Maccabiah is no anachronism: it deserves support and affection

ASHLEY BROWNE fights back against IDO RAKOVSKY’S claim that the Maccabiah is no longer relevant.

A fortnight ago, about 620 Australians marched into Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium for the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games, before fanning out across the country for their various events – in open, junior and masters categories.

All but a handful paid more than $13,000 for the opportunity. For many, it wasn’t their first Maccabiah and nor will it be their last.

Good luck telling them that the Maccabiah is an idea whose best years are behind it or worse, should come to a merciful end, as Ido Rakovsky wrote recently.

Rakovsky dismissed the Maccabiah as a "Birthright program with a sporty touch" This may be true for many Americans but is it a bad thing?

Say what you like about Birthright, but it does put Israel and Judaism, even for a brief period, front and mind for many young American Jews who otherwise have little connection or affiliation with their Jewish heritage. A free, 10-day trip to Israel will do that.

Maccabiah is not quite the same for Australian Jews. For starters, our community has long been more engaged with Israel, and more Australian Jews have visited the country as a percentage than have our American friends. For only a handful of the Australian contingent was this their first trip to Israel.

And Maccabi is more central to our community. In many countries, especially, the United States, the Maccabi movement lies dormant for years at a time, reawakening for the quadrennial games in Israel and regional events in other countries. On a week to week basis, Jewish athletes compete for teams in local leagues. Some of these teams are Jewish, many more are not, but none compete under the Maccabi banner.

In Australia, Maccabi is arguably the largest grassroots Jewish organisation we have. Maccabi clubs, some of which go by the name Hakoah (in Sydney) and AJAX (in Melbourne) compete in more than 20 sports across the country and in some instances, such as basketball, rugby, football (soccer) and Australian Rules, play at quite high levels.

For many Jewish Australian athletes, the highest level of participation their chosen sport can offer is to represent their country at the Maccabiah.

The beauty of the Maccabi movement, an underlying reason why it is so well supported is because it is so widely Jewish. All it asks of its members is that at least one parent is Jewish.

In Australia, Maccabi cares not whether you support one state, two states or no states. It makes no distinction between Jews who spend their Saturdays walking to shul or driving to the MCG, or those who can speak fluent Hebrew or who gave up trying after their 12^th or 13^th birthdays.

In Israel, Maccabi is famously and avowedly apolitical, which is no mean feat. Politicians of all persuasions give it their full support. Certainly since the bridge disaster in 1997, there has been a greater investment in infrastructure to support the Maccabiah and other sporting endeavours.

And while the Maccabiah predates its founding, Israel, it should be noted, is far more obsessed by sport than in its earlier days when the focus, quite reasonably, was on defending its borders and building a nation. In the past 20 years, it has started to become a sporting nation and the expectation now is that it returns from every Olympics with medals in hand. 

Apart from the Maccabiah, there isn’t much else in Israel that brings 7000 Jews from 60 nations plus as many family and friends to the country at the same time. The Olympic Games, it should be noted, are not that much larger. So how can this be a bad thing?

Israel is a tough place to be. But the Maccabiah shows the country in its best light – warm, inviting and hospitable. For the Australian team, there is no visiting army bases, no archaeological digs, no spending time in a Yeshiva or gladhanding various dignitaries. Apart from the mandatory Kotel visit, Shabbat dinner and a commemorative service for the four Australian athletes who died in 1997, nothing is asked of the Australian Maccabiah team in Israel other than that they play hard and socialise well.

It is beautifully uncomplicated. And very Australian.

The Maccabiah is a festival of sport, but not necessarily a festival of elite sport. The best athletes are elsewhere. Running parallel with the just-completed Maccabiah were the world track and field championships in the United States, where one of Australia’s premier Jewish athletes, racewalker Jemima Montag, finished a creditable fourth. Starting this weekend are the Commonwealth Games, where Montag will defend her 2018 gold medal.

The Maccabiah’s mid-July timing also came during a rare quiet summer for high-level men’s soccer and basketball. The FIFA World Cup has been delayed until November to avoid the dreadful Qatari summer heat, while there was no international basketball tournaments between NBA seasons. But the best Jewish players didn’t go to Maccabiah, they enjoyed a rare summer holiday.

The women’s European soccer championships and the WNBA played through. No questions as to what the priorities of the talented Jewish players (not that there are that many) were going to be.

But talented Jewish athletes have taken part in the Maccabiah before, during and after the peaks of their careers. The first taste of international competition for American swimmer Mark Spitz came in Israel in 1965. He was 15 and he won four gold medals. Seven years later at the Munich Olympics, he won seven gold medals.

Before representing Australia at cricket, both Julien Wiener and Michael Klinger represented their country at the Maccabiah. Klinger was crossing the bridge into the stadium on that tragic evening in 1997 when it buckled and sent much of Australian team tumbling into the putrid, toxic waters of the Yarkon River.

In the wake of 1997, hard questions were asked of the Australian Jewish community and its commitment to the Maccabi Games, but that anxiety has passed. Today, once again, Australians embrace the opportunity for a non-political, non-religious engagement with Israel and the simple joy of playing sport.

So, if you’re looking for a big-time, high-level sporting event, then wander into your local sports stadium or flick on any of the many TV and streaming channels screening every sport imaginable from every corner of the globe.

The Maccabiah has carved a small and unique place for itself in both the Jewish and sporting worlds. It is not the Olympics. It is not the World Cup. And nor will it ever be, which is precisely why it will always deserve our protection and affection.

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Photo: The 2022 Australian team ready for the Maccabiah (Maccabi Australia)