38 | FEBRUARY 15 • 2024 J
N

T

he telltale squeak 
of basketball shoes 
on the parquet floor 
reverberated in the Farber 
Hebrew Day School gym for 
four consecutive days as the 
school hosted the sixth annual 
David Tanzman Memorial 
Tournament from Jan. 25-28.
The school hosted Jewish day 
school teams from Columbus, 
Toronto, Cleveland, Denver and 
Pittsburgh in the premier small 
school tournament in Jewish 
high school basketball. 
 Started in 2018 by students 
Ari Ershler and Ari Eizen, the 
Tanzman Tournament is unique 
in several ways. The students 
play a large role in the planning 
and running of the tournament, 
including getting sponsorships, 
running the livestream, clock 
and book, recruiting teams and 
organizing schedules. 
 In addition, the teams that 
come to the tournament are 
comprised of many players 
who know each other from 
camp or youth groups, so 
the camaraderie among the 

teams — both on and off the 
court — truly sets the Tanzman 
Tournament apart from other 
tournaments. 
 “Tanzman provides small 
schools an opportunity not 
only to attend an out-of-town 
tournament but also to compete 
on the court,
” said Dr. Josh 
Levisohn, Farber’s Head of 
School. “When you combine 
the competitiveness on the 
court with the friendships off 
of it, you find a tournament 
that is really like no other. It’s 
also amazing to see parents 
from other cities who come 
to cheer on their teams. The 

environment is electric!” 
 The teams played round 
robin games on Thursday 
night, Friday and Saturday 
night, and the playoff rounds 
on Sunday. Fuchs-Mizrachi, 
from Cleveland, emerged as the 
champion once again, defeating 
the hometown Farber team in 
the finals. 
For the Farber fans, the 
highlight of the tournament was 
a comeback victory on Saturday 
night by the Farber Fire against 
the Hillel Heat from Pittsburgh. 
Down by 13 with just 4 minutes 
left, the Farber press caused 
several turnovers, leading to 

three three-pointers and two 
fast break layups. Still down by 
one with 12 seconds left, Farber 
forced a steal and a layup with 
eight seconds left to cap the 
comeback and send the crowd 
into a frenzy. That win also 
sent the Farber squad to the 
championship game on Sunday. 
 In addition to the games, 
the tournament includes a 
Shabbaton with all of the 
teams staying in homes in the 
Southfield area. 
The Shabbaton took place at 
the Young Israel of Southfield, 
which warmly greeted all of the 
teams for the entire weekend. 
 Farber high school operations 
coordinator Naomi Gardin 
captained the professional 
side of the effort and, in her 
honor, friends from Southfield 
dedicated the lead sponsorship 
of the tournament to the 
memory of Naomi’s father, 
Moishe Goldstein, who passed 
away just one month ago. 
Next year’s Tanzman 
Tournament is scheduled for 
Jan. 23-26. 

Farber Hebrew Day School holds sixth annual Tanzman Tournament.
A Tournament Like No Other

RACHEL LOPATIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS 

OUR COMMUNITY

The Farber 
team and staff

Dr. Josh Levisohn, Gideon Lopatin, Micah 
Adler, Naomi Gardin and Elianna Jacobs

