Written by Brian Barth
Bryan Bierman attended his first Maccabiah in 2017, but this was not his first time in Israel. In fact, he had previously made the trip 11 times. But it was the 12th time that revolutionized his Jewish journey with Maccabi USA.
Bierman, originally from Franklin, MA, is now the Executive Director of Temple Israel in Westport, CT. He has been a frequent figure at the JCC Maccabi Games, having led his Stamford, CT delegation most recently in 2016 when it hosted the event. It was then when he met with Shane Carr, now Maccabi USA’s Senior Director of Programs, at a bar in Stamford. Then – as Bierman put it – ”the rest is history.”
Sports always played a large role in Bryan’s life, including during his undergraduate days at Springfield College – the birthplace of modern basketball – where physical activities were mandated as part of the graduation requirement. Once he was out of school, he even managed a 60-person kickball league.
He parlayed his logistical prowess to a role at Camp Tevya, a Jewish summer camp in New Hampshire, where Bierman led its programming efforts in addition to being the camp’s social worker.
In 2011, he started working at Temple Israel, a reform congregation in Westport.
“Truth be told, I never thought I was going to be here longer than probably four or five years,” Bierman said.
Fourteen years later, he now manages the professional team as Executive Director, a role he’s now held for four years. He attributes his lasting connection with Temple Israel to its outstanding growth in that time period.
Before COVID-19, the synagogue comprised about 600 families, a number that has increased to well over 1,000 today. “The staff and the clergy people connect to you at a high level,” Bierman said. “I love it, and that’s one of the reasons why I continue to love what I do.”
None of this has stopped Bryan from his involvement with Maccabi USA, even in the most pressure-cooking logistical situations. And this summer he will again head to Israel and assist the American delegation at the Maccabiah as its Accommodations Manager.
“It’s using parts of my brain that I can’t use here,” he said. “Like [organizing] 500 people at a hotel on a constant basis for three weeks straight.”
The adrenaline he gets from working with Maccabi USA is unlike anything else he has ever experienced.
He notes that in any administrative role, one is constantly deciding on when and where to expend energy as there is only a finite amount. But at the Maccabiah, those rules simply do not apply.
“You wake up at 6:00 am, and sometimes I don’t get to bed till midnight or 1:00 am, and then I can still wake up the next day because there’s energy in me,” Bierman said. “Last night, I fell asleep at 11:00 pm, and I could barely get up at 7:00 am with my kids.”
His kids, now four and six, are Maccabi USA delegates-in-waiting. When asked about whether or not his kids would participate in the Maccabiah when they get older, Bierman said “1,000%.”
Bierman’s love for Israel, Judaism, and sports gets reignited by the Maccabiah every four years. He finds that the combination of those three elements makes his experiences with Maccabi USA unique as it fills a “void” among Jewish programs.
But above all else, it’s the connection to others that Bierman cherishes the most.
“When you see people from different countries [singing] Hatikvah at the opening ceremonies or standing up there giving hugs, you have a small line of connection. You see everybody there is doing something for their love of sports, their love of Judaism,” he says. “You see the connection then all of the sudden you see Judaism come to life.”
Brian Barth is a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been a member of the Maccabi Media Program since the inaugural team at the 2022 Maccabiah. You can follow him on X @BrianWBarth and Instagram @brianw.barth.