Julius Erving Reveals Life-Altering Lesson After Holocaust Survivor Meeting for Bold Initiative

Julius Erving stood in a room filled with black-and-white portraits—but none captured him. This wasn’t a hall of fame or an arena; it was a museum of survival. For once, the man known as Dr. J wasn’t the one being celebrated—he was the one listening. And what he heard from a Holocaust survivor named Hershel Greenblatt stopped him cold. The conversation didn’t feel like history. It felt like a mirror.

The meeting happened at the Borrowed Spotlight photo exhibition, Bryce Thompson’s powerful tribute to Holocaust survivors. The room pulsed with history, resilience, and stories that demanded to be felt, not just seen. Julius connected with one survivor whose strength left an imprint deeper than any game-winning dunk. It shifted something in him. Reflecting on that moment, he learned a lesson: Adversity will come no matter what. And it meant more coming from someone who knew it best.

Julius Erving took to social media to share the precious moment. He shared a series of photographs taken for the exhibition and wrote a sizeable caption, filled with anecdotes based on the life filled with a determination for survival by Hershel Greenblatt, a Holocaust survivor. The caption is shared below.

“I’ve met many resilient people in my life, but Hershel’s story is on another level. He carries with him the memory of his courageous parents and dedicates himself to ensuring that future generations never forget the darkest chapters in our history—lest we allow them to happen again. His strength is a lesson for us all: adversity will come no matter what we do. It can break us, but we can come through it and rebuild. Hershel is living proof of the latter.”

Moving, to say the least. The anecdotes recount the unimaginable horrors faced by Hershel during the harrowing times of World War II, from running away to survive in caves in Ukraine to flee the hell that awaited him, to surviving and becoming an everlasting example of resilience.

While differing in nature, both Hershel’s and Julius’s adversities highlight the human capacity for resilience. But even Erving faced his share of obstacles as he grew in the NBA.

 Julius Erving: Another story of resilience

“I had a lot of difficulty when I first picked up a basketball, because I was a scrub – there were things that I liked about it…. Goals determine what you’re going to be.” Julius Erving, yes, Dr. J, didn’t just float through his basketball career on style and dunks. The man went toe-to-toe with adversity at every turn. Early on, he dominated the ABA while playing for the Virginia Squires, but legal messes quickly complicated things.

He tried jumping to the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, but the Milwaukee Bucks had his draft rights, and that sparked a whole legal tug-of-war. Injunctions, fines, and courtroom drama followed. In the end, the Squires took him back, only to trade him to the New York Nets.

Physically, he faced challenges as well. In 1974, knee issues forced him to wear special braces, yet he still played like an MVP, because that’s just who he was. When the ABA merged with the NBA, Julius Erving joined the Philadelphia 76ers and faced another kind of challenge: the team had the talent but just couldn’t get over the hump. They even blew a 2–0 lead in the 1977 Finals.

People started labeling them as a team that couldn’t win the big one. But Erving didn’t let that define them. He kept spirits up, reminded everyone they were still the second-best in a 23-team league, and pushed forward.

Julius Erving led with grace, never too high, never too low. Even off the court, life hit hard. The death of his youngest son in 2000 was heartbreaking, and he had already lost close family before that. But through it all, Julius Erving remained a steady force, resilient, respected, and grounded. Dr. J’s legacy isn’t just about highlight reels. It’s about strength, leadership, and showing up—even when the odds say you shouldn’t.

It takes one to know one. This incredible meeting brought two strong-willed individuals together who share the same unrelenting drive to persevere. More power to the individuals who push through the hurdles life throws at them.