“Rebound” Documentary Offers Raw, Inspiring Glimpse Into Yeshiva University’s Basketball Team in the Wake of October 7 Tragedy

Edited by: Fern Sidman

In Hollywood, sports narratives often follow a familiar arc: the underdog triumphs, the buzzer-beater wins the day, and the story concludes with rousing cheers and a soaring soundtrack. But in real life, victory is often measured not in trophies or medals, but in perseverance, resilience, and the ability to move forward through heartbreak. That’s the profound message at the heart of “Rebound: A Year of Triumph and Tragedy at Yeshiva University Basketball” a deeply moving documentary directed by Pat Dimon and premiering April 9 on Fox Nation. As reported by The Daily Beast, the film is a stirring and unsparing look at a team navigating not just athletic pressure but the weight of global tragedy.

Rebound centers on Yeshiva University, a Modern Orthodox Jewish institution in New York City, and its men’s Division III basketball team, the Maccabees. Between 2019 and 2021, the Maccabees achieved an astonishing 50-game winning streak, led by star guard and all-time leading scorer Ryan Turell from Los Angeles, turning the program into a national sensation and a source of immense pride for Jewish communities around the world.

But the 2023–2024 season brings new, unimaginable challenges. Just two days before the team is scheduled to begin practice for the new campaign, the world is rocked by the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel — a day of profound loss and grief for the global Jewish community. As The Daily Beast reported, this moment casts a long shadow over the season and becomes the emotional center of the film.

Director Pat Dimon skillfully weaves together player testimonials, news footage, and personal stories to illustrate just how deeply the massacre impacted the Maccabees. For a team comprised entirely of Jewish athletes, including six Israeli players, the news was not an abstraction — it was deeply personal.

Sophomore guard Tom Beza recalls the anguish of hearing that relatives and acquaintances had either been killed or taken hostage. Roy Itcovichi, another player, was in Israel when the attacks occurred and found himself suddenly plunged into a war zone. Their stories, as detailed in The Daily Beast report, are heartbreakingly intimate and bring home the immense psychological toll of continuing to compete while their homeland was under siege.

Coach Elliot Steinmetz, often portrayed as the steady heartbeat of the team, recounts the early morning of October 7, when the players awoke to texts and alerts that would forever alter their lives. What follows in the documentary is not simply a chronicle of games won or lost, but of young men and their coach striving to find meaning, purpose, and unity in the face of tragedy.

Before delving into the aftermath of October 7, Rebound offers a compelling portrait of Yeshiva University’s unique role in the college athletics landscape. As The Daily Beast report noted, the program is perhaps the most unconventional in all of college sports.

Yeshiva’s players do not compete on Friday nights or Saturdays due to Shabbat observance. The team travels with a Torah scroll on weekend road trips. Practices take place early in the morning, so student-athletes can fulfill their dual obligations to Jewish learning and secular studies. It’s a rhythm and lifestyle that few other athletic programs can understand — one shaped by deep religious observance and a strong sense of community.

Interviews with university president Ari Berman and philanthropist Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and a noted supporter of Jewish causes, help frame the broader cultural and spiritual mission of the team, as was indicated in The Daily Beast report. Kraft, in particular, serves as a poignant reminder that for many, the Maccabees are more than a basketball squad — they are a symbol of Jewish strength, dignity, and resilience.

Their goal was no longer just to win games. As The Daily Beast noted, the Maccabees now felt a profound sense of responsibility to uplift their community — to be a source of pride and strength for Jews grieving and reeling across the globe. But that sense of mission did not make the season any easier.

Injuries to key players such as Max Zakheim and Or Sundjyvsky compounded the team’s early struggles. Focus and chemistry suffered. The season got off to a rocky start. The fairy-tale script was unraveling.

The most powerful moments of Rebound, according to The Daily Beast, come midway through the film, when Coach Steinmetz leads the team on a transformative trip to Israel. There, the players visit Sheba Hospital to meet wounded IDF soldiers, stand solemnly at Tel Aviv’s hostage square, and tour the Nova Festival exhibition, which memorializes the site of the mass killing. They also hear the chilling firsthand account of Ofir Engel, a friend of Beza’s who fended off terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri and was held captive for 54 days before being released.

These encounters bring home the reality of October 7 not as headlines, but as human pain etched in the faces of survivors. As Roy’s father shares with the team, Israel may seem outwardly calm, but its people are now perpetually glued to news updates, dreading what might come next. The Maccabees return to New York transformed, but the scars remain.

As The Daily Beast report emphasized, Rebound doesn’t pretend that grief and patriotism alone can win basketball games. Though the players regain focus and recommit to their mission, their path to the Skyline Conference tournament remains fraught. Injuries persist. Losses sting. And triumph, if it comes at all, is hard-earned and incomplete.

Dimon’s decision to keep the documentary focused on the team’s full season means that certain compelling threads — such as Yeshiva’s relationship to its Manhattan neighborhood, its academic curriculum, and its response to rising antisemitism — are only briefly touched on. Yet the central message comes through loud and clear: this is a story of heart, not polish; truth, not fantasy.

By the film’s end, there is no championship parade, no confetti, and no neatly resolved arc. But as The Daily Beast report rightly pointed out, that’s what makes Rebound so powerful. It shows how sports can become a canvas for faith, patriotism, and identity, and how young Jewish men, in the face of unspeakable tragedy, refused to crumble — instead, they showed up.

They practiced. They played. They mourned. And they persevered.

In doing so, the Maccabees became not just a basketball team, but a symbol of enduring Jewish strength, echoing the centuries-long story of a people who, through loss and persecution, have always found a way to rise again.