Two Agoura Hills golfers and a Newbury Park pickleball player returned from Israel with milestone performances after competing with the Maccabi USA delegation at the 2026 Maccabiah Games, the world’s largest Jewish sporting event.

Benjamin and Jonathan Barclay, 16-year-old twins from Agoura Hills, finished first and second, respectively, in the under-19 junior golf competition.

Benjamin Barclay won the gold medal, while Jonathan Barclay earned the silver.

Newbury Park athlete Steve Tenenbaum also made history by winning the first pickleball match ever contested at the Maccabiah Games. Pickleball made its debut as an official sport during this year’s competition.

Nearly 900 athletes, coaches and supporters traveled with the Maccabi USA delegation to the Games, which were postponed one year because of the conflict between Israel and Iran.

According to Maccabi USA, the U.S. delegation won more than 300 medals across dozens of sports, making it one of the organization’s most successful Maccabiah Games in recent memory.

“These Games demonstrated the extraordinary talent, determination, and spirit of our delegation,” Maccabi USA CEO Marshall Einhorn said. “Our athletes represented not only the United States but the strength of the global Jewish community.”

The Maccabiah Games are an international multi-sport competition for Jewish athletes that began in 1932 in what was then British Mandate Palestine. Held every four years in Israel, the games are often referred to as the “Jewish Olympics” because they bring together thousands of athletes from dozens of countries to compete in a wide range of sports.

The event is named for the Judah Maccabee and the Maccabees, the Jewish rebels who led a successful revolt against the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire in the second century B.C.E.

—John Loesing