neve ilan, israel | Luke Rosener removed his orange T-shirt, changed into a white dress shirt and alighted from a chartered bus.
The garb was a far cry from the uniform Rosener has been wearing this week while playing for the U.S. volleyball team at the Maccabiah Games, the 78-nation sports competition that began last week in Israel and concludes on Tuesday, July 30.
The attire was more befitting a religious ceremony — in this case, his bar mitzvah.
Rosener, 22, of Cupertino, had never had a bar mitzvah, owing to his family’s financial situation and his early struggles with dyslexia. But as part of the 1,200-member U.S. Maccabiah delegation, Rosener encountered a ready-made opportunity to become a bar mitzvah alongside 120 others from Team USA also celebrating the traditional rite of passage.
That’s because Maccabi USA, the American branch of the international sports movement, brings participants to Israel a week before the competition for a mandatory program of touring and discussions rich in Jewish content. In recent years the program, Israel Connect, has featured a group b’nai mitzvah ceremony for participants who never had one.
In addition to Rosener, other Team USA members from the Bay Area who participated in the ceremony included junior swimmers Allie Klinger of Brentwood and Rachel Knowles of Pleasanton; junior fencer Taly Yukelson of Cupertino; adult ice hockey player Woody Levin of San Francisco; runner Sarah Beth Williams, a recent high school graduate from Los Gatos; volleyball player Lucy Tashman, a recent high school grad from Atherton; and Derek Sheldon, a Maccabi USA team manager from Martinez.
“There’s so much more to [the Maccabiah] than playing sports,” said Jeffrey Bukantz, Maccabi USA’s general chairman. “We really do consider it the flagship of the program. It’s to the point that Israel Connect is more important than the actual sports. The kids are really impacted by the program.”
Rosener, who graduated last month from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in psychology focused on neuroscience, said he was not brought up with much religious instruction.
“I considered myself culturally Jewish, celebrating Passover and Chanukah,” said Rosener, whose Jewish education began and ended with preschool at South Peninsula Hebrew Day School in Sunnyvale. “The biggest influence was my mom [Lynn], who pushed the Jewish cultural-religious side of it.”
But Rosener’s older brother Jake, also a volleyball player who had not celebrated a bar mitzvah, participated in the Maccabiah’s group b’nai mitzvah ceremony in 2009 and enjoyed the experience. That pushed Luke to take the leap, too.
On the lush grounds of a reception center in the hills west of Jerusalem, a mile beyond the Elvis Inn pub guarded by a white statue of “The King,” the delegation gathered in the setting sun for the July 16 ceremony. The entry hall’s long red carpet was lined with red, white and blue balloons, and round tables in the vast garden were stacked with wrapped presents.
As he headed to the event, Rosener said he felt both excited and nervous.
“I don’t fully know what to expect. I know it’s a big thing in the Jewish culture,” Rosener said that afternoon. “You have your bar mitzvah when you’re 13, and it seemed my time had passed. But this gives me a second opportunity.”
The ceremony coincided with Tisha B’Av, the 25-hour fast commemorating the destruction of both ancient Temples — a day on which celebrations are frowned upon. But as he prepared to chant the Torah portion designated for the closing hours of many fast days, Rabbi Daniel Greyber, the delegation’s official rabbi, offered a fresh perspective.
“The afternoon of Tisha B’Av is a time of rebuilding, of looking forward,” said Greyber, a rabbi in Durham, N.C. “The b’nai mitzvah ceremony connects us to the Jewish people — not only in this world at this time, but for all of history. In that regard, it requires celebrating.”
Greyber led the crowd in spirited singing, and he punctuated the Torah reading with references to group discussions he had led the previous day covering biblical events and their relevance today.
Dave Blackburn, a former standout softball pitcher who has competed in six Maccabiah Games (this year he is competing in paralympic table tennis), recited the Birkat HaGomel traditionally recited by those who have escaped harm. In 2009, Blackburn, of Santa Monica, was nearly killed in a car crash, an accident that claimed his right leg below the knee and broke 27 bones.
“I’ve lived to share this Maccabiah experience with you, my extended family,” Blackburn, 53, said from his wheelchair.
After the final blessing was chanted, Greyber led the singing of “Siman Tov” as candies were tossed onto the podium and participants wiped tears. Members of the two rugby teams leaped from their front-row chairs and posed near the stone wall overlooking the hills. Some did a jig in the seating area.
Rosener said the ceremony was highly satisfying.
“I was in the moment, surrounded by other people, saying the blessing. I felt complete,” he said. “Something was added that had been missing from my life. I was missing that part of my Jewish culture, and now I’ve fulfilled it.”
Now Rosener has turned to the competition with the men’s volleyball team. After opening July 21 with a loss to Canada, Team USA came back with wins over Argentina and Ukraine, with matches against Israel and Brazil set to close out the round-robin portion of the tournament.
The championship and bronze medal games are on the Friday, July 26 schedule, and all matches are being held at an arena in the central-Israel town of Modi’in.
Interviewed after the Ukraine match, Rosener said he’s had to adapt to some of the differences in playing under international rules, where allowable substitutions are far fewer and where balls hitting the ceiling are called dead.
He’s also been impressed by his opponents’ quality and style of play. The Ukrainian team, for example, consists mainly of older players.
“For younger guys, you’ll hit the ball hard,” Rosener said. “Older guys don’t hit it as hard, but they pass it better and have good ball control.”
Rosener’s parents traveled to Israel a week ago and have attended his games. On July 23, they ate lunch together. He’ll return to Cupertino next week.
All in all, Rosener said, “it’s been very exciting.”