The Maccabiah Games are the second largest sports event in the world in terms of number of athletes participating, after the Olympics.
In 1894, the first Jewish sports organization was founded in Kushta, Turkey under the name Maccabi, the heroes of the Hanukkah story. At the Second Zionist Congress in 1898, Max Nordau called for the development of the “muscular Jew”, one who is fit and strong in contrast to the notion of the frightened Jew of the ghetto. During the 12th Zionist Congress held in Karlsbad, Czechoslovakia in 1921, the first international convention of Jewish Sports Clubs was held and the Maccabi World Union was formed.
In 1929, the suggestion to hold a Jewish Olympic Games in Palestine under the name “Maccabiah” was adopted. It was then decided to hold the first and second Maccabiah games in 1932 and 1935 to commemorate the 1,800th anniversary of the start and end of the Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans (132-135 CE). The first two games were known as the Aliyah Maccabiot as hundreds of athletes decided to stay in Palestine rather than returning to Europe.
The third Maccabiah games were scheduled for 1938 but were cancelled due to Arab violence in the land of Israel, and British fears that the games would be used again to bring in illegal immigrants. The third games were finally held in 1950 in the newly declared State of Israel. These were the first games in which a Canadian team participated.
This is the logo of the Third Meeting of Czechoslovak Makabi sports club that took place in July 1937 in Ziline, a city now in north-western Slovakia. The games opened with a ceremonial parade of 2,000 gymnasts through the town. The Makabi sports club operated from a gym and club rooms built as an annex to the Jewish folk school.
The club was closed in 1938 when all Jewish organizations and associations were closed by law. The gym became a puppet theater in 1950 and the Zilina Puppet Theatre operates in this building to this day.
The 2025 games, scheduled to open July 8, were postponed after Israel came under missile fire from Iran, following Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear production sites. About 7,000 Jewish athletes from 60 countries, including more than 240 from Canada, had qualified to compete in these Maccabiah games, which have been postponed until 2026.
The motto of the postponed Games is “more than ever” — amplifying the values of Jewish solidarity, pride and unity. When the delayed Maccabiah games open next year, may they do so in an atmosphere of peace, safety and calm.
