Beren makes the most of its second chance, Jewish school in Sabbath fight rolls into state title

culturemap.com ^ | 3/2/12 | Chris Baldwin

[Nachum]

FORT WORTH — They twisted in limbo too long, fought too hard to keep the chance to play, to lose the game.

So the Robert M. Beren Academy Stars left no doubt. The small Houston Orthodox Jewish school rolled through the state semifinal it needed a lawsuit to get to play in, beating Dallas Covenant 58-46 Friday afternoon at Fort Worth Nolan High School. And now the hoops dream that fueled the players to stick up for their religious beliefs is so close.

One game away. Thirty two minutes from a state title.

Beren will play in the TAPPS 2A state championship game at 8 p.m. Saturday night.

And after coach Chris Cole's team took apart a Covenant squad playing close to home in the wake of enduring a rollercoaster of a week, there is little doubt that goal's in sight. Beren built as much as an 18-point lead and held a double-digit advantage throughout the second half.

When point guard Isaac Mirwis (14 points) dribbled out the final seconds, the crowd on the Beren side of the gym roared in approval.

Most teams at this level don't have a player who can match up with a 6-foot-5 skilled forward like Zachary Yoshor. Yoshor put 40 points up in the quarterfinals for Beren and he added 24 points in the semis Friday.

Most teams aren't playing for such a large cause either.

Beren didn't set out to do that of course. These players never expected to have to stand up for the Sabbath. But when the TAPPS denied multiple appeals to reschedule this game so the Stars could observe the Sabbath, that's the position Beren founds itself in.

[Nachum]

Full title: Beren makes the most of its second chance, Jewish school in Sabbath fight rolls into state title game

[MeanWestTexan]

The most jack-asserty thing about this story is the school the Jewish school was playing (a Roman Catholic school I think) was totally cool with moving the game until the end of Shabbos -— it was some Texas depart of education bureaucrat that refused to move the game.

Mazel tov!

[Colorado Cowgirl]

Congratulations to Houston Orthodox Jewish school for a great win, and Congratulations to Dallas Coveneant for a game well played. Dallas Covenant is an inter-denominational K-12 Classical, Christ centered School.

[TropicanaRose]

Thanks for posting this; I’ll be interested to see the comments. One of my Facebook friends who has kids in a Christian private school (after homeschooling for elementary grades) is criticizing Beren for “lawyering up & conforming to our litigious society.”

I’m all for avoiding lawsuits when possible, but I am grateful for attorneys who defend religious freedom, which is currently under assault. Jesus is our ultimate Advocate, but He sometimes works through mere mortals, even lawyers.

[SJackson]

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IMO lawsuits are probably inappropriate, better to publicize the stupidity of the state officials unwilling to move a game when both schools have agreed.