but found Hillel on Thurs-
day nights best. On game
nights, they pick teams, play
several run-and-gun contests
— the first team that reaches
seven points wins — and
usually quit by 11 p.m.
Rabbi Gershon, who
graduated with Rabbi
Pachter from JTS, says the
game is "a manifestation of
our friendship. Rabbis and
Jewish professionals often
live in isolation and it means
a lot to have professionals
around who are your peers
and whom you can call for
advice."
Rabbi Gershon also plays
racquetball and is doing
weight-training and aerobics
with a personal trainer.
"Every time we're
together, we talk shop.
We're off in a corner
somewhere, deciding the
fate of the Jewish people,
and our wives are saying,
Top Right: Rabbi Chuck
Diamond: "It's important
for kids to see the
transition between a rabbi
wearing a three-piece suit
and a sweat suit."
Bottom Right: Rabbi Elliot
Pachter: "The synagogue
should be a place for
everyone to celebrate
Judaism."
Rabbi Diamond and Rabbi
Pachter take a break.
"Whenever one of
us does something
spectacular, we
talk about it on
the court and off
with the others.
Our playing
basketball
together is
indicative of the
kind of
relationship we
have, of how close
we are."
Rabbi Elliot
Pachter
`C'mon already, let's go to
the movies or we'll be late!' "
he says.
The four communicate
often each week. Rabbis
Pachter and Gershon teach
one class apiece at Hillel and
Dr. Smiley teaches a college-
level class at Shaarey Zedek.
"All of us being here
together really helps one an-
other out," says Rabbi
Pachter. "Whenever one of
us does something spec-
tacular, we talk about it on
the court and off with the
others. Our playing basket-
ball together is indicative of
the kind of relationship we
have, of how close we are.
"It's interesting that we
can go to that level — playing
basketball against high
school and college students
and other adults — and still
maintain respect for our
positions in the community.
It hasn't been a sacrifice to
our dignity.
"The truth is, we like to
have fun occasionally; it's
just a natural extension of
our friendship. It's also good
for our physical health."
Dr. Smiley and Rabbi
Diamond say playing the
game helps them in working
with their students.
The Hillel headmaster
squeezes in two or three lun-
ch-time rounds of roundbali
with his students each week.
For Rabbi Diamond, at 6'4"
the tallest player, basketball
has been a key tool for work-
ing with reluctant. students.
"The first week I was here,
there was a kid who didn't
want to finish his incomplete
from last year," the rabbi
says. "I asked the kid to call
me, but he told me he
couldn't come in to see me
because he needed to practice
basketball. I asked him if he
had a basketball hoop, and he
said there was one at the
neighbor's house.
"I went over there, got him
and beat him three straight
games, then looked at him
and said, 'So now what's the
problem?'
"He was sitting there with
his mouth hanging open.
The reluctance disappeared.
It's important for kids to see
the transition between a
rabbi wearing a three-piece
suit and a sweat suit."
None of the four, of course,
had an inkling they would
be reunited when Rabbis
Pachter and Gershon and
Dr. Smiley came to Detroit
in 1987.
Rabbi Pachter, at 6'3" the
second tallest member of the
quartet, is a Grand Rapids
native who lettered in
basketball as the sixth man
on the Grand Rapids East
High School team.
A University of Michigan
graduate married to Dr.
Naomi Weckstein, a native
Detroiter, Rabbi Pachter
came to share pulpit duties
with Rabbi Efry Spectre.
Rabbi Gershon, of Ocean,
N.J., was seeking his own
pulpit when his wife, Ra-
quel, encouraged him to
interview for associate rabbi
to Shaarey Zedek's Rabbi
Irwin Groner.
Dr. Smiley came to work
under then-Hillel head-
master Rabbi Robert
Abramson, now director of
the United Synagogues of
America's commission on
Jewish education.
And it was Dr. Smiley's
wife, Aviva Silverman,
Hillel's alumni coordinator,
who got the ball rolling in
Rabbi Diamond's direction
when she invited him to be a
scholar-in-residence for a
weekend when he was an
assistant rabbi at a Long
Island synagogue.
Rabbi Diamond, who had
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
29