Another dozen Michiganders
joined Gerdov, Wooten and
Fishman on the 1,300-member
Maccabi USA delegation.

• Jeremy Modell of
Bloomfield Hills, an
attorney in Birming-
ham, was part of
Team USA’s Gold
Medal in Masters
Golf.

• Mikaela Schulz of
West Bloomfield, a
University of
Michigan senior, was
part of Team USA’s
Gold Medal in Open
Golf (female).

• Ryan Berke of Farmington
Hills was part of Team USA’s Ice
Hockey (Men’s) Gold Medal.

• Celia Gold, formerly
of Ann Arbor and
now a legal policy
specialist at Google
in Boulder, Colo.,
achieved two Gold
Medals and one Silver Medal in
Weightlifting.

• Abigail Binder of Ann Arbor,
a University of Michigan senior,
was part of Team USA’s Gold
Medal for Volleyball (Women’s).
She was joined in the Maccabiah
by her father, Jeffrey, in tennis,
and brother, Zachary, in fencing,
as the first multigenerational
family participating.

Leo
Wilensky

• Micah Jacobson
and Leo Wilensky
from Ann Arbor
Greenhills School
and Pioneer High
School were part of
Team USA’s Silver in
Soccer (Juniors
Soccer-Boys).

• Sydney Bierwirth, a
native of Walled Lake
who now practices
law in Colorado
Springs, was part of
Team USA’s Silver
Medal in Ice Hockey (Women’s).

• Alex Engel of Commerce
Township was part of Team
USA’s Silver Medal in Juniors
Track and Field 4x400 and
Bronze Medal in the 4x100.

• Rotem Andegeko of
East Grand Rapids,
and Benjamin
Rosenthal of Franklin,
a sophomore at
Vanderbilt University,
competed in Open
Swimming.

• Mina Fedderly, IACT
and director of
engagement at
Lester & Jewell
Morris Hillel Jewish
Student Center at
Michigan State University in East
Lansing, attended as the
Maccabi Educator Fellow.

around 20 miles outside of Nashville, is
returning to Ann Arbor for his senior
year and will be competing this year. He
was recruited in part by Gerdov, whom he
respects as an athlete. “It was real from the
jump,” Wooten said.
Wooten was awarded a partial scholarship
for men’s gymnastics.
Last year in the National Collegiate Athletic
Association, Wooten placed seventh on the
high bar and participated in the NCAA
team bronze, which the Wolverines repeated
this year. He also was named NCAA All-
American high bar in 2021 and 2022. Named
Michigan team captain for 2023, he received
the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award this year,
as well.
Gerdov’s swan song for his college career
was attending the “Jewish Olympics” in
Jerusalem, which has occurred every four
years in Israel since 1932 as the Maccabi
World Union’s largest and most famous enter-
prise.
“The games have only been interrupted
twice in its 90-year history, the first time by
the Second World War and, more recently,
due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” explained
Sheryl Raskin, founder and CEO of Out
There Creative Media, who handles Maccabi
USA’s community relations.
“The competition’s principal mission is
to facilitate a worldwide gathering of young
Jewish athletes in Israel, staging the highest

Michigan Athletes

Abigail Binder
was joined
at the 21st
Maccabiah
last month by
her brother,
Zachary, and
father, Jeffrey.

Adam Wooten
and Alan Gerdov

continued on page 38