Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion are back in the top league and two of their naturalized Israeli players landed in Israel on Tuesday as Lior Berman and Josh Freund will begin training camp this week.

The two were met by The Sports Rabbi in the arrivals area of Ben Gurion airlift as both players spoke about the upcoming season.

“I’m glad to be back in the Holy Land and ready to be here,” Berman who played with Hapoel Ashkelon in the Leumit League last season began. “I’m very excited to play first division as it’s great basketball and I’m looking forward for the challenge. I’m also looking forward to being a part of Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion, I’m looking forward to it a lot.”

Berman played against Rishon in the Leumit semifinals last season so he knows a bit about his new team, “We had a good battle and it feels good to be joining them going up to the top league, so I’m looking to try and contribute for them now. I’m excited.”

One of Berman’s targets this season is becoming one of the league’s rising stars he explained, “I think so, we’ll have a good team and good players and it would be a good environment to be able to flourish in.”

Berman played under one of Israel’s staunchest allies in Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl, “He’s very excited for me. I was in Auburn all summer training and they were happy for me to be coming back here. They were all supporting me and it’s good to have them.”

Ultimately, Berman knows that there is one main goal going into the season, “The goal is to win games, play as hard as we can and try to be successful.”

Josh Freund also spoke about returning to Israel and Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion, “I’m very excited to get back, but it felt like I was just here. We just got the job done, but restart and refresh everything and it’s time to go.”