01 Apr THIS MARCH COACH BRUCE PEARL IS SPEAKING OUT AGAINST THE MADNESS

The Auburn Tigers are
going to the Final Four,
the coveted final
rounds of the annual
March Madness,
NCAA College
Championship Basketball. For the first time,
three of the final four teams have Jewish head
coaches, a statistical unlikelihood. But for
Auburn’s Coach, Bruce Pearl, being in the
spotlight as a Jew is much more than
interesting trivia, it is an opportunity he
refuses to squander.
Earlier in the tournament, after his Auburn
Tigers defeated Creighton, sitting in front of
countless reporters in a postgame press
conference that would be seen by millions,
Coach Pearl opened not by talking about the
game or about basketball at all, but rather—
with the permission of his players—by
invoking the name of Edan Alexander, the
19-year-old Israeli-American held hostage in
Gaza:
I get asked a lot how this basketball program
has become so competitive over the last
eight years. But for me, I believe it was
G-d’s plan to give us this success – success
beyond what we deserve. To give us this
platform. To give me an opportunity to start
this conference really briefly and remind
the world that Edan Alexander is still held
hostage in Gaza right now… Bring the
hostages home.
Coach Pearl invited Edan’s parents and family
to the next game and continued to highlight
the plight of the American held hostage in
Gaza and all the other hostages as well. He
challenged all of America to know Edan’s
name and fight until he is released. Later in
that same press conference, he came back to
the topic of Israel and what it means to be an
American Jew:
This Jewish American loves his country
more than anything else. At the same time,
Israel is our ancestral homeland and it’s
under attack. It’s under siege. All it wants to
do is live in peace with its neighbors. And,
you know what, there are some Arab
countries that are actually wanting peace
with Israel right now, but there is a segment
of the population there in the Middle East
who have been doing nothing but attacking
Israel for 85 years. October 7 was the worst
day since the Holocaust for the Jewish
people, and they [Hamas] say they want to
do it again and again and again. We have
Americans that are held hostage in Gaza
right now. It’s unacceptable.
Some were first introduced to Coach Pearl’s
advocacy at this year’s tournament, but if you
have been following him for the last several
years, you know it is nothing new. He tweets
almost daily to his 165,000 followers about
Israel, antisemitism, and good versus evil. He
isn’t afraid to risk turning off fans, criticism
from his university or its supporters, or even

his job, to stand up as a proud Jew and to
speak about what he believes in.
A few years ago, he even brought his Auburn
team to Israel, a trip coordinated by the
amazing organization Athletes for Israel. In
recognition of his devotion and dedication to
Israel and the Jewish people, I had the
privilege to join Athletes for Israel and NCSY
in giving him and his team an award on the
Auburn court before the opening game of their
season a couple years ago.
Where does Coach Pearl’s courage and
conviction come from? How does he have
the strength to speak out when too many
others are silent?
Three years ago, during this same time of
year, at a March Madness press conference,
Coach Pearl used the opportunity to talk about
the war in Ukraine and the threat of Iran to
Israel and the story of Purim. He spoke about
how his parents named him Mordechai and he
feels a responsibility like his ancestor to speak
up for and fight for the Jewish people.
Soon after, we hosted him on Behind the Bima
to better understand his background and what
motivated him to use that moment and
platform for our cause. Here are some
highlights from that conversation:
BTB: How do your Judaism and faith
impact your coaching?
CBP: When I was a little younger I thought
it was me, the great coach and the great
motivator, and as I got as I’ve gotten older I
realized, no, it’s simply G-d using me in the
position and to affect others and affect
young people and it’s all about Him and my
service to Him. And so, the secret sauce for
Auburn basketball and our run to the Final
Four and winning championships
throughout the last five years if I could get
my guys to simply do the things that G-d
would have them do what is He going to at
least put yourself in position and be blessed.
BTB: Do you pray during games?
CBP: What I do after player introductions—
and I’ve done this my entire career when
they introduce me after they introduce the
players—I am always crouched over a chair
and I’m talking to G-d…and people are
seeing me pray and I am not praying about
the game, I am not going to tell you what
I’m praying about because that’s between
me and G-d but it has nothing to do with
victory, it has nothing to do with the
basketball team, but I want when my name
is called I want them to see me praying.
BTB: What gave you the courage to speak
up?
CBP: When I was 15 years old and I was a
freshman in high school I was the best
athlete in town. I was the first kid picked on
the playground the first kid picked for
everything and then I had a career-ending
injury. When I say “career-ending,” I had a
really bad knee injury and I was never the

