Faiths Unite at Enes Kanter Freedom’s Basketball Camp

Enes Kanter Freedom is one busy man.

Currently a free agent still hoping to land a spot on an NBA roster this coming fall, the veteran big man (and one of the league’s most outspoken critics of social justice issues, particularly those concerning Chinese politics) may have played his last pro basketball game. But he has compensated for any lull in basketball activity with a globetrotting tour in which he has served as the headliner for multifaith basketball clinics, including one held at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles earlier this month.

The Aug. 10 clinic, which was co-hosted by the Muslim Coalition for America (who have formed exemplary partnerships with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Golden State Warriors) and Sinai Temple, the oldest and largest Conservative Jewish congregation in the greater L.A. area, brought together over 100 student-athletes of various faiths from first through eighth grades and included not just Freedom but also former Yeshiva University basketball standout Ryan Turell.

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“People from different religions, different cultures came and we had an amazing time,” Freedom told the Atlanta Jewish Times the day following the clinic. “We learned a lot from each other.”

The genesis of the clinic, which consisted of an hour of drills and scrimmages followed by a panel discussion featuring Freedom and Turell, moderated by Rabbi Erez Sherman of Sinai Temple, occurred back in late June at the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit in Washington, D.C., when Freedom — a devout Muslim and political dissident of Turkey who has been exiled for speaking out against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had a chance encounter with Omar Qudrat, founder of the Muslim Coalition for America and a child of Afghani immigrants who grew up on Los Angeles basketball courts, who was looking for a splashy name to headline his clinic.

“He [Qudrat] invited me over for this beautiful event,” says Freedom, who has emerged as one of the most prominent human rights activists in North American professional sports. “I immediately was like, ‘That is the one thing that I’m actually looking for in America to do.’”

Less than a week before the Sinai Temple clinic, Freedom had wrapped up his week-long Enes Kanter Freedom Unity Basketball Camp at the Jerusalem YMCA, which included dozens of Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Druze children ages 10-15, as well as the Auburn University men’s basketball team.

For the already well-traveled Freedom, whose upbringing included time in Switzerland, Turkey and Southern California — following a year at the University of Kentucky before his NBA career took him to Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, New York, Boston and Portland — the Israel camp afforded him the opportunity to make a long-awaited trip.

“I’ve never been to Mecca before, but Israel, especially Jerusalem, was definitely the most holy place I’ve ever been to,” says Freedom, who had aspirations of becoming an astronaut before the basketball gig worked out. “I went to visit Old City. It was just so beautiful. It literally takes you back like 2,000 years ago. It’s pretty much a time traveling [experience]. You get a taste of all this religion and culture in one place.”

He also couldn’t believe how similar Israeli food and songs were to what he was accustomed to in his homeland of Turkey.

“I went to Shabbat dinner there and the one thing about Shabbat dinner that is my favorite is that every Friday there is like a Thanksgiving dinner happening in one of the houses. It was like a feast. I’m definitely looking forward to going back.”

Before he returns, there are more multifaith basketball clinics to run stateside. As his now good friend Qudrat knows, religion doesn’t enter into running a pick-and-roll or executing a fast break.

“I think sports is the greatest equalizer and it’s America’s superpower,” says Qudrat. “My favorite part [of the event] was seeing Christian kids, Muslim kids, Jewish kids, white kids, Black kids, kids from Afghanistan, Iran and so forth and so on, all together and not thinking for one second about any of those things I just mentioned.”

Especially for children of parents who have emigrated from their homelands and are going through the arduous process of adjusting to a new culture, the playing fields (or hardtop courts) can be a sanctuary.

“Lots of children of immigrants don’t have all kinds of programs and don’t get enrolled in Adidas and Nike camps,” adds Qudrat, a distinguished attorney and former U.S. Department of Defense official who ran for Congress from California’s 52nd district. “It’s going to be your own journey in finding what sport you like.”

Certainly, the one-day clinic at Sinai Temple provided many such children the opportunity to pursue their dream of becoming NBA players. It was a glorious event, and while it’s not easy to pinpoint one single moment that encapsulated the spirit of unity and camaraderie in the gymnasium, Freedom recalls:

“There was this one moment where I got the rebound, I dribbled the ball, I passed it to a Jewish kid, who crossed someone over and passed to the Muslim kid, and then he scored. While he was getting back on defense, they high-fived each other. It was a beautiful moment. I would like to see more of these, not just in L.A., but all over America.”