50 | FEBRUARY 16 • 2023 

SPORTS

A

ri Eizen hadn’t been to the David 
Tanzman Memorial Tournament 
at Farber Hebrew Day School in 
Southfield since 2018.
That was the basketball tournament’s 
first year. It was an especially meaningful 
tournament for Eizen, then a Farber high 
school senior, because he was one of the 
tournament founders.
After graduating from Farber and 
studying in Israel, Eizen is back home.
He’s a graduate student pursuing a 
master’s degree in sports management 
at the University of Michigan, and 
he’s coaching the Farber junior varsity 
basketball team.
Rick Kaczander coaches the Farber 
varsity basketball team. He was Eizen’s 
coach when he was on the team.
All that brought Eizen to the fifth 
annual Tanzman tournament last month, 
watching what he helped start and helping 
Kaczander coach the Farber basketball 
team.
Eizen witnessed firsthand what the 
Farber community — students, staff, 
administrators, alumni and alumni parents 
— does every year to put on the four-day, 
six-team tournament, which actually is six 

years old but wasn’t held in 2021 because of 
the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was so cool to be there. An incredible 
experience,
” Eizen said.
High school basketball teams from 
small Jewish day schools compete in 
the tournament each year. This year’s 
tournament had teams from Atlanta, 
Columbus (Ohio), Denver, Pittsburgh and 
Montreal, along with Farber.
Eizen said it took a year for tournament 
co-founder Ari Ershler and himself to con-

vince Farber officials to put on the tourna-
ment. Ershler was a junior at Farber when 
the inaugural 2018 tournament was held.
The tournament was Eizen’s idea.
The idea had its roots in his family’s 
close relationship with Tanzman, one of 
Farber’s founders, who died in 2016. Farber 
opened in 1964 as Akiva Hebrew Day 
School.
Eizen’s family attends Young Israel of 
Oak Park, like Tanzman did.
“I used to call him Saba [grandfather] 
Dave,
” Eizen said. “He was always asking 
about how the Farber basketball team 
was doing. He was engaged. That’s why I 
thought a basketball tournament at Farber 
would be a great way to honor him.
”
Eizen’s younger brother Micah helped 
keep the tournament going as one of the 
organizers. Ari said Micah convinced 
Farber officials to expand the tournament 
field from four to six teams in the tourna-
ment’s third year.
“Student involvement in the tournament 
has been very important,
” Ari said. “The 
tournament logo was designed by Chana 
Fischer when she was a Farber student.
” 

Send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

FARBER HEBREW DAY SCHOOL

Ari Eizen, whose idea hatched the David Tanzman 
Memorial Tournament, returns to Farber to see 
how the tournament has grown.

Back Where It Started

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Ari Eizen visits with Rick Kaczander, his 
basketball coach at Farber.

quick hits
BY STEVE STEIN 

Ex-Tiger Ian 
Kinsler Returns 
to Rangers

Former Detroit Tigers second 
baseman Ian Kinsler has rejoined 
the Texas Rangers — the 
organization that drafted him and 
where he began his 14-year Major 
League Baseball career — as a 
special assistant to the general 
manager.
Before he begins those duties, 
Kinsler will manage Team Israel at 

the 2023 World Baseball Classic in 
March. He played for Team Israel in 
the 2020 Summer Olympics. Last 
summer, he was one of five torch 
carriers at the opening ceremony 
for the Maccabiah Games in Israel.
Kinsler, 40, spent the past three 
seasons as a special assistant for 
baseball operations and player 
development with the San Diego 
Padres.
He was a four-time All-Star, two-
time Gold Glove winner and 2018 
World Series champion with the 
Boston Red Sox during his playing 

career and a 2022 inductee into 
the Texas Rangers Baseball Hall 
of Fame.
The Rangers picked Kinsler 
in the 17th round of the 2003 
MLB draft out of the University of 
Missouri. He played for Texas for 
eight seasons before being traded 
to the Tigers in November 2013 for 
Prince Fielder.
He was with the Tigers from 
2014-17, winning a Gold Glove in 
2016. He later played for the Los 
Angeles Angels (2018), Red Sox 
(2018) and Padres (2019).
Ian Kinsler

MLB.COM

