Birth of the Maccabiah

Sports in the State of Israel
by the Encyclopedia Judaica (CD-ROM Edition)

MACCABI
Maccabi started as an apolitical sports organization, but was favored by the General Zionists. The first Maccabi club was established in Jerusalem in 1911 and soon had 300 members. A second club was formed in Petah Tikvah, and the two clubs, together with the Rishon le-Zion Club in Jaffa, formed the countrywide Maccabi Organization in 1912. Maccabi did not confine its activities to sports. It was active in cultural affairs and fought for the recognition and dissemination of the Hebrew language, the employment of Jewish labor, and Jewish self-defense. On the eve of World War I, it had about 1,000 members in 15 clubs. With the participation of Maccabi and the Ha-Shomer movement in the Rehovot Festival in 1913, a genuine national Jewish sports movement seemed to have emerged.

Even before the outbreak of World War I, however, the first signs of the dissolution of this movement were visible. Maccabi boycotted the Rehovot Festival of 1914 because Arab guards and Arab workers were employed in the village. On the other hand, the Jewish workers alleged that the Maccabi clubs had fallen under the control of the landowner and employers. It therefore came as no surprise when the Rehovot Festival was not revived after the war and Maccabi organized its own festival, the first Maccabi games, in 1920.

DEVELOPMENT OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Physical education in Palestine was given a new lease by the arrival of several experienced Jewish athletes as part of the wave of Jewish immigration that followed the end of World War I. The newcomers included David Almagor, gymnast and wrestler from Cairo, Yehoshua Alouf, one of the best gymnasts in Maccabi-Warsaw, and Dr. Emanuel Simon, one of the best track and field men in the Bar-Kochba Club in Berlin, who all contributed to the expansion and improvement of physical education in the schools and the Maccabi clubs.

ESTABLISHMENT OF HA-POEL
The workers, for their part, began to organize their sports clubs in 1924, and in 1926 they founded a countrywide workers' sports organization under the name of Ha-Poel as an affiliate of the Histadrut. A year later Ha-Poel joined the International Workers' Sports Federation. Initially, the main objective of Ha-Poel was to cater to the masses, rather than to breed champion athletes. In 1935 there were 10,000 participants in its fourth festival. These festivals are still held once every five years. Maccabi, by contrast, laid greater emphasis on competitive sports and devoted its energies to organizing them on a national basis, as well as introducing Palestine to the international sports arena.

SOCCER INTRODUCED
The establishment of the British Mandatory regime in Palestine after World War I had a marked effect on local sports. Whereas prior to the war, gymnastics had been the dominant sport, under Eastern and Central European influence, it was now supplanted by soccer due to the influence of the British army teams which competed with the Maccabi teams. In 1925 the Organization of Jewish Soccer Clubs was founded. In 1928 the Palestine Football Association -- the first national sports federation -- was established. It comprised British, Jewish, and Arab teams and was the only body in which Maccabi and Ha-Poel cooperated until after the establishment of the State of Israel. Through the association, Palestine -- and later Israel -- has been represented in the World Cup Championships regularly since 1936.

THE MACCABIAH: ENTRY INTO INTERNATIONAL SPORTS
Maccabi initiated the establishment of the Palestine Amateur Sports Federation in 1931 in order to take part in international competitions, and was accepted by most federations. Two years later, the Palestine Olympic Committee was set up. Maccabi's greatest achievement prior to World War II was the organization of the international Maccabiah Games in 1932, in which 500 Jewish athletes from 23 countries participated and 1,500 in a gymnastic display. At the second Maccabiah, in 1935, there were 1,700 participants from 27 countries. As many of the athletes, accompanying personnel, and tourists remained in the country after the contest was over, the Maccabiah became not only a means of stimulating sports, but also an important lever for the promotion of aliyah. The Second Maccabiah was even more of an "Aliyah Maccabiah," since most of the participants and their escorts remained in Palestine, in view of the wave of anti-Semitism sweeping Europe after the Nazi accession to power in Germany. Y. Alouf was the chief organizer of the first five Maccabiah Games.

