Tal Brody, Trenton's gift to Israeli basketball

Tal Brody Interview, circa 2000 from Ed Alpern on Vimeo.




In 2000, I took down all of the pictures that were displayed in the hallway at the JCC in Ewing and scanned them. They spanned decades of activities that were held at the JCC and the YMHA on Stockton Street before that.   Thousands of kids played basketball at the JCC from the 1910's-2000.  None of them were better than Tal Brody, who got his start at the JCC and went on to star at Trenton High School, then at the University of Illinois, the US Maccabiah team, Maccabi Tel Aviv and to this day is still revered in Israel as "Mr. Basketball".  I did this interview over the phone with Tal Brody after seeing his name on a captioned photo.

On a personal note, when I was in Israel in the summer of 1973, Tal Brody led the Israeli Maccabi team against the US team.   Four of my fellow Ramah campers came to my Aunt's apartment in Jerusalem to watch the game.   My memories of that game are that we were bowing in front of the TV, chanting "We're not worthy!" after watching him play.  

What a feeling when I found the photos at the JCC!   

P.S.  Most of the photos at the JCC were donated by Ben Olinsky, who ran the biddy basketball program from the 1940's-the 1970's.

March 13th meeting recap

Thank you to everyone who came to the meeting at Adath Israel on Sunday morning.   We had an overflow crowd, and we moved the meeting from the chapel into the main sanctuary.  By my count, we had at least 65 people attend.  Thanks to Michael Aaron Rockland for a wonderful presentation on the Jews of New Jersey.  His photos and stories really set the tone for the morning.  I think he was amazed at how many of the photos that he showed had a Trenton area connection.

We were a little rushed at the end, but I appreciate everyone sticking around for the video.  I apologize for the audio problems and will be posting the video to this site very soon, so that you can watch it and share it.   Please, understand that it is not a finished product, but a sneak peek of what I hope will turn into a longer form documentary.

I have the sign-in sheet from yesterday and will be adding those names to the e-maill list.  I will send out a e-mails to everyone who signed in, inviting them to subscribe to this blog.  I hope to add entries on a regular basis and announce meetings and get-togethers.  This will also be a way of letting you know when more pictures go on-line and give you a place to add comments and identify those pictured.

Thank you again to Beverly Rubman, the chair of the Adath Israel Adult Education Committee, to Rick and Mary Lou Byer, who did the set-up yesterday and to Sylvia Schultz, Mark Litowitz, and Herman Finkle, who were in the video.

I look forward to putting together a committee to help promote the Trenton Jewish Project and raise awareness throughout the community.


Ed Alpern