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Denver Jewish Day School makes history on the basketball court
This article was produced as part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around the world to report on issues that affect their lives.
(JTA) — After a crushing loss last year in the state championship round of 16 to Caprock Academy, the Denver Jewish Day School boys’ basketball team began the 2022-23 season hungrier than ever and ready to prove themselves. That drive paid off in March when the Tigers became Class 1A state champions, the first-ever crown for the pluralistic Jewish community K-12 day school.
But to get there, they had to pull off a 15-point comeback against the reigning state champions, battle through antisemitism on and off the court and travel more than an hour and a half each way for their final three games.
Winning the state championship was not only a monumental moment for the school, but it was also only the third time ever that a Jewish day school had won its state basketball championship.
The Tigers dominated the regular season, ending with a 22-3 record and becoming the number two ranked team behind the Belleview Christian Bruins. Going into the playoffs, the Tigers were on the lookout for the Bruins, who had delivered them one of their few regular-season losses. However, during the playoffs, the Tigers outplayed the Bruins twice in both the district and state championships, delivering Belleview their only two losses of the season and securing the championship.
Last year’s playoff loss against Caprock Academy, located 250 miles west of Denver, only provided them with more motivation. “We had a four-hour bus ride home of pure sadness and anger” on the way home, said starter Andrew Zimmerman, 18. “Everyone except the seniors were back in the gym the very next day to start getting ready for this season.” With a starting five composed of four seniors and one junior, everyone on the team knew that, for many of them, this was their last chance to win the state championship.
To add to this pressure, several players on the team experienced antisemitism from fans and players during the tournament. Some were called slurs, while others found posts on social media complaining that the game was moved because of the team’s Sabbath observance and saying that they should be forced to forfeit instead. However, the Tigers ignored what people were saying and focused on what they were best at: playing basketball.
The two other Jewish schools that have won their basketball state championships were Shalhevet, an Orthodox Jewish high school of about 260 students in Los Angeles that won the California women’s Division IV basketball state championship only a few days before the Tigers, and the Yavneh Academy of Dallas, a Modern Orthodox school, whose boys’ basketball team won the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools’ 3A title in 2020.
Winning the state championship as a Jewish day school is “just incredible for the whole Jewish community, and the fact that it’s so rare for it to happen makes it even more special,” said Coach Michael Foonberg. “There’s also a stereotype of [there being very few good] Jewish athletes. And you can overcome that with hard work and commitment and dedication. To stay the course and do it with this Jewish school and being Jewish myself, it was something that I just dreamed about, and to fulfill it is just incredible.”
Jews value athletic achievement as a statement of minority pride, according to Howard Megdal, a Jewish sports writer who covers basketball and specifically women’s sports, especially if a team wins a championship. “It is always significant, particularly in athletics, to see Jewish people excel,” he said. “At a time of rising antisemitism, this is especially important to the Jewish people.”
For DJDS, winning was about more than just bringing a trophy back to Denver. They were playing for something bigger than themselves.“Winning is just such a big accomplishment, and it’s something that we did for our school and for the Jewish community,” said starter Jonathan Noam, 17. “In the huddle, we always break it with ‘Mishpacha’ [family] because that’s the idea that we play with in our heads. DJDS is like one big mishpacha, along with the Jewish community in Denver. Everybody knows each other. Everybody is so tight-knit. It’s like we’re one big family. [We won] it for everybody.”
Fans and team members worried that DJDS would not be able to compete in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s state championship tournament due to the team’s Sabbath observance. However, according to Josh Lake, the athletic director of DJDS, “The changes to the tournament this year were in place for well over a decade. [CHSAA Associate Commissioner Bethany Brookens] and I meet yearly to make sure the accommodations are kosher for the particular season based on when the tournament is scheduled.”
Recently, the state association has been much more accommodating of DJDS’s Sabbath observance. “CHSAA respected the fact that we were Jewish and that we keep Shabbos and are not allowed to play on Shabbos,” said Noam. The team was able to play games typically scheduled for late Friday or Saturday afternoon on Friday afternoon and Saturday night, so the team could avoid violating the Sabbath.
According to Brookens, the Sabbath accommodations for DJDS have “been in place and communicated well before this year.”
While CHSAA respected the team’s Sabbath observance, fans and parents of opposing players were unhappy with the scheduling changes and expressed antisemitic sentiments against the team from the stands and on social media, according to starter Gavin Foonberg, son of Coach Foonberg, 18, and starter Elan Schinagel, 17. “We always run into [antisemitism]. It happened in the playoffs against McClave. “There were some people calling our fans ‘dirty Jews,’” said Schinagel, “You just have to be the bigger person when that type of stuff happens. It happens generally once or twice a season.”
Fellow starter Gavin Foonberg also experienced antisemitism at the tournament. “After we beat McClave, there was a bunch of talk, all over Twitter and CHSAA Instagram, about how [DJDS] is cheating because we had the game moved back farther because we can’t play on Shabbat,” he said. The team also experienced antisemitism during the regular season at a game against Lyons. “At Lyons, there definitely was [antisemitism]. [The fans] called our JV team “K*kes” at one point.”