Maccabi was also the first body to send a delegation to an official event in Asia (the West Asian Games in New Delhi in 1934) and to an international event for women (the London Games in 1934). In the same period, Ha-Poel athletes twice represented Palestine in Workers' Olympics, in Vienna (1931) and Antwerp (1937). An invitation to participate in the Berlin Olympics in 1936 under the Nazi regime was rejected for obvious reasons and, as a result, the appearance of Palestinian or Israel athletes in the Olympics was delayed for 16 years. (The Games were not held in 1940 and 1944. In 1948 the Palestine Olympic Committee no longer existed, the Israel Olympic Committee had not yet been recognized, and Israel was fighting for survival.)

Between 1924 and 1939 young Jews from Palestine studied physical education in Denmark, and the number of qualified physical education teachers in the schools increased. In 1938, Yehoshua Alouf was appointed the first supervisor of physical education. One of his achievements was the organization of the first countrywide inter-school competitions. In 1939 the Va'ad Le'ummi set up a department of physical education, which was to become the government body responsible for sports on the establishment of the State of Israel. (Since 1961 it has been known as the Sports Authority.) The department, as it was then, introduced a course for physical education teachers which was later expanded into a permanent college for physical education teachers. The department also published books on physical education.

In the State of Israel
PHYSICAL EDUCATION. With the establishment of the State of Israel, the number of schools increased enormously, and sports facilities improved. Physical education is taught twice weekly in schools throughout Israel. Some 70,000 pupils participate in annual sports competitions, which include track and field, basketball, volleyball, handball, swimming, and soccer. About 70,000 pupils participate annually in the "Sports Badge" trials, and outstanding pupils are invited for advanced training lasting from three to twelve days.

In addition to supervising sports and physical education in the schools, the authority encourages sports throughout the country and gives financial assistance to the Wingate Institute for Physical Education, which comprises a three-year college for physical education teachers run by the Ministry of Education and Culture, a three-year school for physiotherapists, a one-year course for coaches, and a school for physical training instructors of the Israel Defense Forces.

The Sports Authority lays special emphasis on popular sports, such as marching, running, swimming, etc. It provides financial assistance for the provision of sports facilities and the publication of sports literature. In addition to the one at the Wingate Institute, there are three other colleges of physical education in the country: one in Tel Aviv, at a seminar run by the kibbutz movements; one in Beersheba; and a third, a religious college, at Givat Washington.

ORGANIZATION OF SPORT IN ISRAEL
World War II took a heavy toll of Jewish athletes, and it was only with great reservation that the Third Maccabiah was organized in 1950. On this occasion, Israel's team included for the first time athletes from Maccabi and Ha-Poel, and this made a major contribution to the unification of Israel sports one year later. The Maccabiah was held again in 1953 and then 1957 and was a quadrennial event thereafter. In 1951 Maccabi and Ha-Poel agreed to cooperate on the Israel Olympic Committee and the Israel Sports Federation. The two associations were already represented on the Israel Football Association.

In 1970, over 40,000 athletes participated in organized competitive athletics in Israel. Fifteen thousand came under the jurisdiction of the Israel Sports Federation, which controls 14 sports; 13,000 belonged to the Israel Football Association; 9,000 to the Israel Basketball Association; and the rest to smaller associations controlling tennis, judo, and other sports. All sports are amateur, and a much greater number of people are active in noncompetitive sports. The major sports organizations are: Ha-Poel, with 300 branches and 85,000 members; Maccabi, with 75 branches and 18,000 members; Elitzur (founded 1939) for religious youth, with 80 branches and 10,000 members; Betar (founded in 1924), affiliated to Herut, with 74 branches and 5,000 members; Academic Sports Association (1953) with nine branches in the institutes of higher education and 5,000 members.

IN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS
Israel participated in the Olympic Games for the first time in Helsinki in 1952 and thereafter at all subsequent games. Since 1954 she has also competed at the Asian Games (with the exception of the Jakarta Games in 1962, which were canceled due to a boycott of Israel by Indonesia). Israel has made endeavors to integrate into Asian sport, except in basketball and volleyball, where she belongs to the zone covering Europe and the Mediterranean countries. The efforts of Arab countries to boycott Israel have generally been frustrated by international sports bodies.

