This last past Sunday, at the Down Town Sports facility in Mahwah, Partners in Torah hosted Play4Partners, a three on three basketball tournament that benefited this great organization.
Eighteen teams from all across the New York/New Jersey area came out to participate in this inaugural event. While the prizes for the winning team were enticing and exciting, it was the true love for competition and a desire to help a great cause that brought out all these teams to compete. The players expected a great experience and they were definitely not disappointed.
Play4Partners strove to separate itself from the other tournaments that have been held in the area in the past. “We knew that we had tough task in front of us,” Yisroel Mayer Merkin, executive director of Partners in Torah and tournament director, said. “The North Jersey area has seen its fair share of basketball tournaments and expected a great competition. We needed to offer them an experience that they hadn’t seen in any other tournament, without losing the quality of the play and competition. We wanted to create a hybrid. Guys had played in basketball tournaments and had been wined and dined at dinners and events. The trick was to combine the two and give them a true ultimate experience.”
Each team in the tournament was guaranteed at least four games before the playoffs were decided. The play-in games were intense, with most of them going down to the wire. During the games, Play4Partners made sure that the players were taken care of. Drinks, granola bars and even a salad bar were made available to all the participants, and their fans, courtesy of Seasons Kosher. For those who experienced any soreness during their games, or just wanted to feel good, Ephraim Yablok, of PMR Rehab Center in Fort Lee, was there to help stretch out any tired or tight muscles allowing the players to play their best.
After the play-in games were finished, the playoffs began with 16 teams heading to the playoffs. While those games were going on, the teams—and their fans—that didn’t advance to the playoffs, were treated to a delicious buffet dinner, catered by Mi Chicas of Spring Valley. Even some players who were still playing couldn’t resist grabbing a couple of bites to eat in between the playoff games. Not to worry, there was plenty of food for everyone and nobody went home hungry.
The championship game saw Team Brightlife Auto, led by Mayer Schulman, playing against Team AHS, led by Sheffy Frankel. While the games throughout the tournament had featured the premier ball players from the area and their great skills on full display, the championship game brought things to a totally different level. The players played their hearts out and left everything on the court. However, there could be only one winner, and Team BrightLife Auto took home the trophy and won the VIP basketball experience.
Play4Partners helped benefit Partners in Torah, the true trailblazer in the world of Jewish Unity and outreach. In the past 23 years over 68,000 people have learnt through Partners in Torah, while currently on a weekly basis, 5000 are learning through this great program. The idea is simple yet revolutionary. Partners in Torah taps into the potential of every Jew and gives them the opportunity to reach out to their fellow Jew to befriend them, to educate them, and to bring them closer to the greater Jewish community. It is truly a great organization worthy of such an amazing event.
It is hard to sum up such a great event in so few words, but Alec Borenstein, the captain of Team BMC, the top fundraising team in the tournament, said it best.” A great turnout for a great cause. The display of competition and achdus was truly a testament to the tremendous positivity and support the community has for Partners in Torah.”
