Congratulations and kudos to all of the young Jewish athletes from throughout Connecticut who recently competed in the 2016 JCC Maccabi Games and Artsfest – held right here in Stamford, August 7–12! For the uniniated, the JCC Maccabi Games and Artsfest is an annual Olympic-style event where Jewish athletes and artists ages 13-16 from around the world come together to compete, and volunteer for social action projects. Every teen comes home a winner – with a backpack full of memories and friends to last a lifetime.

This year, Connecticut sent two teams of athletes and artists to the Games – a team sponsored by the Mandell JCC in West Hartford, and a team sponsored by the JCC of Stamford. Because Stamford was a host site this year, the JCC had the privilege of sending many more athletes and artists to the Games than ever before. And they took full advantage of that prerogative!

Team Hartford

The Mandell JCC Maccabi team was small – but mighty! The girls basketball team (future Huskies?) brought home a Bronze medal (with a little help from three teammates from Israel and New York); and three team members – Ben Meritt (basketball), Emma Tishler (soccer) and Lauren Walden (soccer) received the prestigious Midot Medal for showing outstanding values, in the areas of: Joy, Tikkun Olam, Big-Heartedness and Jewish Peoplehood.

For information about joining the Hartford team for the 2017 JCC Maccabi Games and Artsfest, contact Thai Tran at ttran@mandelljcc.org or David Laudati at dlaudati@mandelljcc.org. An informational meeting is scheduled for October 2016. For more information, contact Sam Lewis, (203) 693-2378, sam@mandelljcc.org.

Save the date! The Mandell JCC will host the Northeast Jr. Maccabi Games, Sunday, May 21, 2017 for ages 10-12.

Sports
Drew Seidman – Basketball Boys
Ethan Raisner – Basketball Boys
Ben Merrit – Basketball Boys
Sophie Rosenberg – Basketball Girls
Megan Polun – Basketball Girls
Amber Raisner – Basketball Girls
Sydney Gellerman – Basketball Girls
Emma Tishler – Soccer Girls
Lauren Walden – Soccer Girls

Artsfest
Sadie Margolis
Victoria Bounstani

Team Stamford

If Team Stamford seems a little bigger than in previous years it’s because, as a Maccabi host site, Stamford had the privilege of inviting more athletes to join their team. And that team brought home the gold, silver and bronze!

For information on joining the 2017 Stamford JCC Maccabi team, contact Mo Concepcion at (203) 487-0971 or mconcepcion@stamfordjcc.org.

