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Yeshiva University fans prepare to welcome back Ryan Turell for his first G League game in New York — right after Shabbat
(JTA) — Ryan Turell may be from Los Angeles, but when he returns to New York as a member of an NBA G League team on Feb. 4, the game will represent a homecoming of sorts.
Turell, the former Yeshiva University basketball star who in October became the first known Orthodox player to be drafted into the G League, is returning to New York for the first time this season, as his Motor City Cruise — the Detroit Pistons’ minor league affiliate — take on the Long Island Nets at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
The 6-foot-7 forward has drawn a growing crowd of Jewish fans in Detroit as an openly Orthodox player who wears a kippah on the court. But the Feb. 4 game will be the first opportunity for Y.U. fans to see their former star in action since he graduated.
“I don’t think people realize, there’s so many Y.U. fans that have watched Ryan play for four years at Y.U., and now they’re going to have a chance to see him in a G League uniform in New York,” said Simmy Cohen, a Y.U. superfan who works in marketing.
The game will tip off at 7 p.m. Saturday night, an hour after Shabbat will end. That wasn’t always the plan: Brad Turell, Ryan’s father, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the matchup was originally scheduled for 11 a.m. — which would present a challenge for those who do not travel on Shabbat. He and another observant fan both contacted the Nets about the conflict.
“We just told the Nets, hey, by the way, you have Ryan Turell, it’s his return to New York, a lot of Jews from Long Island and the surrounding area would love to attend, if you made the game after sundown,” Brad Turell said.
Within 24 hours, the game was moved to 7 p.m.
“They got it. They understood it, they didn’t question it, they didn’t say there’s red tape,” Brad Turell said.
Brad Turell, a communications executive at a Los Angeles talent agency, said he and his family have been to seven of Ryan’s games in Detroit, plus the three recent matchups in Los Angeles. He said he “wouldn’t miss” the game in New York.
Cohen, who grew up near the Nets arena on Long Island, also said he will be at the Feb. 4 game. He anticipates that quite a few of his fellow Y.U. Maccabees fans will be there, too.
“I’m predicting that it’s going to be really, really wild,” Cohen said. “And it’s interesting, because he’s playing for the road team. A lot of the fans coming to the game are going to be chanting for him, wearing blonde wigs or wearing his shirts, and screaming for one specific opposing player who’s on the bench more than he’s on the floor. And chanting ‘We want Ryan!’ I’m going to be leading that if no one else will.”
Brad Turell said his son’s return to New York could be “emotional and cathartic” for Y.U. fans — and that some singing may even break out in the stands, as is customary at Maccabees games. (Another aspect of the celebration: Feb. 4 is the day after Turell’s 24th birthday.)
The wigs Cohen referenced are just one way Turell fans have shown their support for the golden-haired prospect: There are Turell-branded shirts — including a special one for the Feb. 4 game that is no longer available — plus branded kippahs, sweatshirts and hats for sale on his website.
Special Ryan Turell shirts being made for the 2/4 game, in case you doubted how big that event is gonna be pic.twitter.com/X58U7TvJNx
— jewboy media (@simmy_cohen) January 23, 2023
Cohen, a self-described “extremely online fan of Jews in sports,” said he started following Turell a few years ago, during the Maccabees’ unlikely 50-game winning streak.
“I was really interested in their success and jumped on the bandwagon when they were winning a billion games in a row and having so much success and kind of taking DIII by surprise,” Cohen said. “And how the Jewish community was rallying behind them, I got into that.”
For Brad Turell, Jewish fans’ embrace of his son has been “the most satisfying aspect of this entire journey,” he said.
“They’re proud that this guy — who wears a yarmulke and proudly represents Yeshiva University and the Jewish people — is getting his shot, and that all the hype that surrounded Ryan in college, which was quite phenomenal, was real,” Brad Turell said. “He is good. The fact is, you can’t play in the G League unless you are really good.”
Ryan Turell wears a kippah when he plays. (Courtesy Motor City Cruise)
Ryan Turell told JTA at a November game in Detroit that he appreciates all of the Jewish fan support. “Jews love basketball. They really do,” he said. “The Jewish community is incredible, them coming out and cheering me on. It really means the world to me. And it’s special, because it’s bigger than basketball.”
Turell has appeared in 27 of the Cruise’s 30 games between the preseason Showcase Cup and regular season this year, playing off the bench. He’s averaging 14.3 minutes during the regular season (out of 48 in each game), with 4.2 points per game.
Turell’s best performance of the regular season was his first: he scored 21 points in less than 18 minutes on Dec. 27.
“He’s the perfect guy to have this happen to,” Cohen said. “He’s just such a mensch, on and off the court. Cheering on his teammates, helping people up when they fall down, things like that.”
