Yeshiva University fans gear up for Sweet Sixteen run — and a Shabbat in Atlanta

JTA — Yeshiva University’s men’s basketball team is set to play in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Division III tournament on Friday, the team’s deepest March Madness run ever.

If that sentence sounds familiar, it’s because the YU Maccabees have qualified for the Division III tournament’s Sweet Sixteen once before, in 2020. But that tournament was cut short due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and they never got a chance to play the game.

“It’s always like, ‘What could have been,’ and now here they are — they’re back and they have a shot,” said Simmy Cohen, a YU superfan.

The Maccabees, who are 22-8, advanced past the first two rounds with a 71-69 win over Bates College, followed by a 92-69 win against the University of Maine-Farmington.

To advance to the Elite Eight, the Maccabees will need to defeat Emory University, the second-ranked team in DIII. As the higher seed, Emory gets to host the game at the school’s home gym in Atlanta. But while the Maccabees are entering the game as underdogs, they have one potential advantage on their side: fans flooding in from near and far.

“I don’t think any other Division III basketball team has any national fanbase,” said Rabbi Adam Starr, a YU alum who leads Congregation Ohr HaTorah, a modern Orthodox synagogue in Atlanta.

“Other places have alumni, that’s one thing, but here it’s much more than alumni,” he said. “Certainly within the Orthodox Jewish world, but even beyond, it’s something they’re rallying behind, whether they went to Yeshiva University or not. It’s just a Jewish pride story.”

Starr said Atlanta’s Jewish community will be out in full force to support YU, the flagship Modern Orthodox university in New York City. Some Atlantans are taking the day off work to catch the 1 p.m. tip-off, Starr said. Students from the local Jewish day school between seventh and 12th grade will be bused to Emory’s Woodruff PE Center.

The game is also expected to draw Jewish fans from around the country, including Cohen’s sister-in-law, who will be driving from the New York metropolitan area.

“The interesting thing here is that Emory is on spring break, so most of their students are not around,” Starr said. “So I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually feels more like a YU home game than an Emory home game.”

There’s an added wrinkle for visiting fans: Because the game falls on a Friday afternoon, fans who observe Shabbat according to Jewish law, which forbids travel on the day of rest, will be doing so in Atlanta.

To help those observant supporters, a Google Form that pairs visitors with host families has circulated, titled “YU Mac Fans Shabbat Hospitality in Toco Hills, Atlanta,” referring to the heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.

“We’re known for our Southern Jewish hospitality,” Starr said.

The team itself, Starr added, is staying at a hotel, but will be “having meals in the community at one of the shuls.”

On Saturday afternoon, following kiddush, Starr will host a “Meet the Macs” panel discussion at Ohr HaTorah with head coach Elliot Steinmetz; assistant coach and Orthodox Union chief of staff Yoni Cohen; team captains Zevi Samet and Max Zakheim; and senior Tom Beza, who “previously served in a combat role” in the IDF, according to a flier for the event.

The team’s tournament run has taken place against the backdrop of the US-Israel war with Iran, which has hit close to home for YU, whose roster includes seven Israeli-born players.

“While we have your attention,” Steinmetz tweeted on Sunday, the day after their second-round victory, “I’d like to point out that while we are here preparing for a stupid basketball game, our friends and family in Israel are going back and forth to bomb shelters multiple times a day as Iran and Hezbollah fire rockets indiscriminately at civilian populations. Take a minute out of your day and pray for their safety and victory.”

Starr said he views the Maccabees’ tournament run as “something good and positive” that Jewish people can “gather around.”

“And I’ve heard from people in Israel, this is a very welcome distraction for them,” Starr said. He remarked that his brother had to pull over on the way home from a wedding in Israel last week and lie flat on the ground because a siren went off. “But he was listening to the game while this was going on,” Starr said.

Last week, Israeli guard Yoav Oselka led the way with 27 points in YU’s win against Maine-Farmington; Samet, the team’s leading scorer, put up 27 in their narrow 71-69 win over Bates.

Emory, as one of the top DIII basketball programs, is the favorite to win Friday’s game. But Cohen said the energy from YU fans may help the Maccabees in their push for an upset.

“I think it’s going to be an electric atmosphere,” he said.