*medal winners

*Anna Abrams, Anna Maria Abram, swimming girls 13-14: 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
*Arthur Abrams, Swimming Boys 13-14: 4 Gold, 5 Silver, 2 Bronze
Spencer Abrams
Liel Aman
Jessica Baden
Georgia Baer
Lewis Baer
Jacob Balinsky
Chaya Banschick
*Joseph Barocas, Lacrosse Boys 16-under: Silver
*Carly Bennett, Lacrosse Girls 16-under: Bronze
Benjamin Benson
Claudia Benz
Dean Bilenker
Justin Bilenker
*Ryan Blasberg, Lacrosse Boys 16-under: Silver
Jordan Bowbeer
Mia Brenner
Julia Brodie
Jason Busch
Adam Cohen
Andrew Cohen
*Moran Cohen, Soccer Boys 16-under: Bronze
Gilad Coll
Matan Coll
*Yeud Genet Desta, Soccer Boys 16-under: Bronze
Rachel Deutsch
*Samuel Diamond, Swimming Boys 15-16: 1 Gold
Randy Dimand,
Shayna Druckman
Aaron Eben
Sydney Eben
*Benjamin Epstein, Lacrosse Boys 16-under: Silver
*Shoshana Epstein, Lacrosse Girls 16-under: Bronze
Ethan Essenfeld
Samuel Essenfeld
Michal Fass
*Zachary Feinstein, Baseball 16-under: Silver
*Benjamin Feldman, Swimming Boys 13-14: 6 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Bronze
Caroline Feldman
Matthew Finkelstein
Noah Finkelstein
*Amichai Fogel, Baseball 16-under: Silver
Benjamin Forti
Tamar Frydman
Benjamin Fuchs
*Noah Fuchs, Baseball 16-under: Silver
Sara Gatz
Yael Gelman
*Aaron Goldblum, Soccer Boys 16-under: Bronze
*Evan Goldblum, Swimming Boys 12: 2 Silver
Hannah Goldenberg
*Jared Goldstein, Golf Boys 15-16: 2 Gold, 2 Silver
William Gordon
Matthew Greenbaum
Lily Gubernick
Nathan Haron
Noam Haron
Jacob Herz
Brandon Hoak
*Ryan Hoak, Lacrosse Boys 16-under: Silver
*Jason Hochberg, Baseball 16-under: Silver
*Matthew Hochberg, Baseball 16-under: Silver
Benjamin Hoff
Liam Hurley
*Aaron Isenstein, Soccer Boys 16-under: Bronze
*Nathan Isenstein, Soccer Boys 16-under: Bronze
Leah Jacobson
Sophie Jacobson
Dylan Johnson
Caroline Judelson
Mary Kagan
Alexander Kaplan
*Sophia Kessler, Lacrosse Girls 16-under: Bronze
Sam Kinches
Morgana Knopoff
Ben Konak
Natalie Kovalskiy
*Joshua Labkoff, Soccer Boys 16-under: Bronze
Manning Landeck
*David Lang, Soccer Boys 16-under: Bronze
*Sydney Leeds, Lacrosse Girls 16-under: Bronze
Joshua Leferman
Anna Lichtenberg
Wendy Lichtenberg
Gabriella Lieberman
Ryan Lipton
Brett Lubliner
Joshua Lurie
*Cameron Lyman, Lacrosse Girls 16-under: Bronze
Hannah Macdonald
Daniel Mandel
Ryan Meiteles
Rebecca Morgenthaler
Hannah Nekritz
Jakob Okun
Adira Orbach
Talia Orbach
Emma Ostrovsky
Michael Palefsky
Benjamin Pearl
Zev Pinker
*Tyler Pomerance, Tennis Boys 15-16 – C: Bronze
Hudson Price
Ruthie Price
Ashley Rawn
Andrew Reicin
Noah Reicin
Andrew Roloff
Melanie Roloff
Michael Rose
Jamie Rosh
Kaila Rosovsky
Mira Rosovsky
Benjamin Rudoy
Daniel Salm
Elena Salm
*Nathan Salm; Lacrosse Boys 16-under: Silver
Max Savitt
*Adam Schwartz, Soccer Boys 16-under: Bronze
Jayce Schwartz
*Kara Schwartz, Swimming Girls 13-14: 4 Bronze
Marley Schweber
Ashley Shapiro
Brandon Shapiro
Madeline Shapiro
*Erica Shaulson, Lacrosse Girls 16-under: Bronze
*Avi Shein, Soccer Boys 16-under: Bronze
Harrison Silver
Ariel Silverstein
*Jordan Soifer, Tennis Boys 15-16 – C: Gold
Max Solomon
*Brynn Spingola, Dance 13-14: 2 Silver Medals
Samuel Spingola
Jack Stankey
Sydney Steinberg
*Brian Sternberg, Soccer Boys 16-under: Bronze
Eli Stockman
Maximillian Sussman
Claudia Tanner
Jordan Trief
*Leah Tuluca, Tennis Girls 13-14 – C: Gold
Andrew Ukhanov
Dar Aviv Vaknin
Matthew Vogel
*Alex Walker, Lacrosse Boys 16-under: Silver
Rylie Walker
Andrew Weindling
Matthew Weindling
Edward Weinstein
Jackson Weisman
Abby Wexler
Joshua Wohlberg
*Jenna Wyman, Lacrosse Girls 16-under: Bronze
Gabriel Yaghoubian
Nathaniel Yaghoubian
Andrew Yakubovich
*Marissa Young, Swimming Girls 15-16: 1 Gold
*Nadav Zarmi, Soccer Boys 16-under: Bronze
Noah Zeitlin
Ziv Zino