A visit to the beach was a must for the Israeli athletes — from right, Gan Ben David, Tair Maimon, and Amitai Tzemach — visiting the Jersey shore to join the Monmouth JCC delegation to the Maccabi Games; they were accompanied by Hayley Masi of Long Branch, who is on the JCC swim team.
Photo by Zach Levine
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August 18, 2009
Hundreds of young athletes from throughout America each summer take part in the annual JCC Maccabi Games, some traveling long distances to play with their home delegation while meeting Jewish teens and getting to know other parts of the United States.
For three members of the JCC of Greater Monmouth County Maccabi delegation, however, taking part in the “Jewish Olympics” meant coming clear across the ocean to get to know a whole new Jewish community.
The three are young Israeli athletes from the Arad/Tamar region, who will compete with the Monmouth team as residents of the community paired with the Jewish Federation of Monmouth County through the Jewish Agency’s Partnership 2000 program.
Gan Ben David, 16, and Amitai Tzemach and Tair Maimon, both 14, arrived in Monmouth County Aug. 9 to spend a week getting acquainted with the community and its teens and gearing up with their fellow athletes for the Maccabi games — set to take place Aug. 16-21 at the JCC of Mid-Westchester in Scarsdale, NY — and to do a bit of sightseeing.
At a “send-off” event Aug. 11, Shlomo Weiss, the JCC’s health & physical education director, gave an official briefing to the entire 23-member Monmouth JCC delegation, all under 16, who will compete in basketball, in-line hockey, tennis, and swimming.
(The JCC also sent a delegation of 10 basketball and tennis players age 14 and under to the San Francisco round of the games the week before; they came home with a Silver Medal in basketball.)
The Israeli visitors spent their week in Monmouth hosted by Izzy and Nancy Steinberg of Ocean and their two sons, Max and Isaac.
All first-time visitors to the States, the Israelis were escorted to a number of sights, including Six Flags Great Adventure and New York City.
The teens’ visit to Monmouth, said Aaron Rosenfeld, executive director of the Monmouth JCC, “is an opportunity to share Israel with the community.”
In a talk with NJJN, the athletes all said that they were excited to be in America and were grateful to the JCC and the Steinbergs for their hospitality.
Gan, a tennis player from Neot Hakikar, a moshav in the Tamar region, said that he is proud to “represent Israel” on the Monmouth team and that “it’s great to meet other Jewish teens” in New Jersey.
Amitai, a swimmer, said his visit so far has been “great. I was so excited to meet the other teens and to be in America. The Steinbergs are nice and received us so well.”
And what does Amitai want from his Maccabi Games experience? “I want to win,” he said.
Tair, also a swimmer, said she loves watching Michael Phelps in the water. She was particularly impressed, coming from such a dry region of Israel, with “how green everything is” in New Jersey. But most of all, she said, “it’s very important to meet new Jewish people and play sports with them, and more people need to do it. It’s important to connect with Jews from everywhere.”
Weiss said that playing in the Maccabi Games is a once-in-a-lifetime event for the young Israelis. “It is an amazing experience,” he said. “It’s a time for fun, and we want all of our children to have a great time.”
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