Bruce Pearl: Faith, Basketball, and Israel

Bruce Pearl built Auburn into a college basketball powerhouse — five SEC championships, two Final Four runs, and an NCAA Coach of the Year award. But for Pearl, the game has always been about something much bigger. In this episode of Jewish Insights with Justin Pines, Coach Pearl opens up about the Jewish grandfather who shaped everything — a plumber from Roxbury who came to America at age 11, housed Black tenants through hard times without charging rent, and made sure Bruce understood that this country saved their family's life. Pearl traces the through-line from that grandfather to the advocacy work he does today. He shares what it takes to build a winning program from scratch — how he gets players to trust him, sacrifice for the team, and handle defeat with grace. He tells the story of coaching Team USA at the Maccabiah Games, with his son as his power forward, his daughter as team manager, and Danny Grunfeld, Todd Golden, and nearly John Scheyer on the roster — and how he brought 13 Jewish boys to Israel and sent home 13 with a deep, lasting love for the land. Then there's the press conference. Walking off the court after beating Creighton to reach the Final Four, something moved Pearl to say a name into a national microphone — Edan Alexander, the last American hostage in Gaza. He explains how it happened, what Edan's father said the next day, and what followed in Atlanta. Pearl also discusses his work bringing Auburn, Kansas State, and Arizona to Israel, his role on the Executive Board of Athletes for Israel [link], and his chairmanship of the U.S.-Israel Education Association [link] — which takes congressional leaders to Israel to learn the Jewish roots of their Christian faith, so they come back to Washington supporting Israel not for political reasons, but because they're biblically commanded to. Plus: the remarkable story behind the number 613 hanging in the rafters of Madison Square Garden — just as the Knicks return to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999. JBS is proud to be airing the Maccabiah Games this summer on cable TV or the JBS app — Opening Ceremony July 1st from Teddy Stadium, running through July 13th, with 10,000 Jewish athletes from 60 countries.