‘Strongest Girl in the World’ Lifts Weights and Spirits

Twelve-year-old Naomi Kutin of Fair Lawn, N.J., has made quite a name for herself as a world-record-smashing powerlifter, garnering accolades like “supergirl” and “strongest girl in the world” in international headlines. Yet the slight girl who recently celebrated her bat mitzvah has also gained a reputation for a very different kind of lifting: raising spirits and funds for the Friendship Circle of Bergen County, where she regularly volunteers to work one-on-one with children who have special needs.

Naomi’s mother, Neshama, says that she and her husband, Ed, who is a pro powerlifter with a number of national titles, began noticing that Naomi was exceptionally strong when she was just 7. She would do push-ups with barely any effort.

“We started her off bench-pressing just 14 pounds, showing her how to use the correct form,” Neshama recalls. “Torah is very important in our home, so we relate Torah lessons to how we lift weights. We tell the children that if you really want something, you need to pray to G‑d for it, but you also need to do your part. Practice, pray, and you will succeed.”

As Naomi began to compete nationally, she experienced a problem that her father had encountered before her: Many powerlifting events are held on Saturdays and Sundays, which presented a challenge to the Kutins, who neither travel nor compete on Shabbat, which lasts from sundown on Friday to Saturday evening.

Naomi says that often, she is given a special dispensation to lift on Sundays instead of Saturday, which works fine except that most of the Sunday competitors are large muscular men. “These guys lift like a million pounds,” she says. “Sometimes, they look at me funny, but it’s okay.”

Despite the challenges, Naomi just claimed the world record among all women under 97 pounds, squatting 235 pounds.

While she practices twice a week—a half-hour on Thursdays and up to five hours on Sundays—Naomi still manages to balance a Jewish day-school education that includes both secular and religious instruction, in addition to basketball and other sports.

Naomi has set her sights on squatting 250 lbs this coming February—breaking her own record for the fourth time. She says that she gains inspiration and discipline from the Torah. “Just like you need to concentrate to learn Torah and pray,” she insists, “you need to be fully focused on your lifting and cannot be thinking about other things at the same time.”

Donations Tied to the Lift

The Kutin family first became involved with the Friendship Circle through their youngest son, Ari, who was diagnosed early on with high-functioning autism.

“Friendship Circle events gave Ari the opportunity to interact with people without fear of rejection or misunderstanding,” relates Neshama. “They also gave him a chance to see how some of his behaviors—like repetitive motions—looked from the outside. But most importantly, Friendship Circle just gave him a chance to be himself.”

Naomi’s older sister, Emily, volunteered with the Friendship Circle all through junior high and high school, and Naomi saw the difference the organization made for Ari. It was almost natural that she would follow suit.

Zeesy Grossbaum, who co-directs the Friendship Circle together with her husband, Rabbi Moshe Grossbaum, says Naomi showed an immediate aptitude for working with kids with special needs.

“We are usually very careful with the seventh-graders, having them interact only with the high-functioning children,” she explains. “But with Naomi, I know I can match her up with the tougher kids as well.”

As Naomi’s bat mitzvah approached this past fall—and her national and international titles piled up —she wanted to do something special for the Friendship Circle.

With the help of her parents and the Grossbaums, she set up a website where people could sponsor her lifting, promising to donate specific amounts that corresponded to how many pounds she could lift. Through the Facebook presence maintained by her parents—as well as announcements in her synagogue, bracelets and even home-baked cookies—word got out, and pledges started pouring in. By the time she turned 12 in October, she had raised approximately $2,000 for kids with special needs.

Naomi shows no signs of slowing down her Friendship Circle involvement. “It makes me feel like I am making a child happy,” she says, “like we are one big happy family.”