By Brad Rubin

MIT and Harvard Hillels recently hosted the second annual Kiddush Cup Basketball Tournament. In addition to participants from MIT and Harvard, Jewish students from Dartmouth, Boston University, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Yale competed.

The idea for a basketball tournament arose last year when a group of students from MIT decided to create an event that would draw in Jewish students who do not normally participate in regional Hillel activities. Both tournaments have been extremely successful in this goal. By providing a fun experience within a "Jewish" setting, the Kiddush Cup has given students in the collegiate New England Jewish community the opportunity to connect with one another. Given the successes of the first two years, the Kiddush Cup looks to become an annual event that students can look forward to throughout the year.

This year's tournament proved to be a hard-fought battle. Harvard, last year's champions, went undefeated in round-robin play and earned the top seed in the championship rounds. Returning to the championship game, they were met by a determined Yale squad. The lead traded hands with almost every possession down the stretch, and in the end Harvard just barely held on to its one-point lead and won.

A special thank you to those students who helped plan this event with MIT JCSC Fellow Sarah Tasman: Michal Ruchelsman (MIT), Brad Rubin (MIT), Alex Borschow (MIT) and Jon Murstein (Harvard).

Brad Rubin is a senior at MIT.