After three days spent representing their country in a soccer tournament – and availing themselves of the opportunity to lay tefillin with the local Chabad-Lubavitch emissary – Israeli athletes returned home on Friday bearing a slew of awards from the event, which was held under the aegis of Special Olympics Cyprus.

In gratitude for the efforts of Rabbi Zeev Raskin, the Larnaca-based director of the Cyprus Jewish Community Centre who traveled to Ayia-Napa to ensure that the players had kosher food to eat, members of the delegation presented him with a team jersey. …