Maccabi World Union

The Maccabiah
Formation	1921
Purpose/focus	To foster physical education, belief in Jewish heritage and the Jewish nation, and to work actively for the rebuilding of our own country and for the preservation of our people
Headquarters	Kfar Maccabiah, Tel Aviv
Type	Jewish sports organisation
The Maccabiah World Union is an international Jewish sports organisation which organises the 4-yearly Maccabiah Games event and operates in the tradition and values of Maccabi which emphasizes the centrality of the State of Israel in the life of the Jewish people

The Maccabi World Union was created at the 12th World Jewish Congress in Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia in 1921. It was decided by the secretariat of Jewish sport leaders to form one umbrella organization for all Jewish sports associations. Its aims were defined as working "foster physical education, belief in Jewish heritage and the Jewish nation, and to work actively for the rebuilding of our own country and for the preservation of our people". In 1960, the International Olympic Committee officially recognized the Maccabi World Union as an "Organization of Olympic Standing".

Maccabiah Games

The Maccabiah Games are held every 4 years. The first were in the purpose-built Maccabiah Stadium in Tel Aviv in 1932.

The irony of the 2015 European Games

80 years after Hitler's 1936 'Gentiles-only' Olympics, Berlin's Park Stadium is scheduled to host the 2015 (Jews-only) European Maccabiah Games from 27 July to 5 August. Quite apart from the historical irony, in a country where Jews comprise just 0.15% of the population - making 98.5% of the native population ineligible to take part - this must count as quite a noteworthy event.

Opening of the 2015 Games in Berlin

The followinig is a news item from the algemeiner, a large circulation Jewish website based in the USA:

The 14th European Maccabi Games are taking place place in the Olympiastadion (pictured), the same Olympic stadium built and used for the Summer Olympics of 1936 during the Nazi era. Credit: German National Archives via Wikimedia Commons.

Jewish athletes have gathered at the 14th European Maccabi Games, whose opening ceremony was held Monday.

The July 27-Aug. 5 games are taking place at Berlin’s Olympiastadion, the same stadium built and used for the Summer Olympics of 1936 during the Nazi era. At that time, Jews were discouraged from participating.

The organizers of the games being called “Europe’s biggest Jewish sports event” say this year’s games “send a message for tolerance and openness against anti-Semitism and racism.”

“Today Jewish life in Germany is reviving. We have over 120,000 members in 108 Jewish communities. Berlin is the biggest Jewish community and you will have all the options to explore it this week. You will see throughout the next ten days that Jews in Germany are not only safe but also proud of our long-standing Jewish traditions,” said the host nation’s Alon Meyer, president of Maccabi Germany, at the welcome event for the games.

“It is a great opportunity to show the world that it is possible to live a Jewish life in Germany because for many people it is unimaginable to live in Germany as a Jew. I am often asked how I can live as a Jew in Germany after the Holocaust. It is possible and we want to show that Jews can live here and with this event we want to show that it is definitely possible,” said Ruben Gerchikov, a member of the German soccer team, Reuters reported.

“I think it’s a great feeling to have a bunch of Jews together from all around the world, the biggest amount of Jews in Germany since the Holocaust. I think it is a great thing. It’s such an awesome feeling to be here,” said Arielle Schneider of the U.S. women’s soccer team.

Participants in the games come from 36 countries and will compete in 19 sports disciplines.