*iCC MaCCa bi*
GAMES®& ARTSFEST®

AUGUST 17-22, 2014

JCC Maccabi
NEEDS YOU!

•

SPFCIAI MVFRAGE

Spin On The Pin:
Maccabi Trading Piny

Elizabeth Applebaum

Special to the Jewish News

T

hey come for the sports, the
arts workshops, the fun, the
friendship — and the pins.
The JCC Maccabi Games &
ArtsFest will be held Aug. 17-22 in
Detroit, and among the favorite activ-
ities of the hundreds of participants
is trading pins from their delegations.
Teens and coaches alike come with
handfuls of pins bearing the JCC
Maccabi logo, the year and images
from Jewish life, hometowns and
popular culture. Last year's collection,
for example, included SpongeBob,
tefillin, a board from Words with
Friends, the Austin city skyline,
Shabbat candles and the lifeblood of
every teenager: Instagram. The pins
have even been known to include a
surprise, like a spinning circle on the
2013 team pin from Cincinnati.
Choosing what will be featured can
be a long and emotional discussion,
with favorites often marketed on
Facebook. Then comes the impor-
tance of getting each and every one.
"We traded pins with the out-of-
town delegations with one goal in
mind: collect them all:' JCC Maccabi
participant Hannah Schoenbaum of
Orange County, Calif., wrote of the
2013 Games. "Pin trading became an
important part of my Maccabi expe-
rience, and I learned right away that
trading is a very serious matter:'
It isn't just the kids who become a
bit obsessive. Those wishing to kick
up or down the water temperature
at the JCC pool in West Bloomfield
— which means everyone on the
face of the planet — would do well
to bring a few pins to this city's most
dedicated collector, Aquatics Director
Ronda Brodsky.
The pins have a long history, start-
ing with the 1908 Maccabiah Games
held in Greece, where participants
might have snagged a blue-and-white
enamel soccer pin, now selling for
upwards of $200. There's no guar-
antee that today's pins will one day
secure that much, but the Games staff
is still taking the design very seri-
ously, with two contenders left in the
running.
Keep checking back to this column
where we'll reveal the choice!

❑

*jcc maccabi*

GAMES®& ARTSFEST®

AUGUST 17-22, 2014

58 days until the
Opening Ceremony

Volunteers Needed In The Following Areas:

Athletics

Food Service

Opening Ceremony

Er

Evening Events

Transportation

JCC Cares

2014detroitorg

JCC Maccabi Hotline 248.432.5500

2P11.

THE CENTER

Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit
D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building
Eugene & Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus
6600 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322
www.jccdet.org

The Jewish

Supported

OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT

1870760

June 19 • 2014

41