(David Barron/Houston Chronicle)
Albert Katz and Zachary Yoshor were born three days apart at the same hospital and have spent 16½ years as friends, classmates, fellow Orthodox Jewish congregants and varsity teammates on the Beren Academy Stars basketball team. Tuesday, they and 10 teammates spent 90 minutes, after an eight-hour school day, practicing for a game that likely will not be played. It’s enough to drive a 16-year-old to a theological discussion about the vagaries of life — or, alternatively, to quoting the Rolling Stones.
“It just teaches that you can’t always get what you want,” said Katz, a 5-5 counterpart to the 6-6 Yoshor on the 23-5 Stars, who have qualified for the TAPPS Class 2A tournament but will not compete because their semifinal game Friday falls during the Jewish Sabbath.
“We are Jews, and we don’t do anything on the seventh day, and that’s how it is. There are bigger things in life than basketball.”
Because of Beren’s stance, the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools has replaced it in the 2A bracket with Kerrville Our Lady of the Hills, which lost to the Stars last week, against Dallas Covenant Christian at 9 p.m. Friday in Mansfield.
TAPPS board members declined Beren’s request to move its game to no later than 3:30 p.m. Friday, prior to the Sabbath observance at 6 p.m. The 2A title game is at 2 p.m. Saturday, which also falls within the Sabbath observance.
(Read more at Houston Chronicle)
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- UH Creates Fund to Attract STEM Faculty (Houston Chronicle)
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- Marine Vet To Head HCHA Board (KUHT Public Radio)
- Summit Tackles Preemie Problem in the Black Community (KRIV 26 News)
OPINIONS OF NOTE:
- Editorial: Let My People Play (Houston Chronicle)
- Jason Ullner: I Work for Uncle Sam, and I’m Proud of It (Washington Post)