Ma’ayanot Maccabiah fittingly took place during the week of Parashat Pekudei, which describes the completion of the Mishkan. In the model of each individual Jew contributing his and her unique talents, abilities, and resources to the Mishkan, Ma’ayanot Maccabiah offers an opportunity for each student to joyfully contribute her talents to a creative and unifying project. Over 40 activities during three fast-paced school days meant that Ma’ayanot’s student Torah scholars, STEAM makers, athletes, piano players, videographers and video editors, Hebrew-speakers, math geniuses, cake decorators, painters, writers, singers, dancers, and public speakers all stepped up to help their team. Exploring different aspects of kedusha, the four teams – Shabbat, Chodesh, Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael – paradoxically found unity within their competitions.
Meticulously organized by Ma’ayanot’s indefatigable Student Activities Director Aliza Adler and her fantastic team, and with full faculty participation as advisors, judges, referees, scorekeepers, motivators and program directors, each day of Maccabiah included Torah learning, ruach, creativity and teamwork. From catching the winning ball in a dodgeball game, to researching and presenting a “portrait of heroism” highlighting the heroes of Israel since October 7th, to conceiving and executing a banner that will decorate Ma’ayanot for years to come, each student had an opportunity to shine, discover new talents, and cooperate with fellow students.
Freshman Tsirel Ogince “loved seeing all the presentations, which showed me the creativity of myWordschoolmates.” Classmate Leah Barzideh added, “Maccabiah was much more than doing races and showing our talents. I was able to connect not only with my own grade, but with students from other grades as well.” Freshman Ariella Price summed up Maccabiah as “uplifting, inspiring and unifying!”
While the seniors scored the most points, every Ma’ayanot student was a winner since Maccabiah at Ma’ayanot gave her a chance to shine. Maccabiah truly reflects Ma’ayanot’s encouragement of students’ leadership, their academic, athletic and artistic excellence, their dedication to Torah and to the friendships that last a lifetime.
