Winning hoops, competing in Torah Bowl

Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR) High School is in full swing now that the Sukkot holiday is over. Lots of activities have taken place, including the 2014 Cooper Invitational boys’ varsity basketball tournament hosted by the Margolin Hebrew Academy in Memphis, Tenn.
Attending this tournament are 15 yeshivas from around the country, including HAFTR, Frisch (New Jersey), Weinbaum Yeshiva High School (Florida), Yeshiva University High School of Los Angeles, and North Shore Hebrew Academy.
The HAFTR boys’ varsity team was in Memphis from Nov. 5-9 to compete for the title of best Jewish boys basketball team in the country. One junior member of the team, Abie Perlow, a transfer student from DRS said, “ I am looking forward to attending this tournament with HAFTR and I am excited to play different teams from around the world. If we were to win this tournament, I would feel extremely accomplished knowing that all of our hard work paid off and that we are the new team to beat.”
With all of the teams staying together in one hotel and attending the same activities, the tournament provides the perfect environment for players to interact and develop new friendships. To boot, the HAFTR Hawks defeated the North Shore Academy Stars 37-33 to win the Cooper Invitational.
On Nov. 5, the girls’ Torah Bowl team arrived at Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls for the match. The girls were filled with excitement and prepared. Every month for five months, the Torah Bowl Team is given a section of the Torah to study. The students then go to different schools to compete. Once there, four players from each school are placed at a table and are asked questions based on the portion of Torah that they had previously learned. Whoever earns the most points wins the match.