Maccabi hold annual Youth Division Bar Mitzvah celebration at Kfar Maccabiah
Festivities were held yesterday at Kfar Maccabiah near Tel Aviv as part of Maccabi Tel Aviv's annual tradition of treating the club's two Under-13 teams, the class of 2001, to a special and moving experience to celebrate the Jewish coming-of-age event, the Bar Mitzvah. Team South, under the able stewardship of coaches Ori David and Kobi Ozer, this season won the prestigious State Cup last month and are in the final stages of a fine league season. Team North, overseen by coaches Adi Somech and Alon Peleg, reached the State Cup semi-finals and are also doing well in the league.
The Bar Mitzvah celebrations began in the middle of last month with a traditional Bar Mitzvah tour of Jerusalem, during which the youngsters visited, among other places, the Wailing Wall and Israel's houses of Parliament, the Knesset. Now those celebrations have been completed with a spectacular event at the Kfar Maccabiah sports club near Tel Aviv that provided the young players with more unforgettable memories. And one person who made sure to make an appearance, for the second year running, was Maccabi Tel Aviv owner Mitch Goldhar, who shared some thoughts with the clearly captivated lads and congratulated them on their reaching the Bar Mitzvah age. Among those also present were the Youth Division's director of football Nir Levin and general manager Ariel Avram, who spoke to the youngsters, among other things, about the senior team and the club's Football Academy. Also attending the celebrations were all members of the Youth Division's professional staff, including Division veterans Nissim Sidi, Yehuda Livni and Baruch Azarti.
The event was compared by the senior team's legendary announcer Shay Sidi, who was also very involved with the artistic side of the proceedings that included a performance by a dance group that also had the Bar Mitzvah boys themselves out on the dance floor. As a special part of the events, members of the Under-13 Team South lifted their State Cup trophy and were treated to individual team member introductions as only Shay Sidi knows how, giving the entire affair that special Bloomfield Stadium atmosphere. To finish off the evening veteran Youth Division stalwarts Nir Levin and Ariel Avram handed out presents to the Bar Mitzvah boys as a token of pride on behalf of the entire Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division.
