'It's the coolest thing ever': Bruce Pearl, Auburn inspire Jewish students visiting campus, community

AUBURN — For the second time in three years, a special group of high school students from across the country visited the community of Auburn, Alabama, and more specifically, experienced Auburn basketball at the invitation of head coach Bruce Pearl.

From states such as New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida, around 125 students traveled to Auburn this week to accomplish a few things: play basketball in a tournament against local competition, provide community service around the Auburn-Opelika area, and attend Auburn basketball practice and the game against Oklahoma.

The opportunity and life experience is hard to put into words for Athletes for Israel CEO Daniel Posner.

“We have all come to Auburn to support the school, the community, the university, for being so open and welcoming to Jewish students, and for bringing this Auburn team to Israel a couple of years ago,” Posner told Auburn Live.

The group of students played in a basketball tournament at the Frank Brown Recreation Center, and attended various community service projects during the day on Monday and Tuesday, in addition to touring the campus, talking to coaches, players, and experiencing what the city of Auburn had to offer.

Posner’s organization helped gather students and plan this week’s trip, as well as a trip to Auburn two years ago to watch the Tigers open the season against George Mason. The organization also brought students to the Legends Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y. last season, where Auburn won games against Notre Dame and St. Bonaventure.

The organization and its students’ love for Auburn was really birthed when Pearl took his program to Israel to visit the country and play against the Israeli national team in 2022.

“We all followed it closely. We all watched the games on ESPN. It was an incredible experience for everyone,” Posner said.

“I remember when Auburn played their last game against the Israeli professionals and Pearl finished his interview and there were 400 kids singing and chanting his name, just praising him and the team. After the game, he gave one of the most rip-roaring speeches that was just so meaningful and powerful. At the end of his speech, he said, ‘you are all my guests in Auburn, Alabama.'”

Pearl followed through.

“For our students to come and see a SEC basketball game, to interact with players, coaches, go to practice, that is an experience that is just indescribable. It’s something they will cherish. The first time we came, I got feedback from all the schools about how amazing it was that they all wanted to to sign up and do it again,” Posner said.

“I heard that at the valedictorian speeches of these schools, almost every one had a quote, generally from an experience that they had at Auburn. It was a quote from Pearl about something he said that inspired them, or a quote from one of the coaches, or players. It really inspired these kids about what it means to be a SEC athlete, what it means to be on a campus like this, what it means to be in Auburn, Alabama, a place that most of our kids had never dreamed of coming to or even thinking about visiting.”

Posner has grown to love Auburn so much in fact, that he and his son traveled to the Maui Invitational in November to watch the Tigers beat Iowa State, North Carolina and Memphis.

“We had a big billboard that said, ‘Israel loves Auburn.’ I can’t tell you how many people came over to us and thanked us, taking pictures. It was so heartwarming.”

For Pearl, the relationship with Posner is a “dream come true.”

When Auburn visited Israel, Pearl began researching Jewish philanthropy. He was introduced to Posner and their bond grew from there. In fact, Posner was so inspired by meeting Pearl and their shared vision for community outreach in relation to the Jewish communities across the country, Posner wrote a $100,000 check sight unseen to Auburn athletics foundation Tigers Unlimited to help fund the team’s trip to Israel.

“This is sort of a cultural exchange. We have a wonderful Jewish community here in Auburn, but it’s small. Having all these students here just breathes life into our students here at Auburn that they aren’t alone. It also completely breaks down the stereotype of the Deep South,” Pearl told Auburn Live.

“They come to Auburn and are welcomed, and have a different cultural experience. They recognize the quality of education here at Auburn, and they will go back home and talk about how they were treated so well and had such a great experience. These students are going to be like, ‘man, Auburn was awesome and we were treated so well.’ And right now, for Jewish students, that’s just not the norm.”

Suffice it to say, the community of Auburn far exceeded the expectations of Posner and his students.

