What do Olympic gold-medal swimmer Lenny Krayzelburg, Survivor: Africa champion Ethan Zohn and Jay Fiedler of Miami Dolphins fame have in common? Before they were in the public limelight, all three honed their sports skills and strengthened their Jewish identity as participants in the amazing community and character-building experience known as the JCC Maccabi Games®. What began as a pilot project in one city with 300 Jewish youth has ballooned to an annual summer event that attracts thousands of youngsters from the North America and abroad to multiple sites in the U.S. and Canada. And this summer, for the very first time, to Israel.
Since its inception in 1982, about 130,000 teens have benefited from the JCC Maccabi Games, whose influence extends far beyond the few weeks of summer competition. Inspired by their participation, many JCCs have developed year-round cultural and athletic programming that have provided the foundation for engaging Jewish teens in commitment to Jewish life and communal leadership – helping to secure a strong future for the Jewish community.
Many who have traveled to Israel describe an “Aha!” moment when they first realized that almost everyone around them, from the cab driver at the airport, to the hotel reservations clerk, to the policewoman directing traffic, is Jewish. It’s an intoxicating feeling to suddenly know that you are among not just friends, but family.
The JCC Maccabi Games makes it possible for every Jewish teen to experience such a moment. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of hundreds of volunteers and professional staff, working locally and at the New York City-based JCC Association, each year, the Games fulfill the mission to build Jewish community and strengthen the Jewish identity of Jewish teen athletes.
All Jewish teens 13 to 16 years old are eligible to join a delegation. Those without a JCC nearby, may register through JCC Association for our continental delegation. All it requires is an interest in a team or individual sport and the desire to make terrific new friends with whom young people will share life-long memories – and in the bargain, learn a lot about what it means to be Jewish. The Games draw youngsters from cities and towns, both large and small, around continental North America, Israel, and other nations abroad. All the teens enjoy home hospitality, and they spend at least part of a day doing community service. There are many opportunities to meet and spend time with their fellow competitors, and many teens develop long-term friendships with the families who host them.
A proud tradition of Jewish athletic competition more than a century old was the guiding inspiration for what has become the largest event for teen athletes in the world. The instigation for the JCC Maccabi Games arose in 1981 when Arie Rosenweig, president of Maccabi World Union’s organizing committee for the Maccabiah, traveled to the United States to investigate possibilities for developing a program here that would become a feeder to the historic Maccabiah Games in Israel. Arie’s phone calls to Uri Schaefer, the shaliach, Israeli emissary, at the Memphis JCC, and Yoram Eyal, the shaliach from the Jewish Agency for Israel, got the ball rolling. The following year, the first organized JCC Maccabi Games were held for 300 athletes in Memphis, Tennessee. To this day, Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel, Maccabi Canada and the Maccabi World Union continue to partner with JCC Association in presenting the JCC Maccabi Games. In fact, Maccabi World Union is acting as the host community in Israel for this summer’s JCC Maccabi Games/ArtsFest, the very first to be held in the Jewish state. You can follow all the action on Facebook.
