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Philadelphia Native Playing for Israel
in Maccabiah Games
G JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
rowing up in an Orthodox
household, absorbing her com-
munity’s strong Zionist values
and studying Torah at Stern Hebrew
High School in Northeast Philadelphia,
Aviva Menche recognized that Jewish
prayers were oft en about aspiring to go
to Israel.

She kept asking herself what seemed
like a straightforward question: If all
Jews had the option, why didn’t we just
do it? Th en, aft er graduating from Stern,
Menche lived in the Holy Land for a year
to study Judaic subjects at Midreshet
HaRova, a seminary in Jerusalem.

Upon returning, Menche, then Aviva
Koloski, asked her mother why Jews
always said “next year in Jerusalem.”
Why not this year? Karine Koloski had
raised her daughter Orthodox and sent
her to Orthodox schools, so she couldn’t
exactly disagree. But she did at least try
to argue, saying well, why not next year
in Jerusalem?
It only worked for so long.

In 2020, at age 28, it was next year in
Jerusalem for Menche and her husband
of fi ve years, Ariel, who had the same
dream. Th e Jewish couple made aliyah
that August with their 1-year-old daugh-
ter Eden. Less than two years later, Aviva
Menche is representing Israel in the 21st
Maccabiah Games, the Jewish Olympics,
from July 12-26.

Th e Philadelphia native was a standout
basketball player at Stern, leading it to
a 40-27 record in four years as a varsity
point guard. In the Maccabiah Games,
she is playing a similar role in a diff erent
sport: netball, in which players pass the
ball up and down a court and try to score
in a net. Th ey just can’t dribble or leave
their assigned territories.

Center is Menche’s strongest position
since it’s similar to point guard, requir-
ing players to fi nd open teammates up
court. But Menche is less experienced at
the new game than other players, so she
focuses on a more defensive wing role.

Israel is 2-1 in the tournament aft er
beating England on July 18. Th e four
teams in the netball fi eld are playing a
double round robin to decide the top two,
who will meet in the championship.

described as “an absorption center for
immigrants.” Her teammates were South
African, Australian and English. Menche
started going every Sunday.

“It was a good mix of social and com-
petitive fun,” she said.

Th is past season, as a center and wing
defender, she helped lead Tel Aviv to the
championship and got noticed by the
national team’s coach, Shan Berman. “I
was super-excited,” Menche said. “Th is is
crazy, to play on a national team.”
Menche says living in a Jewish country
gives her a sense of comfort. Th e Holy
Land’s rhythms, like on holidays and
the Sabbath, follow those of the Jewish
people. Sometimes she misses the U.S.,
but then she looks around.

“Look how beautiful Israel is,” Menche
says. JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
Aviva Menche
Courtesy of Aviva Menche
Menche also works as a marketing
manager for Fluence Corp., a water and
wastewater treatment company, takes
care of her young daughter and is an
active member in two synagogues. Th e
Tel Aviv resident has no longer just made
aliyah: She’s an Israeli.

“Sometimes I look at my husband and
say, ‘We’re doing it,’” Menche said.

Back in the U.S., Aviva’s father Steven
Koloski moved from the Northeast to
Cherry Hill, New Jersey, seven years ago.

Today, Karine and Steven Koloski belong
to Sons of Israel, an Orthodox syna-
gogue in the township, and their lives
still revolve around their religion, keep-
ing Kosher and observing the Sabbath.

While their three sons, Aviva’s broth-
ers, are still in the U.S., the Koloskis
hope to make aliyah one day, too. Aviva
is encouraging it in the same way that
her mother used to tell her to wait until
next year.

“It’s sad when I don’t see her all the
time. But Israel is home,” Karine said.

“One day, we’ll be there.”
Th e parents visited Israel last August
but weren’t able to make the trip for this
year’s games. But perhaps no one is more
aware of Menche’s progress in her new
sport than her mother. According to
Koloski, Menche discovered the sport as a
student at the University of Pennsylvania
during a semester in Australia. Th en,
aft er making aliyah, the longtime athlete
joined a Tel Aviv team in Israel’s eight-
team league.

She was looking for something to do
and a way to meet people in her new home,
and she found what her Tel Aviv coach
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