For this group of young men, basketball is much more than just a game.
In “Rebound: A Year of Triumph and Tragedy at Yeshiva University Basketball,” which FOX Nation premiered on April 9, we get a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges faced by the Yeshiva University men’s basketball team in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks that shocked the State of Israel and Jews around the world.
Emmy award-winning filmmaker Pat Dimon does a masterful job conveying the conflicts the players felt after the horrific attack as they contemplated how to move forward with their basketball season, which suddenly felt insignificant after what transpired on that fateful day in October 2023, just two days before the start of practice for the team.
YU men’s basketball has experienced a resurgence in recent years, which began shortly after the arrival of Coach Elliot Steinmetz in 2014. Their 50-game win streak, which stretched from November 2019 until December 2021 and was the second-longest in NCAA Division III history, captivated the nation and catapulted the team to the top of the rankings. I was at the Dec. 30, 2021, game at the Max Stern Athletic Center when the Maccabees’ historic win streak came to an end against Illinois Wesleyan University, which was ranked fourth in the nation at the time. The energy and excitement in the gym that night was palpable, a keen reminder of how much the dedicated YU fan base and the greater Jewish community value this team.
“Rebound” begins by chronicling the struggles faced by the team’s Israeli players after Oct. 7, and it does an excellent job underscoring the shock and disbelief that they felt as they learned about what was happening. The film opens with YU guard Adi Markovich describing the experience of hearing about the events of Oct. 7, including discovering that one of his friends was murdered. As he’s talking, we see jarring footage from the Hamas attack that presents viewers with scenes from the destruction and devastation that ensued, which is followed by a scene in which Markovich walks onto the basketball court at YU holding a ball in his left hand. The juxtaposition of those images encapsulates the dichotomy that the filmmakers skillfully conveyed through “Rebound”: the inner turmoil the players were feeling and how to reconcile that with their passion for basketball, which seemed relatively trivial in light of the unimaginable suffering of their Israeli brethren.
We hear YU guard Roy Itcovichi, a native of Israel, say that, “it feels selfish” to be playing basketball “when other people are protecting my country, our country,” a sentiment that seems to be shared among the team’s Israeli players.
The film offers some star power, with appearances by Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots; and Josh Harris, managing partner of the Philadelphia 76ers, Washington Commanders and New Jersey Devils. Additionally, it gives us a glimpse into the lives of the YU players and how they balance religion and basketball as it transitions from a clip of the players davening Shacharit, led by YU star Zevi Samet, who’s wearing a white shirt, black jacket and black hat along with his tefillin, to a play that may be among the best in YU basketball history, in which forward Gabriel Leifer threw a behind-the-back alley-oop pass to guard Ryan Turell, YU’s all-time scoring leader, who then dunked the ball with authority as the crowd erupts in cheers.
‘We play for the Jewish people’
As YU guard Tom Beza, whose good friend, Ofir Engel, was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, talks about the diverse religious backgrounds of the players, we see scenes of the team praying and eating together, giving us a sense of the unity and camaraderie that these players feel.
Viewers get a lesson about Shabbat, as we hear Samet talk about how he wouldn’t play on the Sabbath, even if it could give him an opportunity to play basketball at an even higher level, and we listen to Samet’s mother, Jenny, describe the meaning and beauty of Shabbat as she works in the kitchen with her husband and son preparing for that special day by making challah.
Samet has earned a name for himself during his time as a YU Maccabee, with his three-point shooting prowess and vast offensive arsenal earning him accolades from near and far. Yet as we listen to Samet talk in the film, it becomes apparent that basketball, as important as it is to him, takes a back seat to his commitment to his Judaism, as he says that the prospect of compromising his religion to further his basketball career is “nonnegotiable.”
The film does a superb job conveying the distinctive nature of Yeshiva University as it relates to athletics, with Steinmetz noting that, “Yeshiva is definitely the most unique place in college basketball, probably in college sports.” Beza sums up what it means to him to be a Yeshiva University Maccabee when he says that, “Judaism for me is to be an Israeli, to be a representative of the only Jewish country in the world. I’m not necessarily the most religious Jew, but I do believe that it’s important to be here and to represent the Jewish people.”
“We want to show that Jews can play basketball, and we want to make the Jewish community proud,” Turell says, as he sums up the mission of the YU Maccabees and goes on to discuss why he chose to attend Yeshiva University and describes the start of their historic win streak.
“We play for the Jewish people,” Samet says.
‘You are our ambassadors’
But it’s the film’s focus on Oct. 7 that really captures viewers’ hearts and minds.
“After Oct. 7, everything changed,” Samet says. “It was definitely very difficult to be playing basketball.”
At the first home game after Oct. 7, we see the players warming up, wearing T-shirts with photos of the hostages, and listen as Samet gives an impassioned pregame pep talk to the team in the locker room, which ends with the team proclaiming “spirituality before physicality” in unison before taking the court. The image of the YU players from Israel unfolding a large Israeli flag at half-court as the crowd sings “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem, captures the moment and the mood perfectly.
The film spends a great deal of time giving us an inside look into the team’s emotionally charged January 2024 trip to Israel, which Steinmetz says was an opportunity for them “to show our brothers and sisters in Israel that we’re here with them.”
While in Israel, Itcovichi’s father explains to the players the impact that they have by playing basketball for YU and standing in solidarity with the Jewish state. “You are supporting us … you are our ambassadors,” he says.
Through emotive scenes of the team praying at the Western Wall, visiting an injured Israeli soldier in the hospital, touring the Nova music festival site, going to Hostage Square in Tel Aviv and visiting Kibbutz Be’eri, where over 100 people were murdered on Oct. 7 and 30 were taken hostage, we have a front-row seat that enables us to comprehend what the players experienced during their trip.
The segment at the Nova music festival site is particularly jarring. “6:29 is when the music stopped,” a survivor of the attack tells the players, a reminder of how suddenly everything changed in an instant on the morning of Oct. 7. We watch as the players examine the various aspects of the exhibit, including mounds of shoes and glasses, which to me, evoked memories of the Holocaust and the atrocities that the Jews endured at that time.
The team’s Israel trip culminated with an exhibition game against Hapoel Tel Aviv, and the enthusiastic reaction of the large crowd speaks volumes about what it meant to the Israeli people to have the YU Maccabees with them in the Jewish state.
“On such a different level, it was the first home game we ever played,” Steinmetz says, describing the surreal nature of the experience. “Even your opponents are your brothers — I never felt like that before.”
Samet aptly sums up the lasting impact that the trip had when he says, “It was a wake-up call to recognize why I’m living.”
“We came back stronger as a team, mainly off the court, as one unit, as brothers,” Markovich says.
“Rebound” takes us inside the YU locker room following a particularly tough loss to Mount Saint Vincent shortly after the team returned from Israel, and we get to listen in as guard Max Zakheim talks about the team’s loss and Steinmetz dresses down the players following what he considered to be a lackluster effort on the court. We then watch as YU notches two big playoff wins to set up a showdown with Farmingdale State College for the Skyline Conference championship, a game in which the Maccabees ultimately came up short.
Yet for the Yeshiva University Maccabees, who in essence carry the Jewish community on their shoulders, that unforgettable season was much bigger than just basketball. They felt an obligation to play for their people and a sense of immense pride as they did what they could to lift up their brothers and sisters in Israel and bring some light into what was a very dark time.
“Rebound” is an uplifting story about resilience, and regardless of whether you are a basketball fan, this film is absolutely worth watching.
Reprinted with permission from Washington Jewish Week.