A new Jerusalem-based basketball initiative is seeking to turn the basketball court into a home for community, remembrance and hope.
Hapoel HaShisha, or “The Beautiful Six” Basketball Club, was established two years after the brutal murder of six hostages in Gaza - Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Carmel Gat - as well as in memory of other basketball fans from Jerusalem who have been lost since October 7.
The initiative was founded by 21-year-old Jerusalem natives Nadav Haas and Amitai Weltman, who grew up in the capital and spent their childhoods playing in Hapoel Jerusalem’s youth league.
The idea has a deeply personal meaning for Weltman. On the day of Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s funeral, he vowed to himself that he would do something in Hersh’s memory. Weltman had never known Hersh or any of the hostages personally, but felt a strong urge to create something in his memory.
He did not yet know what that would be until he and Haas conceived the idea for HaShisha several months ago.
A vision of home on the basketball court
The club’s vision is to make the basketball court a home for the community while embracing the values for which Hersh and the Beautiful Six are remembered: life, strength, love, unity, light and hope.
HaShisha is a semi-professional team competing in the Israeli Basketball Association’s Liga Aleph, the fourth division, with ambitions of eventually reaching a higher level. The roster is made up of leading players between the ages of 18 and 30.
Alongside its competitive basketball ambitions, the club is committed to honoring those who were lost.
The team’s locker room will serve as a living connection to their memories, reflecting their ongoing presence within the club. Outside the locker room, every home game will be dedicated to a sports fan who was killed on or since October 7.
The club also plans to initiate activities designed to preserve the values of the Beautiful Six and others who were lost since October 7. One such initiative will be a Community Yoga Day in memory of Carmel Gat and Eden Yerushalmi, who were both yoga instructors.
Goal of creating a strong, sustainable foundation
HaShisha is being built with the goal of creating a strong and sustainable foundation, and ultimately hopes to become a development team for Jerusalem’s first-division professional club.
Among its current partners is Hapoel Jerusalem Youth Basketball, a collaboration designed to provide a strong foundation along with long-term professional and financial support.
The team’s home games will be held at the Cosell Sports Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Mount Scopus, which will also provide the club with a dedicated locker room. The club is also working with businesses through partnerships intended to provide long-term stability and growth.
The team has received the blessing and support of the families of the Beautiful Six and hopes that Hapoel HaShisha will become a fixture in Jerusalem’s sports community, creating a lasting impact both on and off the basketball court.
For Haas and Weltman, HaShisha is about more than building a basketball team. It is an effort to use the sport they grew up playing to remember those who were lost and to build a community around the values of life, unity, love, light, strength, and hope.