same athlete and I honestly believe
that G-d said, “There’s way more to
you Mordechai than just being the
best athlete.” I wasn’t kind to
people, I was very limited in my
friend population. I thought a lot of
myself. I dominated you. I
embarrassed you. Because I could.
Because I was stronger than you and
I wasn’t as nice.
And now all of a sudden when I
could no longer be that athlete it was
painful, there were a lot of friends
that were happy that the king got
knocked off the hill but I didn’t quit
and I got in the school musical and I
became the class president and I’m
like G-d, these other kids that aren’t
very good athletes but they’re awesome,
they’re so much fun, they’re so cool, they’re
so talented. And then I became a champion
for the underdog all of a sudden. Now I was
still tough and like “You ain’t gonna, you’re
not, you’re not messing with these kids that
aren’t athletes that are just the bandies that
are acting diminished, you got to go through
me right now.” I could still put my hands up
and fight, I was going to be their champion,
and so it just exposed me to more: there was
more to life than just my ability to beat you
on the basketball court or hit a home run.
You know I believe these things happen for
a reason and I want to be at my best when
things are at the worst and I want to prepare
my teams to also be at their best when
things are at their worst.
BTB: How did you first connect to Israel?
CBP: I’m seven years old, it’s 1967. My
grandfather would go to bed after supper,
he was up very early to work, he was always
out the door working before the sun came
up, but he would come home and he’d have
supper and of course we prayed before all
of our meals but after supper he would be
pretty quick to go to bed. He’d sit in his
chair and he’d fall asleep or he’d go to bed
pretty early but this one night Papa was up
he was watching tv and he was crying. I
said what are you crying about? He put me
on his lap we talked about Israel. He was
afraid to go to bed during the Six Day War
because he wasn’t sure when he woke up
Israel would still be there. So I learned
about Israel. I learned about a safe place for
the Jewish people and that was that was the
beginning of my love.
BTB: Do you pay a price for standing up
for Israel?
CBP: When I’m out there like this does it
hurt me in recruiting sometimes?
Absolutely. You know not every great
basketball player that grows up in the inner
city dreams of playing for a Jewish
basketball coach. It does hurt me in some
households. But that’s a choice I made it
and I’m sure we’ve lost some kids. My
coaches have got to realize this is who you

work for. This is who I am.
I’ve become more and more outspoken as
I’ve gotten older because I can see I’m
playing the back nine right now. They’re
not going to fire me right now. I won 28
games this year, we won the SEC, and I’m
in a stronger position now. By saying these
things are there people that are out there
that aren’t liking them at all and wish I
would just shut up and are waiting for me to
have a bad season or two and fire me?
Maybe there are. But I’ll tell you this, I’m
blessed to be a place like Auburn in
Alabama and one of the things I don’t mind
telling you is the Jews all over the world
should be grateful in some way to the
Evangelical Christian community who is
standing with Israel in many ways in prayer
and financial support and they provide us a
lot of political cover here in this country.
Coach Mordechai’s faith and very real and
ongoing relationship with G-d is inspiring.
How powerful that he looked into the cameras
and said, our team’s success is from G-d so
that I could use this moment to fight for
hostages held in Gaza to come home. What an
example that he can look back at his life and
see a career-ending injury as a blessing and
not a curse. Coach Pearl obligates us all to use
our platforms and our relationships, not only
in private, but also in public, to talk about
things that matter, to practice our Judaism
with pride, and to do so without fear of being
cancelled or fired.
Mordechai is introduced in the Megillah as:
“Ish Yehudi haya b’Shushan Habira – There
was a Jewish man in Shushan the capital.”
What do you mean “a” Jewish man; there was
only one? There was a large Jewish population
in Shushan! The Megillah is telling us that
true, there were many Jews, but most were
failing to stand up for their Judaism or practice
it. The Jewish community was asleep; there
was only one Ish Yehudi, an unashamed,
unembarrassed, unapologetic Jew.
As we have entered the month of Nissan, a
month of redemption, salvation and freedom,
let’s follow the example of Mordechai Pearl,
be an Ish Yehudi, and in that merit, may we
welcome all the hostages home.