Some commenters complained on Facebook after the state high school athletic association agreed to let the Denver Jewish Day School play their basketball games at a time other than Shabbat. (Via Facebook; JTA illustration by Mollie Suss)
DJDS prepares the players to deal with antisemitism. According to school policy, if they encounter antisemitism, they are taught to tell their coach or a school administrator immediately. “It’s not a great feeling knowing that we have to prepare for that, but it is a good feeling knowing that our kids know what to do,” said Assistant Coach Matan Halzel.
Despite the protocol, the athletic director of DJDS, Josh Lake, did not receive any reports of antisemitism directly. “No one has shared with me any [reports of ] antisemitic behavior at the district, regional, or state tournament this year,” he said. One of the players only discussed the antisemitic experiences he witnessed within the team and said he did not report it because he was used to such behavior.
Officials at McClave said that no one had contacted them about any alleged antisemitism. ”No one from the Denver Jewish Day School contacted myself or any other administrator during or after the tournament, so this is the first I am hearing of any issues,” said Maggie Pacino, principal of McClave. However, ”Had I or any other school administrator heard such comments we would have immediately dealt with those involved.”
Administrators at Lyons said they could not comment on the specifics of the antisemitic incident reported by Tigers players due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, even though that federal privacy law only covers personal information on a student’s record. “What I can share with you is that whenever our school receives a report of conduct outside of the very high standards we hold for our students, we conduct a thorough investigation and take appropriate disciplinary action as necessary,” said Christopher Frank, principal of Lyons.
Tiger center Zimmerman said an adult fan supporting McClave walked past and called him a “dirty f–cking Jew.” A DJDS fan who saw it happen told him that the man had been saying similar things the entire game. Zimmerman did not respond to the comment and walked away.
Notwithstanding the antisemitism, the state championship win is still a bright spot for the Jewish community and a huge win for Jewish athletes around the nation.
The win “is history and is something that you’ll never forget,” said Halzel. “It’s etched in stone. We have a trophy, we have a banner, we have a signed ball that’s already in the trophy case. These are memories that will never be taken away from us.”
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The post Denver Jewish Day School makes history on the basketball court appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Why the Super Bowl antisemitism ad uses a familiar slur
To the editors:
The sticky note cruelly slapped on a high school student’s backpack didn’t have to say “Dirty Jew.”
It could have been any one of dozens of other antisemitic slurs, and believe me, throughout my life and current line of work, I’ve seen and heard them all. At the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, our Command Center closely tracks the spread of antisemitism online, in all its pernicious forms.
In his piece for the Forward about our new Super Bowl ad, PJ Grisar argues that the ad misses the mark by using “Dirty Jew,” characterizing it as old-fashioned and out of touch with the heavily coded, meme-driven ways students typically express antisemitism today.
We’ve seen all of those slurs gaining traction among younger people that Grisar gave as examples of how kids hate today.
But we didn’t pull “Dirty Jew” out of the history books. In creating the ad, the Blue Square Alliance made a conscious decision to follow the research. Our decisions are based on data, from the one billion social media posts we analyze daily, to our semi-annual 7,000-participant survey on American sentiment toward Jews and antisemitism, to our multi-stage audience testing that is foundational to our creative development.
Here’s the hard data: With nearly 500 million social media impressions since 2023, “Dirty Jew” is a slur that has managed to penetrate all corners of American discourse. Worse yet, its usage online has increased by 174% in the past three years, growing at a significantly higher rate than other slurs. And sadly, the last few years have seen more than a few disturbing and real incidents of the scenario in the ad play out in real life. In U.S. high schools. Right now. Not 1950.
This data-guided approach drove our selection of “Dirty Jew” among all the possible antisemitic slurs as the one to appear on the sticky note. Even though at first glance this phraseology may seem dated, it’s actually timeless and ubiquitous — scarily — and is even outpacing other slurs in frequency of use.
So, whether you’re a Boomer, Millennial or Gen Z, there’s no subtlety to what this ad is showing you: this is antisemitism, pure and simple. And, as Grisar acknowledges in his piece, the challenge of storytelling within a 30-second ad window requires a clear, unambiguous message. In that short time, clarity beats complexity.
It was also important to us to use the high school setting and focus our ad on a younger demographic because that is where we have seen the most concerning trends in antisemitism data. Our most recent survey data shows that Gen Z is three times more likely to witness antisemitism than older generations, and yet nearly twice as likely to say it is not a problem.
At the heart of this campaign is Blue Square Alliance’s dedication to addressing another data point: more than 100 million Americans say they are unengaged in the collective effort to stand up against anti-Jewish hate. We have spent the past few years closely studying this segment, and our surveys show that unengaged Americans often don’t know Jewish Americans, they aren’t familiar with antisemitism (their news feeds and social feeds don’t share the awful stories that we all know too well), and they don’t think antisemitism is a significant problem. Importantly, they don’t feel personal or societal pressure to be an ally.
