Shmirat ha-Guf Hero: The Maccabiah Games The Maccabiah Games
Marketing the Games
The Maccabiah games can’t be a hero, but they can be a place where heroes emerge. The Maccabiah Games are the Jewish Olympics. They are held in Israel every four years in the year following the Olympic Games. The best Jewish athletes from throughout the world compete. Israeli Arabs are allowed to compete, too.
The next problem was reaching the world Jewish community. Two delegations of Jewish motor-bikers set off from Tel Aviv on a huge promotional tour to the Jewish communities of Europe, where most Jews lived. The first group of promoters hit the road in 1930, biking from Tel Aviv to Antwerp, Belgium. The second set of riders left Tel Aviv a year later for London. Yekutieli himself rode with one of the delegations.
The Maccabiah is organized by the Maccabi World Union (MWU). It is a worldwide organization devoted not only to sports but to furthering Jewish identity and traditions. The MWU is headquartered in Israel.
A Success
Yosef Yekutieli The Maccabiah Games were the brainchild of fifteen-year-old Russian-born Yosef Yekutieli. Yekutieli, who was living in Israel before it was a state, was so excited by the 1912 Olympic Games that he dreamed of a worldwide Jewish Olympics. Even though he was laughed at, he spent the next ten years developing his plan. In 1928 Yekutieli presented his proposal to the Jewish National Fund. He had the idea that the Maccabiah Games be organized to remember the 1,800th anniversary of the Bar Kochba Rebellion (a Jewish revolt against the Romans). Yekutieli’s Maccabiada (as the games were originally called) was the right idea at the right time. The Eretz Yisrael Soccer Association and other Holy Land sports groups signed on and gave the proposed games their blessings. Sir Arthur “Andy” Wauchope, British High Commissioner of Palestine, admired the achievements of Zionists in Palestine, including the growing Jewish sports movement. The new High Commissioner gladly supported the Maccabiada on condition that it host Arab and official British Mandate athletes as well as Jewish sportsmen. The Maccabiada was scheduled for March 1932.
The original Maccabiah was held March 28 to April 6, 1932. Four hundred athletes competed. Planned to occur every four years, Maccabiah II was moved up a year to 1935 because of the rising tide of Nazism in Europe. World War II forced postponement of the third Maccabiah. The Games today are organized by an International Maccabiah Committee and are sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee and World Federation of Sports. The Maccabiah Games rank among the five largest sports events in the world. Yosef Yekutieli’s dream became a shmirat ha-guf reality. To find out how to compete in the American Maccabiah Games or to become part of the American team, check out http://www.maccabiusa.com.
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