Mitzvahs And Medals @ Maccabi Games
The pre-game warmups at this years Maccabi games held in Austin, Texas and Orange County, California began a bit earlier for over 700 athletes.
Online, August 23, 2013 (Newswire.com) - The pre-game warmups at this years Maccabi games held in Austin, Texas and Orange County, California began a bit earlier for over 700 athletes. But instead of the usual drills and stretches, the teens exercised their souls by donning tefillin, giving tzedaka, hearing the shofar, and creating artwork toward two important causes, all of which were provided by the CTeen Mitzva booth under a banner proudly proclaiming, I Did a Mitzvah!
Teens chose to either join the Tiles for Smiles project, where they decorated ceramic tiles to adorn the walls of an Israeli bomb shelter with, while other teens opted to design sweatbands for special needs athletes from the Friendship Circle of Newport Beach.
In the spirit of one Mitzvah leads to another", the athletes received a special mitzvah pin to display proudly amidst their other Maccabi pins on their ID badges. This year CTeen created two unique Mitzva pins; a tefillin pin for the boys and a Shabbat candlestick for the girls.
Yechiel Kosofsky and Mendy Singer, the two rabbinical students representing the Chabad teen network and manning the booth, were amazed by the enthusiasm of the teens, coaches, parents and JCC employees alike. ×´Many teens came back to our booth after the games to happily inform us that they scored because they did a mitZva prior to the game, says Kosofsky. The Los Angeles soccer team were regular Tefilin customers each morning, explains Singer. They credited their silver medal to the tefillin they donned and agreed that next year they will try not to miss the last day of strapping tefillin so they can get the gold!
Dan D., the JCC organizer of the games, came over to the booth to put on tefillin. A big thank you to CTeen for providing the teens with these opportunities, he said as he recounted how during last years games in Nashville, there was a team that kept winning after they would all come and put on tefillin.
About CTEEN Network
The CTeen Global Jewish Network is inspired by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, whose belief in the power of youth transformed the teen years into a time of purpose and self-discovery. CTeen harnesses the incredible potential of teenagers with awesome Jewish youth community services and programs that bring Jewish teens in America together to give back to their communities. The mission of CTEEN is to provide Jewish education and a nurturing environment where teens can learn about themselves through giving to others, identify with individuals who share the same faith, and be part of a group that focuses on building core values and stresses positive character development.
The CTeen Network is inspired by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, whose belief in the power of youth transformed the teen years into a time of purpose and self-discovery. CTeen harnesses the incredible potential of teenagers with awesome programs that bring teens together to give back to their communities and the environment.