That’s exactly why we’re using the Super Bowl — a cultural touchstone for the entire country — to raise awareness and model allyship. We test all of our ads, including “Sticky Note” and our earlier ads like “Tony,” specifically with this target audience. What we’re seeing is promising.
Among the unengaged, exposure to our messaging measurably shifts attitudes: viewers become 36% more familiar with recent antisemitic incidents and 41% more likely to see antisemitism as a major problem in the United States. And the impact doesn’t stop at awareness — it moves people to act. After seeing our ads, unengaged viewers are 27% more likely to say they would speak up when they witness antisemitism.
And our work to cultivate allies extends far beyond the television screen. We complement our social media, outdoor and audio campaigns with on-the-ground bridge-building to strengthen connections with Americans across communities and reach those who have not yet been meaningfully involved in this issue. Over the past year, we’ve expanded our programs to bring more people into the conversation, like our partnership with UNCF and Hillel International, now on a 14-stop “Unity Dinner” tour, to connect Black and Jewish students on campuses nationwide. And last fall, we joined with the Appeal of Conscience Foundation to launch “Stand Up Sunday,” an interfaith effort that mobilized hundreds of thousands of congregants across the nation to reject antisemitism and all faith-based hate.
Our founder, Robert Kraft, created the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate in 2019 because he recognized that reversing the rise in antisemitism would require both awareness and empathy.
With “Sticky Note,” we’re showing what it means to be an upstander and giving Americans a clear, accessible way to step off the sidelines. We won’t simply win over the unengaged through displays of toughness and bravado alone, as some people have suggested. To reach the unengaged majority, you have to meet them where they are — not where we, as a deeply committed Jewish community, already stand.
The post Why the Super Bowl antisemitism ad uses a familiar slur appeared first on The Forward.
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Amid Iran Standoff, Witkoff and Kushner Pose Aboard USS Abraham Lincoln Aircraft Carrier
Steve Witkoff (R) aboard the aircraft carrier Lincoln. Photo via i24 / social media used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law
i24 News – Special US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited on Saturday the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier.
The duo, who led the US in the indirect nuclear talks with Iran on Friday, visited the aircraft carrier at the invitation of US Central Command chief, Adm. Brad Cooper.
The carrier arrived in the region last week as part of a US “armada” amid rising tensions with the Islamic regime of Iran. It is stationed in the Arabian Sea.
The visit came hours after US President Donald Trump stated that while the talks went well, “But I think Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly, as they should. Last time, they decided maybe not to do it, but I think they probably feel differently. We’ll see what the deal is. It’ll be different than last time. And we have a big armada. We have a big fleet heading in that direction. It’ll be there pretty soon. So we’ll see how that works out.”
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Pentagon Says It Will Cut Academic Ties With Harvard University
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives to administer the oath to U.S. Army National Guard soldiers during a re-enlistment ceremony at the base of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on Friday his department was ending professional military education, fellowships, and certificate programs with Harvard University, marking the Trump administration’s latest escalation against the school.
President Donald Trump’s administration has cracked down on top US universities, including Harvard, over a range of issues such as pro-Palestinian protests against US ally Israel’s assault on Gaza, diversity programs, transgender policies and climate initiatives.
“Starting now and beginning in the 2026-27 school year, I am discontinuing all graduate level Professional Military Education (PME), all fellowships and certificate programs between Harvard University and the War Department for active duty service members,” Hegseth, who himself holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, said on X.
The policy will apply to service members enrolling in future programs while those currently enrolled will be allowed to finish their courses, Hegseth said.
He also added that the Pentagon will evaluate similar relationships with other universities in the coming weeks.
Rights advocates have raised free speech, academic freedom and due process concerns over the government’s actions against universities.
A Harvard spokesperson directed Reuters to a page on the history of the university’s ties with the US military that says Harvard has played a “significant role” in America’s military traditions since the nation’s founding.
TRUMP-HARVARD TENSIONS CONTINUE
The university has previously sued the Trump administration over the government’s attempt to freeze federal funding.
Hegseth accused Harvard of “hate America activism,” also calling the university antisemitic in a reference to pro-Palestinian protests.
Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government wrongly equates criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza with antisemitism and advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism.
Harvard has condemned discrimination on campus. Its antisemitism and Islamophobia task forces found last year that Jews and Muslims faced bigotry after the start of Israel’s war in Gaza following an October 2023 Hamas attack.
Trump’s attempts to freeze federal funds for Harvard have faced legal resistance and the two sides have failed to reach a deal thus far.
Trump said this week his administration was seeking $1 billion from Harvard to settle probes into school policies.
Some Ivy League schools have reached agreements with the Trump administration and accepted certain government demands. Columbia University has agreed to pay more than $220 million to the government while Brown University has agreed to pay $50 million to support local workforce development.