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