32 | OCTOBER 28 • 2021

SPORTS

T

he Jewish Men’s
Basketball League
is back after a one-
season hiatus caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s great news for guys
like 27-year-old Oak Park
resident Jared Kohlenberg,
who played in the Partners
Detroit league’s inaugural
season in 2019-20 shortly
after returning to Detroit
after working in Indianapolis
and will play in the league
again this season.
“I enjoyed playing in the
league,” Kohlenberg said.
“I’ve played sports all my life.
I love to do anything athletic.
It’s difficult finding time for
that now with work and other
obligations.
“I already knew a lot of
guys in the league, and I met
a lot of guys.”
Kohlenberg said the league
struck the delicate balance of
camaraderie and competition.
“It was definitely
competitive,” he said. “There
was trash talking, including
by me, but all in good fun.
Nothing malicious.”
Partners Detroit — a
division of Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah — has a goal
of uniting the Jewish
community through
education and activities.

The activities include
sports. Flag football and
tennis are other sports
offerings besides basketball.
Shmuli Wolf organizes the
sports activities.
After having 80 players on
10 teams in the inaugural
Jewish Men’s Basketball
League season, Wolf is hoping
those numbers will bump up
this season, which will begin
Dec. 13 and continue for 10
more Monday nights for the
regular season and playoffs.
The final night of the
league season will be March
14.
Games will be played
once again at the Beech
Woods Recreation Center in
Southfield.
“About 70 guys have signed
up for the basketball league
so far. I’d love to have about
90,” Wolf said last week.
More than 70% of those
who had registered by last
week are returnees to the
league. That didn’t surprise
Wolf.
“We had a lot of good
feedback about the league,”
he said.
Players rate their
basketball skills on the league
registration form and teams
are put together to make each
one competitive.

Wolf said there also is an
effort to bring together Jews
from across the community
on each team.
“We don’t want guys
playing with only their
friends,” Wolf said.
Basketball players who
want to play in the league
need to contact Wolf as soon
as possible because of all
the organizational work that
needs to be done.
Send an email to Swolf@
partnersdetroit.org or call
him at (917) 588-2298.
Kohlenberg and basketball
go back many years.
He played for West
Bloomfield High School, in
the Kenny Goldman League
at the Jewish Community

Center of Metropolitan
Detroit in West Bloomfield,
and three times for Detroit
teams in the JCC Maccabi
Games.
More than a decade ago, he
had a starring role in one of
the most amazing stories in
Detroit Maccabi history.
Kohlenberg was a member
of the shorthanded Detroit
U16 boys basketball team that
somehow won a silver medal
in 2010 in Denver.
The team had just seven
players.
Injuries left Detroit with
only five healthy players — in
other words, no substitutes —
for the championship game
against San Antonio.
To make matters worse,
a Detroit player fouled out
early in the fourth quarter.
Detroit played a man short
the rest of the game.
Kohlenberg was one of the
four Detroit players left on
the court who battled San
Antonio to the bitter end
of a 54-47 loss, earning the
respect and cheers of the
estimated 100 spectators.
A Detroit player fouled
out late in the third quarter
of a semifinal game against

Jewish Men’s
Basketball League
Tips Of
Again

One enthusiastic player was a member
of the remarkable Detroit Maccabi
basketball team that won silver in 2010.

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jared
Kohlenberg

Steven Hertzberg puts up a
shot during a Jewish Men’s
Basketball League game in
2019.

JARED KOHLENBERG

PARTNERS DETROIT