American Jews are well represented in figure skating at this month’s Winter Olympic Games, which begin in Sochi, Russia, on Feb. 6. Six-time U.S. ice dancing champion Charlie White (along with partner Meryl Davis) and the newly crowned ladies’ champion Gracie Gold and U.S. men’s silver medalist Jason Brown will pursue their sport’s top honor: an Olympic gold medal. Max Aaron, 2013 U.S. men’s champion, had hoped to join them. Coming into last month’s U.S. National Championships, Max hoped to both defend his U.S. title and secure a spot on the Olympic team. Although he skated well, landing one quadruple jump and coming oh so close to landing a second one in his long program, Max finished third overall. Unlike the ladies, the U.S. men have only two Olympic slots, which went to first- and second-place finishers, 28-year-old Jeremy Abbott and 19-year-old Jason Brown. Max was named first alternate. Max, who grew up in Scottsdale, came to national attention last year when he won the U.S. Men’s Figure Skating Championships, beating out more experienced rivals. “My point of view is that Jews are tough people, and we don’t shy away from anything,” he says. “That’s my attitude in my training.” While waiting for the Olympic team announcement, Max commented, “I really want the best men to go, and if it’s not me, it’s not me.”
A few days after Nationals, Max posted on his Facebook page, “Words can’t express how thankful I am for everything in life and all the love everyone has given me. I want to thank all my friends, family, fans and sponsors for all the support this year leading up to my first Olympic Trials. It breaks my heart knowing I won’t be at the games but I know we have an amazing team. Congratulations to all the team members, especially my friends Jeremy and Jason. My spirit will live through the team, hoping for success in every discipline.”
Tough hardly begins to cover Max’s attitude, whether toward skating or life in general. From the age of 4 he was training intensively, first as a speed skater and later in hockey, his first on-ice love. He competed at the highest level of hockey for under-18 players and went to the U.S. Hockey Nationals in 2006 and 2007. He was simultaneously working his way up the ranks in figure skating, placing 5th at the U.S. Nationals in the novice division in 2006 and 13th as a junior the following year. Eventually the intensive training in multiple sports took its toll. During a weight-lifting workout in 2008, Max fractured one of his vertebrae and spent the next four months in a body cast. It would be a year before he could step on the ice again. During his long and painful rehab, Max decided to focus exclusively on figure skating. “Hockey was my first passion, but after I broke my back I realized I wasn’t going to be a big enough athlete for hockey. Anyway, my body is better suited to skating. I use my height – I’m 5’7” – to my advantage. Jumps are easier for shorter guys than the really tall ones.”
The Aaron family is no stranger to figure skating; both his sisters have participated in the sport. His older sister, Molly, retired from pairs a couple years ago and is a student at Arizona State University. His younger sister, Madeline, a sophomore studying nursing at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, currently competes in the junior pair division. It’s easy to see where Max gets his determination. His father Neil, a pediatrician, provides a biological context for the family attitude: “The tougher you are, the more likely your genes are to survive. Over the last year and a half, Max has been trying to soften his edge a bit and be a more artistic skater, but we don’t want him to be too soft. It’s the little guy syndrome; he doesn’t back down. When he says he’s going to do the quads (quadruple jumps, the hardest elements in men’s figure skating), he’ll do them. He’ll put it together.” Both Neil and his wife Mindy attend all their kids’ competitions, which means a lot of international travel. Their daughter Madeline’s competitive season took her and her parents to Belarus and Estonia. “Belarus was interesting,” says Mindy. “We’ve been to a lot of Eastern European countries because of skating, and there’s a lot of history. My husband’s father’s family is from Minsk. All of our grandparents were from Poland, Ukraine, all over that area. Wherever we travel, we seek out whatever Jewish culture is there. In Eastern Europe especially, I always seek out the memorials to Jews who were rounded up and deported.”
Max himself carries a strong awareness of his position as elite Jewish athlete. “I’m representing myself, but I’m also representing American Jews in sports in general. I just love to share my athletic side, and I feel honored when I get asked to a synagogue to talk about what I do.”