But for Cohen, Turell’s appeal transcends his ability to sink three-pointers.
“He’s always talking about and thanking Hashem [God], and he’s talking about being a Jewish hero and a Jewish role model,” Cohen said.
For fans who can’t make it on Feb. 4, the Cruise will be back in Long Island in March — on Purim. Cohen pointed out that the timing of the game, 11 a.m., may be auspicious for those who observe the holiday.
“After you hear megillah and before you have your seudah [the festive Purim afternoon meal], what else are people doing in that in-between time on Purim?” Cohen said. “It could be something that kind of bridges the gap of the day.”
Brad Turell said the timing of the March 7 game is perfect — perhaps even divine.
“If you didn’t think Hashem was looking down upon this situation and helping this out, you look at that and say [Ryan] is going to be in Long Island at 11 a.m. on Purim day. How does that happen?” he said. “A day when all the kids are off school, where everyone’s in a great mood. This is a great family activity, and it’s an 11 a.m. game. It’s just fantastic.”
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US-Brokered Peace Talks Break Off Without Deal After Overnight Russian Bombardment of Ukraine
Some windows glow in a residential building left without heating and facing long power cuts after critical civil infrastructure was hit by recent Russian missile and drone strikes, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, January 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Alina Smutko
Ukraine and Russia ended a second day of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi on Saturday without a deal but with more talks expected next weekend, even as overnight Russian airstrikes knocked out power for over a million Ukrainians amid subzero winter cold.
Statements after the conclusion of the talks did not indicate that any agreements had been reached, but Moscow and Kyiv both said they were open to further dialogue.
“The central focus of the discussions was the possible parameters for ending the war,” President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X after the meeting.
More discussions were expected next Sunday in Abu Dhabi, said a US official who spoke to reporters immediately after the talks.
“We saw a lot of respect in the room between the parties because they were really looking to find solutions,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We got to real granular detail and (we feel) that next Sunday will be, God willing, another meeting where we push this deal towards its final culmination.”
A UAE government spokesperson said there was face-to-face engagement between Ukraine and Russia — rare in the almost four-year-old war triggered by a full-scale Russian invasion — and negotiators tackled “outstanding elements” of Washington’s peace framework.
Looking beyond next week’s negotiations in Abu Dhabi, the US official voiced hopes for further talks, possibly in Moscow or Kyiv.
“Those sorts of meetings have to happen, in our view, before we get a bilateral between (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and Zelensky, or a trilateral with Putin, Zelensky and President Trump. But I don’t think we’re so far away from that,” the official said.
BOMBARDMENT OF UKRAINE BEFORE SECOND DAY OF TALKS
The bombardment of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and its second-largest city Kharkiv by hundreds of Russian drones and missiles prompted Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha – who was not at the talks – to accuse Putin of acting “cynically.”
“This barbaric attack once again proves that Putin’s place is not at (US President Donald Trump’s) Board of Peace, but in the dock of the special tribunal,” Sybiha wrote on X.
“His missiles hit not only our people, but also the negotiation table.”
Saturday was scheduled to be the final day of the talks, billed by Zelensky as the first trilateral meeting under the US-mediated peace process.
The UAE statement said the talks were conducted in a “constructive and positive atmosphere” and included discussions about confidence-building measures.
Kyiv is under mounting Trump administration pressure to make concessions to reach a deal to end Europe’s deadliest and most destructive conflict since World War Two.
US peace envoy Steve Witkoff said at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos this week that a lot of progress had been made in the talks and only one sticking point remained. However, Russian officials have sounded more skeptical.
RUSSIA WANTS ALL OF DONBAS
After Saturday’s talks, Zelensky said the US delegation had raised the issue of “potential formats for formalizing the parameters for ending the war, as well as the security conditions required to achieve this”.
The US official said the proposed security protocols were widely seen as “very, very strong.”
“The Ukrainians and many of the national security advisors of all the European countries have reviewed these security protocols. And to a person, and this includes NATO, including (NATO Secretary General) Mark Rutte, they have expressed the fact that they’ve never seen security protocols this robust,” the official said.
Ahead of the discussions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday Russia had not dropped its insistence on Ukraine yielding all of its eastern area of Donbas, the industrial heartland grouping the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Putin’s demand that Ukraine surrender the 20 percent it still holds of Donetsk – about 5,000 sq km (1,900 sq miles) – has proven a major stumbling block to any deal. Most countries recognize Donetsk as part of Ukraine. Putin says Donetsk is part of Russia’s “historical lands.”
Zelensky has ruled out giving up territory that Russia has not been able to capture in four years of grinding, attritional warfare against a much smaller foe. Polls show little appetite among Ukrainians for any territorial concessions.
