Waterbury, CT – As the boys of Yeshiva Ateres Shmuel in Waterbury attempt to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives following the tragic death of two of their classmates, they received an outpouring of support from perhaps an unexpected source: members of Waterbury’s fall recreational basketball league, which includes the yeshiva’s team, The Waterbury Stars, as one of its sixteen member teams.
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Dani King and Eli Schonbrun, who were members of the yeshiva team, were memorialized on Thursday night, November 17th, just prior to the championship game of the season which took place at Waterbury’s Crosby High.
“Something like this probably would not occur in any other community,” Rabbi Shalom Siegfried, Vice President of Yeshiva Ateres Shmuel told VIN News. “There were several speakers, both from the yeshiva and the basketball league. The community really came out in force to honor Eli and Dani and show the boys that they really cared. It made such a positive impression on the boys who saw that you can be a yeshiva bochur, do the things you need to do like play basketball, and people will understand who you are and what you are all about.”
As reported in Republican American, a Waterbury based newspaper, the Stars have been too emotionally distraught to play basketball and have cancelled the rest of their season. Each of the other teams presented the Stars with a gift at the memorial, including Eli and Dani’s basketball jerseys, encased in glass and basketballs bearing the signatures of the players.
Also present at the event was Ryan Gomes, who plays forward for the Los Angeles Clippers and is originally from Waterbury. Gomes approached Rabbi Siegfried to express his heartfelt condolences and posed for pictures with several of the boys from the yeshiva.
“What they did here was tremendous, unheard of,” said Rabbi Siegfried. “They managed to capture the essence of who Eli and Dani were and the entire memorial service was tastefully done and a positive experience for our boys.”
min ken eppes yo lernen fin de goyim. Kudos to the Waterbury community for this special tribute
What a nice story. Thank you for sharing.
Eli was such a good member of the basketball team its so sad he is not there anymore we miss you so much
still rubbing my eyes.
Zol zei alleh vaksen vie a former member of a yeshiva basketball team, recently deceased, ZTL.
Eli had the sweetest 3 point shot around
If only everyone would read sasregner’s comment….
The WaterB community is absolutely awesome. During shiva, I witnessed the WPD drive (shuttle) the boys from the yeshiva to Flabush to be menachem avel.
While they were here, they visited with Shomrim, Hatzalah and perhaps some others too. From what I understand, they went home with such amazment that the next day, their superiors came in to NY to see for themselves.
Point being: they had no obligation whatsoever to shuttle the boys on POLICE BUSES and like most police depts in the country, should have stood proud of who and what they are. The fact that they humbly came to see how things are run in NY just shows that they are “mentchen” and are willing to learn ALL about the real deal – perhaps to better their interactions with the WaterB folk.
Its incredible to see such amazing things done by the community. I cannot stop crying. The pain is felt very very deeply. Hashem should give a nechama to the families of Dani a’h and Eli a’h, and help thier freinds who loved them so much get through this tragedy.