3.4

4

having time for all of this,
forget it.' "
Mr. Rothstein said that
there is one day in these
Maccabi Games, however,
that he isn't looking forward
to. The day he has to say
goodbye to Shalon.
Shalon Jacob is part of a
20-person Lithuanian con-
tingent that came to Detroit
largely through the efforts of
Arcadij Reitblatt.
Sitting in the comforts of
Mr. Robinson's living room
following an exhausting
flight from New York and
Lithuania, Mr. Reitblatt ex-
plained that two years ago,
he had never heard of the
Maccabi Games. He said

‘‘Jews in the Soviet
Union are strong.
Our strength
comes from unity."
Arcadij Reitblatt

that the Russian govern-
ment simply kept that sort of
information away from its
Jewish people.
Now, since Glastnost has
opened the doors to Soviet
emigration and Jewish
freedoms inside the Soviet
Union are a bit more possi-
ble, Mr. Reitblatt has
organized Maccabi clubs all
over Lithuania, with as
many as 400 members. He
does it, he says, because he
wants young Jews to have a
strong Jewish identity, and
through athletic achiev-
ement and friendship - they
can grow stronger as Jews.
"We realize that many
Soviet Jews want to make
aliyah," he said. "But in-
stead of aliyah, there are
some of us who want to build
a strong Jewish society
within the Soviet Union.
And that is why we built
these Jewish clubs. We want
these children to learn about
Jewish tradition, we want
them to learn about religion
and about Torah."
Mr Reitblatt said he is
more worried about Russian
Jewish identity dying out

20

FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 1990

than he is about possible
pogroms.
"The Jews in the Soviet
Union are strong people,"
Mr. Reitblatt added. -"And
our strength comes from our
Jewish unity."
Others with the contingent
said that it was important
for the Lithuanian Jews to
receive support from the
outside, specifically from the
Americans. Mr. Reitblatt
said that the support his
Jewish countrymen needed
was in the way of religious
training as well as political
and moral support.
There was plenty of moral
support for the Lithuanian
contingent among the
thousands attending the
opening ceremonies at the
Palace. After most of the
American-based contingents
marched into the huge hall,
the crowd settled down and
then the Lithuanians made
their entrance to a rousing
ovation.
All of the 11 foreign con-
tingents were received
warmly, from Holland's two-
member squad to the larger
Canadian teams. The Mex-
ican team entered wearing
brightly colored sombreros,
and when the Venzuelans
marched in, several Ameri-
can athletes ran onto the
floor, trying to trade for the
colorful Venezuelan flag and
team pin.
And at a time when the
focus of the world is on the
Middle East, the boiling
points of the international
community were turned into
a melting pot in a basketball
arena in Auburn Hills.
"You feel the tension of
the Middle East more here
in the United States than
you do in Israel," Roi Faust,
an Israeli chess player, said.
"Believe me, we don't walk
around thinking about Iraq
all day. We're really excited
to be here and compete, and
we're not worried that some-
thing terrible is going to
happen at home."
For Raphael Altman, a
British soccer player, all the

Top:
Arms held high and
smiles on their faces,
Israel's contingent got
caught up in the mood
of the evening.

Left:
As is the tradition, the
Israeli Maccabi team
leads the parade of
nations into the Palace.

Bottom:
Shalon Jacob, in his
new tennis outfit, with
his host and friend,
Charlie Rothstein.

troubles of the world were
placed on the back burner
because of a week -of com-
petition in Detroit. The 16-
year-old center midfielder
compared the games to the
World Cup soccer tourna-
ment. And he spoke with
competitive edge in his voice
about how his team would
do.
"As you can well imagine,
we're excited about this," he
said. "We've been looking
forward to it, and we're here
to win."
The soccer player was
made even more excited
when he heard that a couple
of hundred spectators might,
be there to watch his
games. The British soccer
players were given an ego
boosting welcome at the
front door of the JCC by the
sheer numbers of Detroit
girls who gathered to check
out their visitors from across
the pond.
The athletes were feeling
at home here in Detroit at

Mr. Robinson's house.
There, on a rainy Sunday
afternoon when many people
would be seeking shelter,
the Robinson family was
cooking hamburgers on the
barbecue for the Russian
athletes.
The problem was not how
rare or well done the meat
would be. Instead, it was
getting the kids out of the
rain. They were riding the
Robinsons' bikes throughout
the neighborhood, splashing
through puddles and
avoiding an occasional car
and barking dog.
It didn't matter that they
were Russian. They could
have been any kid from any
neighborhood in America.
And that's exactly what Jay
Robinson said in his closing
remarks to the athletes on
Sunday night when he urged
them to trade their pins,
meet each other, become
friends and become part of
the community while they
were here. ❑