“Their openness. The people all come over to us and say, ‘wow, you are from New York, that’s amazing, why are you here?’ We say, ‘what reason do we need to come to this special place?’ I can tell you from personal experience, the people are so incredibly warm, so incredibly inviting, incredibly supportive,” Posner said.

On Monday night, the group of students ate dinner with Pearl and Auburn’s Jewish student group on campus. Posner said the dinner was heartwarming, as the students had the opportunity to give back to Pearl by honoring Pearl’s mother who recently passed away.

“He said at the end of it the Mourners Kaddish, which you say on behalf of somebody that passed away, a relative,” Posner said. “It was very meaningful. We wanted to support him and it was something that he went through in the last few months. We wanted to show him support and love, and that connected with our kids. These experiences strengthen the resolve of young people when they are off on their own.”

During the basketball tournament the students participated in on Monday, Auburn players Tahaad Pettiford and Chad Baker-Mazara showed their support by attending. It wasn’t required, but the two Tigers wanted to return the favor after the students sat and watched most of Auburn’s practice on Monday.

Liana Shapiro, a senior at Auburn and head of Auburn’s Jewish student group called Hillel, was there with the students at various events this week. Her perspective, being a student at Auburn and having known Pearl since her freshman year, is unique.

“It was really special to have these students down the last few days and I’m grateful to Bruce for making it happen. We all have different backgrounds, so for them to interact with us, the basketball team, the university, it’s truly amazing,” Shapiro said.

Pearl’s impact on Shapiro, and the university, in her eyes, is “hard to put into words.”

“The impact that I know Bruce has on other students, all other students, whether Jewish or not, whatever political viewpoint, it’s the fact he’s so outspoken and firm in his beliefs. It is truly inspiring,” Shapiro said. “I’ve been so blessed to have developed a relationship with Bruce and his family. He has really played a big part in just kind of inspiring me and helping me to grow, in standing up for what I believe in.

“In today’s world, people don’t want to be outspoken and stand up for what they believe in with respect. They just want to be a bystander. It really, really means a lot in a world today where so many people just don’t care enough to step up or are scared, and Bruce is really that shining star, that one in a million.”

Shapiro plans to move to Washington D.C. after graduation, by the way, to further attempt to make meaningful differences in her community and country.

And Shapiro isn’t alone in expressing gratitude for Pearl’s impact and the community of Auburn during the trip.

“On a bunch of different levels, as a student and an athlete, it’s the coolest thing ever to watch their practice, see how they work, see how disciplined they are, and get to see and hear from the No. 1 team and coach in the country,” said Daphna Steinmetz, a high school student-athlete that traveled to Auburn with Athletes for Israel.

“Being from a Jewish community, it means a lot to see the best coach in the country be a supporter of Israel and be proud of who he is. It gives me an opportunity to see the world and see myself in the bigger world. Auburn is so proud of who they are, it’s inspiring.”

Posner knows that Pearl’s love of Israel and willingness to be vocal about issues that he cares deeply about aren’t the norm for many professional and college coaches and players. But, Posner believes Pearl’s authentic nature is something to respect, not demean.

“I’d say my message is one of love. I would say to those people that are naysayers and would tell Bruce to ‘stick to basketball,’ he’s an incredible coach and an amazing man. He has incredible energy and he wears it on his sleeve. He’s open about it. You want people that you look up to be authentic. Our kids look up to Bruce and believe he’s a role model,” Posner said.

“And he’s not just out there talking about political issues, he’s fighting cancer, he’s at children’s hospitals, he’s in the community. He’s just riled up this Auburn community around basketball and it’s amazing. He’s such a great ambassador to the university as a whole the way he conducts himself, the way he acts, the way he talks to people.”

For Pearl, his continued desire to create a legacy beyond basketball will continue, and it will continue at Auburn.

“It’s one of the reasons I’m so profoundly grateful to be a Jewish college basketball coach in Auburn, Alabama,” Pearl said, “living in a place that I’ve never felt more comfortable in my faith.”