The logo of the 18th Maccabiah Games, contains a reference in Hebrew that is, as CJN columnist and educator Rachael Turkienicz has pointed out in other contexts, “both descriptive and prescriptive.” Below the English word Maccabiah is the same word in Hebrew. Alongside of it, however, also in Hebrew, is the tiny, yet always evocative, two-letter word chai.
The logo of the 18th Maccabiah Games, contains a reference in Hebrew that is, as CJN columnist and educator Rachael Turkienicz has pointed out in other contexts, “both descriptive and prescriptive.” Below the English word Maccabiah is the same word in Hebrew. Alongside of it, however, also in Hebrew, is the tiny, yet always evocative, two-letter word chai.
The placement of chai beside Maccabiah is more than a felicitous design statement. It is a purposeful, proclamatory double entendre.
As every Jew on earth knows, the word chai is also the numerological equivalent of the number 18. Hence, the descriptive use of the word in the logo to capture the fact that the upcoming Games are the 18th in the series of Games that began in 1932.
But as every Jew on earth also knows, chai means life.
It is in reference to this meaning of the word that its placement in the logo is prescriptive: These are the 18th Maccabiah Games. The Maccabiah Games live!
The designer of the logo and the organizers of the games clearly intended to pack this double punch. In this context, the Games are a symbol for the Jewish state itself and for its relationship to the Jewish people throughout the world.
Athletes from more than 60 countries have been in Israel since before July 13, when the games officially began. The competitions last until July 23.
In speaking of the 18th Maccabiah Games, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they’re an instrument for uniting the Jewish people. “Jews come here from all over the world for athletic competitions which both embody the idea of ‘a healthy soul in a healthy body’ and strongly link the Diaspora communities with the State of Israel in the Land of Israel.”
Using history and occasion as a jumping off point to the central themes of athletics, fellowship and peoplehood, Oded Grofman, the consul for tourism and director of the Israel Government Tourist Office – Canada, added, quite neatly, the very pragmatic observation that the Games will be fun, too. The culminating ceremony will be a massive beach party, with the Tel Aviv-Yafo beach strip decorated according to the different nationalities of the athletes.
“This year’s competition will add some extra excitement to Tel Aviv’s summer-long centennial festivities,” Grofman said.
The outcome of the athletic competitions are quite secondary to the overarching significance of the Games, which is to act as a potent reminder of the double-sided, life-affirming, hope-sustaining fact: The State of Israel lives. The Jewish people lives!
