The JCC Maccabi Games are held annually at different locations across the United States, showcasing young Jewish athletes’ skills in a variety of team and individual events. For many, the games are a chance to connect with other Jews and explore Jewish culture. For Rachel Kohler, whose family has been involved with the JCC Maccabi Games for decades, it is much more than that.
“A lot of people find spirituality when they go to synagogue. I always found it in the opening ceremonies of the games,” she said. “In 2002, when I was finally old enough to be an athlete, I remember just looking at my parents and tearing up thinking about finally reaching this family milestone.”
Kohler’s parents, Phil and Beth Kohler, helped form the first delegations of Philadelphia athletes sent to the games in the 1980s. Kohler said her parents always loved sports, and her dad served as swim coach at the Kaiserman JCC for years. When someone asked Bill Kohler to help organize a Philadelphia contingent for the next iteration of the games, he realized something, Rachel Kohler said.
“He wasn’t in the position to give back to the games financially, so he thought the way to give back was through his time and not his money,” she said. “And then someone asked my dad if my mom could help with administration knowing that she’s good with the books, and it’s been a family affair ever since then.”
First, Kohler was a wide-eyed child who couldn’t wait for her chance to compete in the games. Then, she was an athlete. After that, she served as a coach. Now, in addition to some coaching, she works as assistant delegation head to Barrie Mittica, which means she is a sort of stop-gap for anything and everything that arises.
“My job is to help Barrie and to keep the doors open for past athletes to come back and continue to make a difference,” she said. “And then during the week of the games, I’m there to support the athletes. I have a background in psychology, so I’m there to support them on and off the field, as well as schmooze with parents.”
When Kohler isn’t working in a Jewish leadership capacity — what she calls her “fun job” — she is working as a school counselor, which she refers to as her “adult job.”
Kohler was working in politics in her early 20s when she decided she couldn’t do it anymore. She missed the interactions with young people and the ability to lead and mold them that the Maccabi Games offered her, and she wanted that to be a major part of her “adult job” too.
But, she decided that despite her love for teaching, she wanted to go into psychology.
“As a teacher, you’re making a ton of impact, but when it comes to a student’s educational plan and what their education looks like, school psychologists in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania really have a great hand in that,” she said.
She has enjoyed her time with the School District of Haverford Township, but she still spends the school year looking forward to the summer, when she gets to be involved in the games again.
For Kohler, one of the most rewarding parts of the job is watching young athletes enter the games as largely secular Jews and leave with a new appreciation for their religion. She said that that phenomenon is quite common.
“I can be a facilitator of explaining why Judaism is important and help them figure out how their Judaism fits in with the week of games,” she said. “A lot of our athletes will say, ‘We don’t do anything Jewish besides this week, but when we’re here, we know that we’re Jewish.’”
Kohler told a story about a Maccabi Games from a few years ago in which members of the dance team she coaches stood up for a handicapped teammate. One of the dancers was deaf and couldn’t appreciate the music during the team’s performance. Another dancer — without Kohler instructing her to — went up to the emcee and asked them to turn the bass up higher so the deaf athlete could feel it, too.
“Seeing girls advocate for younger members of the team really shows that they are taking on leadership roles,” she said.
Kohler said this development occurs with each iteration of the games. What starts out as a chore for many athletes, with Kohler having to motivate them to practice, quickly becomes a focus of their lives.
The games rotate around U.S. cities each summer, with a few different Maccabi Games being held in a single calendar year. Kohler’s next big goal? Get the games to come back to Philadelphia.
“My hope is that we would get to host and that maybe I can take on a bigger role,” she said.
Kohler will continue to coach, teach, counsel and celebrate the young athletes who come to her each summer. After all, it is the family business.