Maccabi Magic

Their Time To Shine

Teen competitors will win much more than medals at JCC Maccabi Games.

essence, a mechanism to try to
accomplish this.
"One of the most important
things you can give your kids is a
sense of knowing where they came
from," he added. "Giving them a lit
tle bit of heritage, a little bit of
background. And I think that the
games, in some small way, try to do
that."

DAVID SACHS
StaffWriter

-••

8/11

2000

92

A stute observers of the 13-
to 16-year-old competi-
tors at the upcoming JCC
Maccabi Games will
notice not only the gleam of medals
around their necks, but also a glim-
mer of delight on their faces.
"The question of who will win a
medal is probably one of the least
important aspects of the games,"
said Harold Friedman of West
Bloomfield, a longtime Maccabi vol-
unteer.
"What we're trying to do," he
said, "is to light up that little light
in these kids' eyes. If we can get a
little sparkle in their eyes — from
being exposed to the social activities
and from meeting other Jewish kids
— then we've more than accom-
plished our task."
. The Jewish Community Centers
Association of North America
founded the games in 1982, creating
an Olympic-style competition of
athletic, cultural and social activities
for Jewish youth. Games have been
held every year since the mid-1980s,
with Detroit hosting the competi-
tions in 1984, 1990 and 1998.
This month, 166 local competi-
tors will compete Aug. 13-18 in
Cincinnati, Ohio, and Richmond,
Va.; with the in-line hockey team
skating Aug. 20-25 in Staten Island,
N.Y. (A list of competitors and game
locations can be found on page 94.)
The Maccabi Games are a way to
promote Jewish continuity, said Alan
Horowitz of West Bloomfield, presi-
dent of the Metropolitan Detroit
Maccabi Club. Its volunteers orga-
nize the Detroit delegation each
year. The games, he said, are "a way
for kids to form long-lasting rela-
tionships with other Jewish kids.
"Our objective is to try to get
Jewish kids to know that they're part
of a larger unit — that there are
Jewish teenagers who are very simi-
lar to them, whether they come
from Philadelphia, Toronto,
Australia, Great Britain or Israel,"
Horowitz said. "The kids are all the
same. They have the same needs, the
same desires. I think sports is, in

Trivia And Tzedaka

I. Sharing- flag-bearing honors at the West .Bloomfield JCC at the Aug. 6 kickoff
rally for their last Maccabi Games are 16-year-old volleyball players Pam
Feingold a . nd Arneejoshi, both of West Bloomfield, Lisa Scher of Farmington Hills
.
and Emily Baker of Huntington Woods. Photo by Josh Kristal .
2. Dave Grant,. 15, of Farmington Hills practices his •lay-up. Photo by Josh Kristal
3. Volleyball player Amee Jo. shi, •16, ofWest Bloomfield returns a serve during
practice for the Cincinnati games. Photo by Bill I Jansen
4. Jordan Friedman, 16, ofWest Bloomfield returns the table-tennis ball to
David Permit, 14, of Huntington Woods. Photo by Josh Kristal
5. Listening to announcements at the kickoff rally are volleyball Ayer Nicki
Milgrom, 14, of Bloomfield Hills and her mom, Susie Sills. Photo by Josh Kristal

The weeklong games are infused with
Jewish culture. Activities include
Jewish crafts and Jewish trivia con-
tests. Festivities in Richmond will
feature Israeli dancing and food and
Cincinnati Maccabi will host an
Israel Night. Tuesday at all venues is
a "Day of Caring/Day of Sharing"
where the teens perform tzedaka
(charity) projects.
Competitors from a wide range of
Jewish backgrounds are on the
Detroit team — from religious stu-
dents at Hillel Day School of
Metropolitan Detroit to teens for
whom Maccabi is their only affilia-
tion with the Jewish community.
Heather Meyers, 21, of West
Bloomfield, played on the Maccabi
softball team for four years and is
currently in her second year as a
girls' basketball coach.
"When I was a teen, my only
Jewish involvement was Maccabi,"
she said. "It's good for kids who
aren't necessarily involved with their
Jewish heritage and culture. It's a
really good place for them to get a
small piece of culture because they
do a lot of things that involve the
Jewish religion at the games."
During Maccabi week, competi-
tors live with Jewish host families in
each sponsoring city. "The host fam-
ilies are awesome," said Alana
Goldberg, 15, a West Bloomfield
High School student who is a mem-
ber of Detroit's Maccabi girls' bas-
ketball team for a second year. "My
family last year in Houston — I
loved them. I keep writing them let-
ters."
Rachel Becker of Keego Harbor
hosted six players from boys' basket-
ball teams when Detroit sponsored
the games two years ago. Her daugh-
ter, Emily Shepley, a Hillel student,