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Children go ga ga at Youngstown Hanukkah event
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
Lily Weiss (right), 6, of Canfield, and Saadyiah Leff (second from right), 2, of Cortland, sing Hanukkah themed songs as Rabbi Franklin Muller plays guitar during a Hanukkah celebration at Rodef Sholom in Youngstown on Sunday evening.
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
One of the activities Emily Newman took part in during summer camp in was sharpening her skills playing ga ga, also known as Israeli dodge ball.
Emily, a fifth-grader at W.S. Guy Middle School in Liberty, was the last one standing — literally — after a ga-ga game that was part of Sunday’s Maccabiah Games competition at Congregation Rodef Sholom, 1119 Elm St., on the city’s North Side.
Ga ga was one of the games Emily, of Burton, and dozens of other youngsters participated in as part of a Hanukkah celebration at Rodef Sholom.
Every four years, Jewish athletes from all over the world come to Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv, Israel, to compete in the Maccabiah games, the name of the Israeli Olympics. Sunday’s gathering was to simulate a children’s version of the games as part of the Hanukkah celebration, organizers said.
Emily and several other children did their best to hit one another below the waist with the dodge ball while trying to avoid being struck. Emily was the only participant not to be eliminated.
For the Newman family, the rest of the Jewish holiday looks to be a bit more traditional.
“We plan to light a candle every night [for the eight nights of Hanukkah],” said Emily’s father, David. “The kids get presents and we say a prayer.”
Emily also came with her mother, Karie, and brothers Seth and Joshua, 5 and 7, respectively.
The youngsters broke into four teams and were awarded points for first-, second-, third- and fourth-place finishes. Extra points were given to the team that showed the most spirit.
At one point, Rodef Sholom looked more like the setting for a series of relay races when the youngsters competed in meruta schlichim (running with the stick).
Other games included matkot (paddleball), stanga (two-person soccer) and kaf u’betza (spoon and egg race). Instead of eggs, however, participants placed small doughnuts on spoons in their mouths and walked back and forth trying not to drop the doughnut.
The games concluded with a jelly-doughnut-eating contest in which four competitors had one minute to eat as many of the treats as possible.
The Maccabiah Games also are derived from the courage of Judah and the Maccabees, who are the heroes of the Hanukkah story, noted Rabbi Franklin Muller of Rodef Sholom.
“They led a revolt against the Syrian Greeks and rededicated the Temple,” he explained, adding that the games signify their strength and bravery.
Also leading Sunday’s gathering were Or Bass and his wife, Noam Weinstainof Tel Aviv, who came to the Mahoning Valley in August as emissaries of the Jewish Agency, one of the world’s largest Jewish organizations.
A goal of their one-year stay in the Valley is to “strengthen the connection between the Youngstown community and Israel,” Bass explained, adding that the couple also teaches at the Akiva Day School, which is part of the Jewish Community Center, on Gypsy Lane.
In addition, they also work with the Youngstown Jewish Federation, Weinstain added.
Another of the couple’s ambitions is to provide information to non-Jews about Israel and anything related to Judaism, Bass said.
The program also included a candle-lighting portion, a potluck dinner and songs by Rabbi Muller who also played the guitar.