Temple Beth Rishon recently had their Family BBQ with members of the Men’s Club manning the grill. Other volunteers were organized by Activities Director Brenda Kress and Gail Niederman. The food was free, but folks were able to purchase and paint water bottles as the congregant’s youth raised funds and welcomed new members to sign up. Hundreds came out to enjoy the fine weather and take in the upbeat tunes of Cantor Ilan Mamber and The Templetones.

Also on the agenda was “ga-ga ball” which is a form of dodge ball with its roots in Israel. Ga-ga is played within an octagonal, wooden enclosure when available, but any space with some boundaries will do. Players smack a ball with their hand to hit an opponent with it, but no one is allowed to carry or throw the ball in play. Depending on the size of the ball,players can develop “ga-ga knuckles from scraping the ground. Official rules for ga-ga can be found here.

The professional wrestler Chasyn Rance was a ga-ga champion of South Florida from 1996-2000. The comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat, is a well known champion ga-ga player, and in 1992 led his country to a silver medal in the world ga-ga ball championships. At the end of this article is a video of some youth playing ga-ga at their summer camp.