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Fog/Mist Inspired by Jewish pride
Dojo members win medals at Maccabiah Games
Years of training paid off for five members of Warren Levi Karate in Cedarhurst, who won 10 medals at the 20th World Maccabiah Games, an international athletic competition, informally referred to as the “Jewish Olympics,” held in Israel last month.
The sheer magnitude of what the Cedarhurst dojo members accomplished against a number of the world’s best karate competitors overwhelmed Rebecca Obstfeld. “It was something Shihan Warren had talked to me about since I first joined at 19,” she said, referring to Levi using a Japanese honorific that means master instructor. “It was like something on the bucket list, but I didn’t think it was ever really going to happen.”
Obstfeld, of Oceanside, won three medals — two silvers, in team kata and team kumite, and a bronze, in individual kumite. Her performance was especially impressive given that many competitors in the 18-to-34 age division were in their 20s, and she is 31.
Athletes competed in individual or team versions of kumite — a form of sparring, in which points are awarded for clean strikes — and kata — choreographed patterns of moves.
Aliza Abramson, 21, also won three medals, silvers in team kata, individual kumite and team kumite. Abramson, of Cedarhurst, was the dojo’s only participant who is a brown belt — the level below black belt. She began training just two years ago, she said. “I came in here to do a summer special,” she recounted, “and then the owner saw me and told me, literally the day of my first class, that I’m going to Maccabiah.”
Though he qualified in the master’s division, Levi, the proprietor of the dojo, did not compete due to his business obligations. He took part in previous Maccabiah Games, first representing his native South Africa, and then the U.S. “It was more than just a competition,” he said. “It’s that uniting of the Jewish faith, and I wanted that for my students.”
The moment was not lost on those who participated. “It was special because it was my first time actually competing internationally,” said 18-year-old Menachem Feierman, of Far Rockaway, “and it was also special competing with a whole bunch of Jews, while also representing my country.”
Abramson, who lived in Israel for year, agreed. It was “absolutely incredible, like every step of the way it kind of felt like it wasn’t real,” she said. “To be able to compete and go to Israel and see so many Jews. It was cool to go there and just feel that Jewish pride.”
Amit Ziv, 34, also lived in Israel for several years when he was younger, and said he was thrilled to return there and compete. “To be back there, like who would have believed that it could be me?” said Ziv, of Forest Hills. I have an office job. Everybody is like, ‘What do you do?’ ‘I’m a personal trainer.’ ‘I work at the dojo.’ I work for Bloomberg.”
Ziv was one of the older competitors, and despite having torn a hamstring in training, he won a bronze medal in team kumite. While he did not place in any individual events, Ziv said he didn’t make it easy for any of his opponents.
Akiva Fink, 18, also won a bronze in team kumite, and 15-year-old Dylan Saltzman competed in the 14-to-15 age division, but did not place. Both are from Cedarhurst.
Levi has competed around the world, but the Maccabiah Games hold a special place in his heart, he said. “Israel is one of my favorite places to go — it feels like home away from home,” he said. “The culture is very warm and embracing, so when you’re part of an event where people are in a positive frame of mind, everyone competing is healthy, spirits are high, it’s just a warm place to be, and I look forward to Israel more for the experience than even for the competition itself.”
His karate students are now training for their next major tournament, the New York Open, next March.
