Sam Silverstein enjoyed playing basketball at Harvard University. He’s also grateful for his bachelor’s degree in sociology from the Cambridge college.

But the atmosphere and vibe of Silverstein’s time at the Ivy League university can be placed in two categories: before and after Oct. 7, 2023.

“Being on campus as a Jewish student was really hard,” said Silverstein, now a graduate student playing basketball with his two remaining years of eligibility at California Baptist University in Riverside, California. “We did not feel supported by the administration. One month into the school year, Oct. 7 happened, and I felt like I didn’t know where I was.”

Silverstein, 23, said he never personally felt threatened during the Harvard protests that permeated the campus.

“I don’t hide the fact that I’m Jewish, and I’m proudly Jewish, but I don’t present as the most Jewish-looking person,” Silverstein said. “I don’t wear a kippah, and I’m taller. I know other students who wear kippahs 24/7. They didn’t want to walk around campus by themselves, which was sad and scary to hear. Many of the protests were right near the freshman dorms. These are kids in their first month living away from home. And they were like, ‘I can’t even leave my dorm.’

“On Oct. 8, 2023, there were [demonstrators] in the middle of campus protesting and screaming. And we were still scrambling for information about what was going on in Israel. And already, we were being blamed and felt super uncomfortable and scared on campus.”

The experience served to strengthen Silverstein’s Jewish identity, and he was highly disappointed that Harvard’s administration didn’t do more to protect and listen to the concerns of its Jewish students.

Silverstein echoed the sentiments of many of his fellow Jewish students at Harvard when he said, “As soon as Oct. 7 happened, it was pretty brutal, and it was every day. I don’t know how the school let it happen, honestly.”

The Chicago-area native, who grew up in a Conservative synagogue and keeps kosher, said the disturbing experience strengthened the bonds between the Jewish students on campus.

“One of the great things about Harvard is the strength of the Jewish community,” Silverstein said. “I spent a lot of time at Chabad already, before Oct. 7. And last year, it was awesome. I was at Chabad almost every day. People I didn’t know who were Jewish or I kind of knew were Jewish – but they didn’t have a strong identity – started coming to Chabad. The family grew and that was great.”

In order to improve his chances of fulfilling his dream of playing at the NCAA Division I level, Silverstein played a year of post-graduate basketball at the Northfield-Mount Hermon School in Mount Hermon, Massachusetts – 85 miles northwest of Cambridge. Harvard accepted Silverstein, but his freshman season was canceled due to the COVID pandemic.

In two seasons, he played in 54 games. In 2022-2023, the Crimson played defending NCAA champion Kansas during Hanukkah. He had the chance to light a menorah along with his teammates after a 68-54 loss to the fourth-ranked Jayhawks.

“I’m very glad that’s where I went to school, and I’d make that choice seven days a week if I had to do it all over again,” Silverstein said of his experience at Harvard.

Basketball-wise, Silverstein was looking for a change after the 2022-2023 season, and the Ivy League doesn’t allow graduate students to play basketball.

So Silverstein decided to leave the team in his final year and complete his degree. He would depart from Harvard with two years of college basketball eligibility remaining.

An observant Jew playing basketball at a university affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention might seem like an unlikely match.

“I entered the transfer portal and heard from a bunch of different places,” Silverstein said. “CBU head coach Rick Croy reached out, and we just hit it off right away. I was looking for a very intense basketball experience.”

Silverstein had competed in the Maccabiah Games in Israel, where he was coached by Doug Gottlieb, a Jewish college basketball star turned sports radio personality and University of Wisconsin-Green Bay head men’s basketball coach.

Gottlieb vouched for Croy, telling Silverstein it would be a good fit for him.

Silverstein has felt very supported on the CBU campus and within the basketball program. There haven’t been any campus protests regarding Israel.

His classmates and teammates respect his Jewish faith, and the university accommodates Silverstein’s kosher diet.

Because he’s a graduate student at CBU, Silverstein doesn’t have the same religious requirements – in terms of coursework and church attendance – that undergraduates do.

With a limited Jewish community at CBU, Silverstein relies on the Chabad House at the University of California-Riverside, 8 1/2 miles across town.

On the court, Silverstein, a 6-foot-6-inch, 215-pound guard, started 19 of the team’s 32 games. He averaged 4 points and 5.8 rebounds for CBU (17-15), which lost to eventual Western Athletic Conference champion Grand Canyon University in the conference semifinals in Las Vegas on March 12.

Silverstein has a year of eligibility remaining, but he’s still deciding if he’ll use it. One of his goals is playing basketball internationally, perhaps in Israel. Θ