Israel Matzav

What I did with my year in Israel

Do you have a child in Israel this year? Is that child doing anything other than studying? Well, in one yeshiva, there are a whole bunch of guys who are running the Marathon.

Upon getting settled in yeshiva, Benun began his usual workout regimen of training five days a week. And he soon found out he was not alone.

“I planned on running the marathon by myself, but when I saw a few other kids running, I realized that others might be interested as well,” Benun said.

Benun first appealed to his roommate, Ariel Rogoff.

“My initial response was ‘no way,’” Rogoff recounted. “[But] that day, we went for a run together.”

The Ironman veteran was soon joined by an additional 16 people who have since been training under his tutelage.

This is not Benun’s first time coaching, however. During his senior year of high school at Brooklyn’s Flatbush Yeshiva, he was recruited by the school organizer of Magen David Yeshiva to train a group of students for the Miami Half-Marathon to raise money for the Bikur Cholim charity.

“Coaching showed me that it’s not all about giving to your athletes. It’s really more than that. You really get back. As much as you inspire them, they inspire you,” Benun said.

Benun’s experience stretches beyond the Ironman and his onetime coaching stint: He’s been running competitively since he won a Brooklyn half marathon with a time of 1:28 at age 14.

Having prior experience made assembling the Yeshiva’s “Team Tzvi” relatively easy, and feedback among the runners has been positive thus far.

“I’ve always gotten good grades, but I’ve never accomplished any real physical feat,” said Boston’s Ben Fisher.

“Most people after three weeks of training never realized that what they could do was possible, and they were doubtful of their abilities,” Benun said. “I see my job as just getting rid of people’s doubts.”

The reservations mostly stem from the intensity of the commitment.

“I wanted to do the full marathon, but it was difficult to keep up with all the workouts,” explained Joe Hyman of Edgware, England, who is opting to compete in the half-marathon.

“I plan on running in the full marathon,” said Sam Cappell of the Upper West Side in New York City, “but just getting started is difficult.”

Despite their commitment to running, the members of Team Tzvi remain completely dedicated to their studies in the modern Orthodox yeshiva where learning Talmud, Tanach, Jewish law and Zionism can stretch for over 10 hours a day.

“Our first priority is as yeshiva students. We’re not going to start skipping class because of this marathon,” explained Zach Avigan.

The team is inspired by e-mails from Joe, daily updates to the “Team Tzvi” Facebook group, and messages scrawled on the whiteboard in the yeshiva’s exercise room.

“Mind over matter: if you don’t mind, it won’t matter,” read one.

Read the whole thing.

Maybe I should go to yeshiva there. You see, before we came on aliya, I was a Marathoner. I completed seven Marathons (the last one was here eight months after we made aliya, but by then I wasn't in the shape I was in when we lived in the US). My best time was 3:24:22 in New York in 1990. That's not a professional runner's time, but it was good enough to put me about 2,800 out of 25,000 finishers that year - which is not too shabby.

Unfortunately, I've gained quite a few pounds since then, and would probably have to train for a few months just to finish 5 kilometers (a Marathon is 42 kilometers - 26 miles and 385 yards).

Labels: Eretz HaTzvi, Marathon, Talmud

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:33 AM