At the Chabad-Lubavitch booth at the JCC Maccabi Games in Houston, which run from Aug. 5 to 12, participants took pictures in front of a makeshift Kotel backdrop and walked away with buttons they could pin to their shirts or add to their necklaces.

Some 2,000 Jewish athletes are taking part in the annual games, which meet in a different city each year. The Houston JCC, this year's host, requested that Chabad be a part of the program in the hang-time room on Wednesday. Kids and coaches took part in giving charity, putting on tefillin and learning about how a scribe writes a Torah. Many received Shabbat candles.

Steven Ofmunson, a coach from the JCC of Virginia Beach soccer team who took part in staffing the booth, was amazed at how many people learned for the first time about tefillin and Shabbat candles. "It was an eye opening experience for many of the kids," he said. "It was very refreshing that Chabad was here to do this for these kids."

Rabbi David Goldstein, director of youth programming at the Chabad-Lubavitch Outreach Center in Houston, said that "the overwhelming response was amazing from the kids and staff at the Houston JCC. While we originally were invited for one day, the organizers felt that we should come back for another day."