbi. He has been referred to as the "Boxing Rabbi."

Yuri Foreman was born in Gomel, in Belarus, then part of the Soviet Union. He started out as a swimmer, but his mother signed him up for boxing lessons at age seven after he experienced bullying and beatings. At age nine, he immigrated with his family to Israel.^[2] Boxing was not popular in Israel and there were few boxing gyms so he trained at an Arab gym. On his early days in boxing, Foreman said:

The first time I walked in, I saw the stares. In their eyes, there was a lot of hatred. But I needed to box; and boy, did they all want to box me. After a while, the wall that was between us melted. We all wanted the same thing. I traveled with them as teammates. It helped that I won almost all the time. And finally, we became friends."^[3]

In Israel he became an amateur boxer and won three national boxing championships.^[4] In 1999, Foreman moved to Brooklyn, New York City.^[2] He stated that the only reason he came to the United States was to pursue his dream of a professional boxing career, and saw no further opportunity to do so in Israel.^[5] His first job was in the Garment District in Manhattan, where he made deliveries and swept the floors for a clothing store. At the same time, he began training at Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn, where he met his first wife, Leyla Leidecker.^[3] The couple later divorced.^[6] During this period of time was when he found a Brooklyn Heights synagogue while in search of enlightenment. He was quoted saying, "As I was maturing, as a person and a fighter, I realized that I needed some sort of spiritual center to achieve things physically, especially in boxing where you need to have good spiritual form and good physical form. I needed an outlet — a spiritual backbone, so I could push myself better, channel my energy, be more present."^[7] He embarked on the long road to becoming a rabbi and was eventually ordained under the tutelage of Rabbi Dovber Pinson.^[8]

In 2000, Foreman lost the New York Golden Gloves in the final,^[9] but came back in 2001 to win the tournament.^[2][4] During his amateur career, Foreman compiled a 75–5 record.^[3]

At the onset of his professional career, Foreman's management team was unsuccessful procuring appropriate fights. Foreman struggled financially.^[9] Around 2004, Foreman met Murray Wilson who became his manager. Wilson signed Foreman up with Bob Arum's Top Rank promotion company.^[9]

Foreman, "the first Orthodox Jew to own a world title since Barney Ross held championships in two divisions in 1935",^[21] is one of three top contemporary Jewish boxers. The others are Dmitry Salita (30–1–1),^[22][23] a junior welterweight, and heavyweight Roman Greenberg (27–1–0).^[3]

In the post-fight interview of his December 2007 win over Andrey Tsurkan, Foreman raised his hands and wished the television audience a happy Chanukah.^[25] Foreman, who wears a Star of David on his boxing trunks, is an aspiring rabbi. "Boxing is sometimes spiritual in its own way", he said. "You have the physical and mental challenges in boxing, just like you have lots of challenges in exploring the different levels of Judaism. They are different but the same."^[25]

Foreman studied the Talmud and Jewish mysticism in the morning, trains for boxing in the afternoon and attended rabbinical classes twice a week at the IYYUN Institute, a Jewish educational center in Gowanus. "Yuri is a very good student", said Rabbi DovBer Pinson, an author and lecturer who is Foreman's teacher. "Most people (in the class) who find out that he's a boxer are very surprised. He doesn't have that boxing personality, at least in the perception of what a boxer is. He's not the rough kid on the block. He's a sweet, easy-going kid."^[25]

In 2014, Foreman was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi. He has stated that he intends to return to Israel and serve as a rabbi there, and occasionally leave Israel to box abroad.^[26][27]

Foreman has appeared numerous times in nationally televised fights on ESPN, Showtime, HBO and Versus, and on talk shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live!. He appeared in the film Fighting, which starred Channing Tatum and Terrence Howard.^[25]

In 2018 Foreman was married to Shoshanna Hadassah.^[6]

• List of Jews in sports#Boxing