An evening with two distinguished intellectuals as they discuss their passion for and the American Jewish experience with basketball.
Alan Dershowitz, a member of the Brooklyn Talmudic Academy basketball team, developed a deep love for the sport. An ardent fan of the Boston Celtics, he was a friend of the late Red Auberbach, the team’s legendary head coach, son of immigrants from Minsk and a Brooklyn high school player. Over the many years of their friendship, Dershowitz and Auberbach shared reflections and nostalgic stories. Jeffrey Gurock, American Jewish historian and athlete, is the author of Judaism’s Encounter with American Sports (2005) and for over 25 years, has been Yeshiva University’s assistant men’s basketball coach.
These two well-known scholars shared their common passion, the popularity of basketball among Jewish men and women, and why basketball is a metaphor for larger issues relating to the Jewish experience in America.