Brooklyn Nets pick two Jewish players in NBA draft

June 27, 2025

By JACOB GURVIS

(JTA) — In the span of a few minutes on Wednesday, the Brooklyn Nets single-handedly doubled the Jewish population in the NBA from two to four.

The Nets selected Israeli Ben Saraf and Israeli-American Danny Wolf back...

Maccabiah Games postponed to 2026, as Israel-Iran war disruptions start to pile up

June 17, 2025

By PHILISSA CRAMER

(JTA) — The Maccabiah Games scheduled for Tel Aviv next month will be postponed to 2026 amid widespread disruption wrought by the Israel-Iran war.

The games, seen as akin to a Jewish Olympics, had been set to...

1 Jewish coach still in NCAA title contention as Todd Golden’s Florida faces Houston in men’s basketball final

April 06, 2025

By BEN SALES

(JTA) — Three Jewish coaches entered the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four on Saturday. Now, just one remains.

Florida, coached by Todd Golden, beat Auburn, coached by Bruce Pearl, 79-73 in a close game Saturday evening. It...

Danny Wolf and Bruce Pearl — two of March Madness’ most prominent Jews — are about to face off in a Shabbat Showdown

March 28, 2025

By BEN SALES

(JTA) — This year’s NCAA college basketball tournament has, so far, been a good one for its most prominent Jewish personalities. Going into Friday night, four coaches of top teams, and one star on the court, are...

Israeli-American Michigan basketball star Danny Wolf is seeking glory in March Madness — and likely the NBA

March 21, 2025

By JACOB GURVIS

(JTA) — As the first round of March Madness begins in earnest on Thursday, one of the most attention-catching players has been the University of Michigan’s 7-foot star Danny Wolf.

He’s an elite player who, barring a...

Yeshiva U falls to Tufts in first round of NCAA DIII men’s basketball tournament

March 07, 2025

By BEN SALES

(JTA) — Yeshiva University’s March Madness run has once again ended after just one game.

The Maccabees fell in the first round of the NCAA DIII men’s basketball tournament to the Tufts Jumbos 83-66 on Friday, a...

Sotheby’s to auction ‘the most complete Jewish baseball card collection in the world’

January 17, 2025

By JACOB GURVIS

(JTA) — For many Jewish fans who collect baseball cards, the joy of opening a new pack and finding a Jewish player is second to none. That was Seymour Stoll’s experience years ago when he drew a...

Agnes Keleti, Holocaust survivor who won 10 Olympic gymnastics medals, dies at 103

January 05, 2025

By PHILISSA CRAMER

(JTA) — As a teenager, Agnes Keleti’s athletic pursuits were interrupted by the Nazis, who murdered her father along with more than 500,000 other Hungarian Jews.

As a centenarian, she became a global sensation for not only...

Meet Yaniv Bazini, the Israeli forward who propelled U of Vermont to its first soccer championship

December 17, 2024

By JACOB GURVIS

(JTA) — Yaniv Bazini scored 14 goals for the University of Vermont’s Division I soccer team this season, making him one of the top scorers in the entire country. But on the eve of the championship game,...

Is Jake Paul Jewish? The boxer who beat Mike Tyson live on Netflix has Jewish ancestry.

November 17, 2024

By JACOB GURVIS

(JTA) — As a multi-hyphenate YouTube star, actor and professional boxer, Jake Paul is used to balancing several identities. The same is true about his family’s ethnic background.

The Paul family has Welsh, Irish, German, French —...