Submitted by Cincy Journeys
“The people made this trip. Israel was amazing, but to be surrounded by a bunch of Jewish tennis players — a bunch of versions of me! — it was so amazing,” said Elle Frischer. “I’ve kept in contact with them since the day we left, and I don’t plan on ever stopping.”
Elle represented Cincinnati on the US Girls 18 tennis team during the 21st Maccabiah Games in Israel. “It was a lot of fun, and we played the best Jewish competition from across the world,” Elle said. “The team did great. We won gold in Girls 18 Doubles and Girls 18 Singles, and we also won silver in Girls 18 Singles. It was an all-USA final for the Girls 18s, which was incredible.”
The Maccabiah Games, also referred to as the Jewish Olympics, are generally held every four years in Israel and are open to Jewish athletes from around the world and to all Israeli citizens regardless of their religion. It is the world’s third-largest sporting event, behind the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, with 10,000 athletes competing. First held in 1932, the name Maccabiah was chosen after Judah Maccabee, a Jewish leader who defended his country from King Antiochus.
“The opening ceremonies were insane,” said Elle. “They were so much fun. I was surrounded by the entire USA team. All 1,100 of us walked in together. We screamed in the camera; we all wore matching sweatshirts. We chanted ‘USA!’ There were 30,000 people in one stadium watching us — there was Joe Biden in the stands! It was sensory overload, really incredible.”
Elle has been playing tennis nearly every day since she was four years old and has competed in several tournaments. “I like the independence and feeling like I could be in control of my own destiny,” said Elle. “When I’m on court, I don’t have somebody telling me what I have to do, when I have to do it, and how I have to do it. Those are all decisions that I get to make. I get to choose where I serve, what’s the next shot I hit, what strategy I go in with.”
She was introduced to the Maccabiah Games by her parents in the fall of 2021. “She’s an elite athlete,” said her mom, Lori. “The Maccabiah Games were a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we were going to make sure that she was able to participate in any way possible.”
That’s when Lori reached out to Cincy Journeys — a program that helps every Cincinnati Jewish child attend Jewish overnight camp and every teen and young adult travel to Israel, giving them the skills, experience, and desire to become tomorrow’s community leaders. “It means the world to have this resource,” said Lori. “The fact that we didn’t have to worry about the cost was amazing. The trip was budgeted at $8,500, which for three weeks in Israel with the games and all the gear and all the meals, I think is a pretty reasonable ask. Our travel grant covered everything but $500. The Jewish community in Cincinnati is like no other. The combination of the Federation and the Foundation and the resources that are available to us are very deep and very sincere, and they are meant for folks in the community to take advantage of them.”
With the money they saved, Lori, her husband, and their 13-year-old son also traveled to Israel to support Elle during the tournaments, said Lori. “Being able to be there to watch her and cheer her on in person was a really great feeling,” she added.
US athletes experienced more during Maccabiah than the games themselves. US team members participated in Israel Connect, spending the week prior to the games visiting sites in Israel. “It was my first time in Israel, and that first week was very busy,” said Elle. “We’d wake up at 4:30, practice for a couple of hours, get cleaned up, have breakfast, and hit the road. It was incredible touring Jerusalem as well as seeing Tel Aviv with skyscrapers next to the beach. The contrast and the diversity of the country is really impressive. One of my favorite days was probably when we visited Masada and the Dead Sea.”
Lori noted that the entire experience of being in Israel gave Elle incredible feelings and memories. “She talks a lot about her experiences, and I know that she’d love to go back someday and see other parts of the country,” Lori said. “She fell in love with it and the people and what it means to be Jewish. As a parent sending a child off to college, that’s all you can ask for. She knows what it means to be Jewish. She knows the connection to Israel; she knows the connection to other Jewish people in the Cincinnati community, and the ability to be able to reinforce that over the summer and have that funded through the travel grant is a really wonderful experience.”
Athletes were encouraged to meet people from other countries by trading gear with them, and Elle made connections all over the world through the process. “I have a Mexico shirt, an Argentina shirt, a Great Britain shirt,” Elle said. “I have a Swedish hat. I have memorabilia from a ton of different countries and a ton of different people I met. I made it one of my goals to take pictures with as many people from as many different countries as possible, and I think I got 13 or 14 pictures, which was really awesome just to see how large the Jewish community is around the world. I’m still talking to friends from Great Britain, Mexico, Spain, and Australia.”
Lori shared another fun anecdote regarding their experience. “The best part of this story is the folks that run the Maccabiah Games had no idea that the Cincy Journeys grants existed,” she said. “They wanted to get more information, so they could recruit a lot more Cincinnati folks to participate in the games and take advantage of the grant. So, I was able to connect the program to the Maccabiah Games! We need to make sure everyone in our community knows about this amazing resource. There is no reason to leave this money on the table when you can give your child an experience that they will never forget.”
Since two Israel travel grants can be used by Cincinnati Jewish teens and young adults any time between the ages of 16 to 26 with approved trip providers, Elle is confident she’ll be back. “Having the Cincy Journeys resource means a lot to me,” she said. “It gives me opportunities to go to Israel, which I never knew I would love as much as I did, and now that I know that I have an opportunity to go again, I plan on taking full advantage of that.”
