From March 19-23, 20 yeshiva high school basketball teams from across the U.S. and Canada will meet at the Max Stern Athletic Center on Yeshiva University’s Wilf Campus in Washington Heights to battle it out for the top spot in the University’s 24th Annual Red Sarachek Invitational Basketball Tournament, North America’s most prestigious Jewish high school basketball competition.
In addition to the spirited gameplay, the long weekend will include several off-court activities to help the young all-stars gain an early appreciation for YU’s unique educational environment and culture, including a lively Shabbaton, tours of the University, and a special Sunday Kollel and Midreshet Yom Rishon, featuring Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Kressel and Ephrat Family University Professor of Jewish Thought; Senator Joseph Lieberman, chair in public policy and public service; and Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, director of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought.
“Our annual tournament was established to honor the legacy of former YU Maccabees coach Bernard ‘Red’ Sarachek, a larger-than-life figure whose dedication to the Yeshiva University students and the greater Jewish community is well-known. As a fitting tribute, the tournament that bears his name has become a community-wide celebration of good sportsmanship, Jewish unity and Yeshiva University pride,” said Rabbi Kenneth Brander, the Vice President of University and Community Life.
“We are thrilled to honor Coach Sarachek’s memory every year by hosting high school students from across North America and giving them the full Yeshiva University experience, showing them that only at Yeshiva can a Shabbat observant college student play NCAA basketball and learn from intellectual giants in all fields of Jewish study and general knowledge.”
Participating schools for this year’s tournament will include: Akiva Hebrew Day School (Detroit, MI); Atlanta Jewish Academy (Atlanta, GA); Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School (Pikesville, MD); David Posnack Jewish Day School (Davie, FL); Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School (Woodmere, NY); Fuchs Mizrachi School (Cleveland, OH); Hebrew Academy of Montreal (Montreal, Canada); Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (Lawrence, NY); Hillel Yeshiva School (Ocean Township, NJ); Ida Crown Jewish Academy (Chicago, IL); Maimonides School (Brookline, MA); Rabbi Alexander Gross Hebrew Academy (Miami, FL); Robert M. Beren Academy (Houston, TX); Shalhevet High School (Los Angeles, CA); The Frisch School (Paramus, NJ); Valley Torah High School (Valley Village, CA); Weinbaum Yeshiva High School (Boca Raton, FL); Yeshiva University High School of Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA); Yeshivat Or Chaim (Toronto, Canada); and Yeshiva University High School for Boys/Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (New York, NY).