Russia says it wants a diplomatic solution but will keep working to achieve its goals by military means as long as a negotiated solution remains elusive.
Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said late on Friday that the first day of talks had addressed parameters for ending the war and the “further logic of the negotiation process.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine came under renewed Russian bombardment.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 375 drones and 21 missiles in the overnight salvo, which once again targeted energy infrastructure, knocking out power and heat for large parts of Kyiv, the capital. At least one person was killed and over 30 injured.
Before Saturday’s bombardment, Kyiv had already endured two mass overnight attacks since the New Year that cut electricity and heating to hundreds of residential buildings. Ukraine’s deputy prime minister said on Saturday that 800,000 people in Kyiv – where temperatures were around -10 degrees Celsius – had been left without power after the latest Russian assault.
Zelensky said on Saturday Russia’s heavy overnight strikes showed that agreements on further air defense support made with Trump in Davos this week must be “fully implemented.”
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Conscription Law Heads to Final Vote in Knesset Amid Political Showdown
A drone view of Jerusalem with the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, Feb. 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
i24 News – Israel’s conscription law is reaching its final stretch as the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is expected to complete its discussions this week before bringing it to a first reading vote in the Knesset plenum, i24NEWS’s Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) affairs correspondent Ari Kalman reported Sunday.
The legal counsel of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is expected to support the legislation, subject to changes that will be made in the wording of the law. However, it is not certain that this will satisfy its opponents. Meanwhile, opponents of the law within the coalition insist that they have “a majority that can defeat the law.”
Against the backdrop of the crisis with the Haredi parties, the state budget is expected to be brought to a first reading vote on Monday. Recently, i24NEWS reported that the Knesset’s legal advisor, Attorney Sagit Afik, told Knesset members that at least two months are required from the moment it is placed on the Knesset table until its final approval. Therefore, the coalition is required to submit it this week in order for it to be approved on time.
The problem facing the coalition and Prime Minister Netanyahu is that this year there is not enough time to pass the budget by the end of March, as Passover Eve falls on April 1, and therefore the budget needs to be approved in its third reading by March 25, two months from today.
Amid the pressure and the attempt to bring the budget to a vote, the Hasidic Council of Torah Sages published its decision this month against the conscription law: “The Council expresses its deep pain and concern over the campaign of harassment against Torah students by various authorities, the harm to them and to their rights, their public denigration and humiliation for being students of God’s Torah; something that is becoming increasingly severe.”
They also wrote that the Council of Torah Sages demands a law “without personal and institutional sanctions and without arrests, as has been customary all these years. Any other legislation that harms Torah scholars whose Torah study is their profession, imposes sanctions on them, or sets quotas is unacceptable. And it must be opposed with all force.”
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Syria and Kurdish Forces Extend Ceasefire by 15 Days Amid Rising Tensions
A person holds flags as people celebrate after the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controls much of Syria’s oil-rich northeast, has signed a deal agreeing to integrate into Syria’s new state institutions, the Syrian presidency said on Monday, in Damascus, Syria, March 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
i24 News – A four-day ceasefire between Syrian government forces and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which expired on Saturday night, has been extended by 15 days, officials from both sides said, providing a temporary respite amid rising tensions in northeast Syria.
The extension, effective from 11 PM local time, was announced by Syria’s defense ministry to support an ongoing US operation transferring Islamic State detainees from Syrian prisons into Iraq. The SDF confirmed the agreement was reached through international mediation, while dialogue with Damascus continues.
The ceasefire follows recent advances by government troops, who seized swathes of northern and eastern territory from the SDF in the past two weeks, consolidating control under President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Sharaa had initially given SDF forces until Saturday to lay down arms or face renewed fighting.
The US has been conducting shuttle diplomacy to establish a lasting ceasefire and facilitate the integration of the SDF, which was Washington’s main partner in Syria for years, into the state led by Sharaa. Senior US and French officials reportedly warned Sharaa against sending troops into remaining Kurdish-held areas to avoid potential mass abuses against civilians.
As tensions escalated ahead of the Saturday deadline, SDF forces reinforced positions in Qamishli, Hasakeh, and Kobane. Kurdish security sources indicated the buildup was precautionary amid fears of renewed conflict.
The offensive earlier this month marked the culmination of a year of rising tensions. Sharaa, whose forces toppled Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, aims to bring all of Syria under state control, while Kurdish authorities have resisted merging their autonomous civilian and military institutions into Sharaa’s administration.
With key oil fields, hydroelectric dams, and facilities holding Islamic State detainees now under government control, the 15-day ceasefire offers a brief pause. The situation remains fragile, and the international community continues to monitor developments closely.