{"id":4165,"date":"2022-08-26T09:13:45","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T13:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=4165"},"modified":"2024-01-29T09:35:45","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T14:35:45","slug":"auburn-mens-basketball-team-tours-israel-gets-baptized-in-jordan-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2022\/08\/auburn-mens-basketball-team-tours-israel-gets-baptized-in-jordan-river.html","title":{"rendered":"Auburn Men&#8217;s Basketball Team Tours Israel, Gets Baptized in Jordan River"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Players from one of college basketball\u2019s most prominent teams took part in a baptism ceremony in the Jordan River. The Auburn men\u2019s basketball team\u00a0visited multiple historical sites in Israel,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/yellowhammernews.com\/auburn-mens-basketball-team-baptized-in-jordan-river-during-holy-land-visit\/\">including<\/a>\u00a0the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which tradition says was the site of Christ\u2019s empty tomb.<\/p>\n<p>The team\u2019s official social media account posted pictures of the baptisms. A tweet said, \u201cToday, we shared a special moment with each other.\u201d Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, who is Jewish, has <a href=\"https:\/\/auburntigers.com\/news\/2022\/7\/31\/mens-basketball-auburn-travels-to-israel-excited-to-share-in-once-in-a-lifetime-trip.aspx\">called<\/a>\u00a0the tour a \u201conce-in-a-lifetime\u201d opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy players are going to see their Judeo-Christian roots, and for those who want to get baptized in the river Jordan, they will,\u201d he told\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/sports\/article-713983\">The Jerusalem Post<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019ll walk in the garden where Jesus walked, and they\u2019ll pray at the Western Wall. And they\u2019ll experience firsthand God\u2019s presence in the Holy Land. Just come and see it; you\u2019ll be changed forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Auburn\u2019s official Twitter account also showed the team touring the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AuburnMBB\/status\/1555213815708585985\">Dead Sea<\/a>, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AuburnMBB\/status\/1554912626311942154\">Western Wall<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AuburnMBB\/status\/1554619131198070787\">Bethlehem<\/a>, and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AuburnMBB\/status\/1554817085129342976\">Yad Vashem World Holocaust Museum<\/a>. Pearl often discusses his Jewish heritage. During a news conference in March 2022, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianheadlines.com\/contributors\/michael-foust\/auburn-coach-quotes-esther-in-backing-ukraine-we-said-never-again-after-the-holocaust.html\">mentioned<\/a>\u00a0the festival of Purim and the book of Esther.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">This morning we visited the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Museum. We listened. We learned. We grew.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WarEagle?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WarEagle<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/p9ncoNbmS8\">pic.twitter.com\/p9ncoNbmS8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Auburn Basketball (@AuburnMBB) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AuburnMBB\/status\/1554817085129342976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 3, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m very proud of my Jewish identity and not afraid to put that pride on full display even though there are many times where \u2013 because of antisemitism \u2013 it wouldn\u2019t benefit me personally or professionally,\u201d Pearl told\u00a0<em>The Post<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019m active politically, speaking out publicly on antisemitism, racism, and other issues of intolerance. I take the words \u2018never again\u2019 very seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During the trip, the squad honed its skills against top Israeli competition in front of local fans, visited spiritual sites, coalesced as a team, and gained an understanding of Israeli culture and history.<\/p>\n<p>The visit from the Alabama program marks the first time a Division I men\u2019s team has toured Israel in over two decades and the first-ever visit by a program from the Power Five conferences, the elite level of US college sports. The trip billed as \u201cBirthright for College Basketball\u201d has been years in the making. Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said he has long dreamed of bringing his team to Israel on an international tour, which the NCAA allows college teams to take once every four years.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the tour\u2019s content, the Auburn coaching staff stressed the significance of the preseason trip for the team\u2019s development. International tours have long been an opportunity to meld as a team and as teammates, said Pearl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Players from one of college basketball\u2019s most prominent teams took part in a baptism ceremony in the Jordan River. The Auburn men\u2019s basketball team\u00a0visited multiple historical sites in Israel,\u00a0including\u00a0the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which tradition says was the site of Christ\u2019s empty tomb. The team\u2019s official social media account posted pictures of the baptisms.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":4177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19],"tags":[1495,78],"class_list":["post-4165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holy-site","category-israel","tag-auburn-mens-basketball","tag-israel"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Auburn Men&#039;s Basketball Team Tours Israel, Gets Baptized in Jordan River<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Players from Auburn&#039;s men&#039;s basketball took part in a baptism ceremony in the Jordan River as part of the team\u2019s summer international tour\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta 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