The opening of Maccabia Chai.

Israel’s 2009 Maccabiah Chai is the eighteenth rendition of one of the world’s largest athletic events. The alphabetical symbol in Hebrew for the number eighteen is pronounced “chai”, which is also the word used for “life”. This happy coincidence makes Maccabiah Chai the perfect name for this fabulous festival of Zionism and sport.

Hellenism, the assimilation of Greek speech, manners and culture dating from the fourth century BCE, was immensely destructive to the ancient Jewish kingdom. It’s therefore ironic that the inspiration for the Maccabiah, first conceived by 15-year old Russian-born Yosef Yekutieli almost one hundred years ago, was the revitalization of the ancient Greek sporting games. The Jewish teenager living in Palestine “was so energized by news of the 1912 Olympic Games that he conceived the fanciful notion of a worldwide Olympics for Jewish athletes in Palestine. With little encouragement, and not a small amount of ridicule, Yekutieli spent the next ten years developing details of his unique idea.”

“In 1928, Yekutieli presented his farfetched proposal to the Jewish National Fund …. Coincidentally, the Maccabi organization was, at the same time, formulating ideas to provide a means of participation by athletes living in the British Mandate of Palestine in important international sporting events; one that would also act as a form of international recognition of Palestine as the Jewish national home. Yekutieli’s Maccabiada, as the Games were originally called, was the right idea at the right time.”

[www.jewishsports.net]

Though the Maccabiah is the world’s third largest sporting event and the biggest Jewish event of any type, it had a rocky beginning. The initial Maccabiah was held in 1932, in the shadow of the Berlin Olympics, from which German Jewish athletes were excluded. Nearly 400 athletes from 18 countries, including Syria and Egypt, attended the first ever international Jewish sports festival; the second and bigger Maccabiah was held five years later. Due to the Second World War, it wasn’t until 1950, two years after the refounding of Israel, that the Maccabiah resumed, thereafter to be held every four years.

 

We attended the opening event of this year’s Maccabiah, which inspired and entertained us. Thousands of Israelis and visitors jammed Israel’s largest stadium in Ramat Gan, to watch the extravaganza. We listened to speeches by our president and prime minister, by the mayor of Ramat Gan and the president of the Maccabi World Union. We heard the Yizkor memorial prayer recited by Joshua Small, whose father was killed in the infamous pedestrian bridge collapse which marred the 16th Maccabiah. We watched as some of the world’s foremost Jewish athletes carried the torch into the stadium and Olympic gold medal swimmer Jason Lezak lit the giant flame to begin the event. Following the grand parade of athletes, we were treated to a spectacular show of dancing, music, lights, and finally fireworks.

The most inspiring event for most of us was watching the 7,000 plus athletes from more than 50 countries march into the stadium. Wave after wave of men and women trooped in, a few of the countries represented by only a handful of participants and others with hundreds, with the Israeli team of 2,000 last. It took about an hour for them all to enter, with raucous cheers and energetic flag-waving the rule for all of the delegations. India, with 1-billion plus inhabitants and Palau, with just 21,000 were the extremes. Besides the familiar Western countries representatives were Kazakhstan, Turkey and Thailand. America sent a team of 900, the largest team after Israel.

Is the Maccabiah a great event because of the performances of the athletes, or is its greatness a result of something else? Just about everyone agrees that while athletics is the reason for the event, the core of the two week event is Israel and Jewish unity.

I spoke to two of the American wrestlers when I attended the freestyle matches which were held in the seaside town of Ashdod. My brother Charles and I both wrestled in high school and college, hence my interest. I met 34 year old Jason Goldman of Endicott, NY, after a rough match in the 55 kg (121 lb) category. Enjoying his first visit to Israel, Goldman was excited and energized by the opportunity to visit the sites that he’d only read about or seen in pictures. He won a gold medal for his efforts in what Jason said was probably his last tournament.

I also met recent Cornell graduate Zachary Hammond of southern New Jersey soon after a highly contested match. (He went on to win a bronze medal in the heavyweight class.) Zachary was surrounded by members of his family, all of whom were really enjoying their adventure in Israel. Zach was very happy to compete on the same level as his Russian and Israeli competitors. The Russians are among the world’s best wrestlers and nearly all of the Israeli wrestlers are immigrants from Russia. Even more impressive than Zach’s medal in freestyle was his performance in Greco Roman wrestling, a style in which leg holds are prohibited. Despite never having wrestled Greco Roman before, Zach won the bronze medal.

We attended the men’s basketball semifinal games in the fabulous gymnasium at Raanana’s Metro West high school. America and Israel easily defeated Canada and Argentina, respectively. The gold medal was won the next day by America in an exhilarating overtime finish. After the two men’s games, we were treated to an exciting, close contest between the American and Israeli women. The lead went back and forth until Israel pulled ahead in the last few minutes to take the gold medal.

Among the most exciting events was swimming, held at the Wingate sports institute near Netanya. Exhibiting the true spirit of the event, 33 year old Jason Lezak skipped the world swimming championships to take part in the Maccabiah, where he won gold in each of his four events. Jason said, “This is a decision I made which is as much about giving back to the Jewish community and exploring my heritage as it is about the performance on the world stage. I’ll be representing my country and my heritage as a Jewish athlete and I’m very proud of that. I hope to be a role model to a lot of the Jewish athletes growing up and hopefully I can make a difference.”

Jason is partnering with the Maccabi USA team to create the MUSA-Lezak initiative. Its purpose is to raise funds for a nonprofit organization using sports to strengthen Jewish identity and create strong bonds with Israel. This is precisely what the Maccabiah is all about. Though no world records may be set, just by attending, all the participants will have had a gold medal experience!

“Is the Maccabiah a great event because of the performances of the athletes, or is its greatness a result of something else? While athletics is the reason for the event, the core of the event is Israel and Jewish unity.”

 

 

 

 

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Steve Kramer

Steve Kramer moved to Israel with his wife and two young sons in 1991 from Margate, NJ. After working for years in the beer distribution business in America, Steve had several jobs in Israel before...
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