As one of the only Jews currently competing at the elite level in figure skating, Max also takes the opportunity to educate his fellow skaters about Jewish holidays and customs. “My skating friends love to hear about the holidays and what they mean, and I get to share that. At Yom Kippur, everyone wondered why I was fasting, so I explained it,” he says. “They were interested and intrigued, and I got to share something of who I am and what I do.” As a minority within a minority, however, being a top-level Jewish figure skater can sometimes be an isolating experience. “Sometimes it’s a little difficult because people don’t know what to say to me during the winter holidays and that can be frustrating, but of course I tell them that I celebrate Hanukkah,” Max explains.
Max also looks to other Jewish athletes, both inside and outside skating, for inspiration and guidance. “I like Aly Raisman; watching her compete in gymnastics in the 2012 London Olympics was really neat. Sarah Hughes (the 2002 Ladies Figure Skating Olympic Gold Medalist) is a mentor of mine; she’s also Jewish. She’s been helping me out with competing. She goes over the details about how to compete, what to do under pressure.” When Max began winning major competitions, Hughes helped him handle the stress and pressure of high-level events. “She’s helped me know what to expect,” says Max.
As a Jewish American, Max could have chosen to represent Israel’s figure skating team. The strong men’s field in U.S. singles is highly competitive, and with only two places available for Sochi, Max would have a guaranteed spot in the Olympics if he had chosen to skate for Israel. “That came up a couple years ago,” Max remembers. “My parents suggested I think about it. But I grew up in the U.S., and my goal is to skate for the U.S. I don’t want to take the easy way out, even though it’s an option. If I’d gone to Israel more often, that might have made a difference, but I’m not Israeli. I’m an American.”
When Neil and Mindy moved to Arizona from Philadelphia some years ago, they were looking for a Jewish community similar to those they had experienced back East. “There really wasn’t as much Jewish community out here then,” says Mindy. “Judaism is more laid back in Arizona.” Eventually they joined Temple Chai in Phoenix. “It was a very large temple and there were a lot of down-to-earth families, and we loved Rabbi Bill [Berk] especially. Even though it was the furthest away from us geographically, it felt the closest to what we grew up with.” The Aarons raised their three kids at Temple Chai, and Max has fond memories of his experiences there. “I went there every Sunday growing up and Wednesdays for Hebrew school,” Max recalls. “I enjoyed learning trope and Hebrew and had a great time at my bar mitzvah. I invited my whole hockey team; they just love to party. I still remember parts of my Torah portion when I go back for High Holiday services.”
Because of his current intense training regimen and travel schedule, these days Max doesn’t get to spend too many Shabbats with family, and he misses that special time together. “Our family is extremely close and spending Shabbat with them is something I’ve always done. It’s part of what I love about being Jewish, because it brings the family together.” Max uses the phone to bridge time zones and physical distances when he can’t be with his family on Friday nights. “I’m constantly calling family members to connect; they call me to check in, so it’s kind of like I’m always there even when I’m not,” he explains. “There’s also a temple next door to the training center [in Colorado Springs], so I go over there for shul on Shabbat if I get off early. It’s good to have that peace and quiet.”
The back injury that sidelined Max for a year gave him a heightened awareness of life’s unpredictability, and an increased appreciation for every opportunity to skate. “I always say the Shema before I begin an event and again after, thanking God for letting me compete and be in the event and live another day. I’ve been doing that for a long time.” Max also carries a small copy of the Zohar in his skate bag to every event, a present from a long-time friend of his father’s.
Both Neil and Mindy look forward to a time when “the skating ride,” as Mindy calls it, is over, and their family can all gather together for Shabbat every Friday. “I know somewhere down the line we’ll start again,” she says. When Max competed at Skate America in October in Detroit, Mindy and Neil lit Shabbat candles with him at Joe Louis Arena before he took the ice. The Aarons have given all their children a lasting connection to Judaism through the bonds of family, which is why they always attend their children’s competitions, no matter where they compete. “Max likes us there, knowing we’re watching. He likes to make us proud. He always comments to the press, “I’m glad my mom and dad were here to see this.”