Israel's achievements in international sports have been modest. The Israel national soccer team reached the World Cup Championships in Mexico in 1970, after defeating Australia in the eliminating round, and acquitted itself creditably. The small Israel team at the 1970 Asian games at Bangkok won six gold medals, six silver, and five bronze, finishing in sixth place. Israel tennis players have competed at Wimbledon and in Davis Cup matches, and since 1962 a youth team has competed at Miami Beach. Gliding has been practiced in Israel for over 30 years, and free-fall parachuting has recently been introduced. Israel won the Asian Football Championships once, the Asian Youth Championships four times, and the Asian Champions' Cup twice. Up to June 1969, Israel's basketball team had won 62 out of 126 official international games.

In recent years, dinghy sailing has become popular, and in 1969 Zefania Carmel and Lydia Lazarov won the world championships in the 420 class in Sweden. In the following year the championships were held in Israel off Tel Aviv.

NONCOMPETITIVE SPORTS
The most popular noncompetitive sports event in Israel are the annual Three-Day March to Jerusalem, organized by the Israel Defense Forces, the swim across Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee, started by Ha-Poel), and the cross-country race around Mount Tabor. The Three-Day (originally Four-Day) March is in a category of its own. It is not the same as hiking, which may be motivated by the wish to "get away from it all"; nor is it comparable with the walking race, for it is not a race at all. It has been most aptly described as Israel's folk "happening," although the idea was taken from a similar Dutch event. Thousands of people of all ages -- organized in clubs or in family groups, coming from offices, factories, banks, or hospitals, and some individuals -- go out tramping over the hills around Jerusalem together with contingents of soldiers in training. Visitors from overseas also participate. The army builds camps and lays on entertainment facilities for the participants, and the event culminates in a march through the streets of Jerusalem. One-day marches are also held in other parts of the country organized by Maccabi and Ha-Poel, and an Israel Defense Forces contingent participates every year at the annual Four-Day March in Holland. Ha-Poel organized sports activities in factories and offices.

Cross-country running also has a special Israel character: the route, and sometimes the date of the event is usually related to some event in the Bible or Jewish history. On Hanukkah, for instance, relays of runners from Maccabi carry torches from Modi'in, birthplace of the Maccabees, to the presidential residence in Jerusalem, as well as to various other parts of the country. There is also the annual run around Mount Tabor. The annual swim across Lake Kinneret, from Ein Gev to Tiberias; the Haifa Bay swim; and the "crossing of the Red Sea" at Eilat are mass events with a competitive element. As in the annual marches, all participants who complete the course are awarded certificates and, for some events, medallions.

[Yehoshua Alouf/Uriel Simri]

1968-1982
The third decade of the existence of the State of Israel was marked by a significant improvement of its representative sports and by the intervention of politics into the activities of Israel sports on the international scene. At the beginning of the decade the improvement was modest. Thus at the Olympic Games of Mexico (1968), Israel had only a fifth place in soccer to show. Two years later, however, the soccer team of Israel was to return to Mexico as one of the 16 teams participating in the World Cup (for professionals and amateurs).

The year 1969 saw Israeli athletes gain their first world championship, when Zefanya Carmel and Lydia Lazarov became world champions in sailing in the (non-Olympic) 420 class. Since then Israel has gained six more world championships in this event, the recipients being Joel Sela, Yoram Kedar, Mordechai Amberam, Eitan Friedlander, Shimshon Brockman and Amnon Samgura.

In 1970 Israel was represented by 27 athletes in the Asian Games at Bangkok, and they returned with 6 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze medals. Four years later the Israeli delegation (61 athletes) was to return with 7 gold, 4 silver and 8 bronze medals from the Asian Games in Teheran. The appearance at the games in Teheran may have been Israel's last major appearance on the scene of Asian sports which, under Arab influence, has increasingly brought politics into the sphere of sports, with the result that Israel was excluded from the Asian Games of 1978, under the pretext of "security reasons" and Israel was prevented from participating in many other Asian events.

Arab terrorism played havoc on Israeli sports, and 11 Israeli coaches and athletes paid with their lives during an Arab attack on the Olympic Village at Munich on September 5, 1972. This attack, however, did not prevent Israel from appearing on the international sport scene. In fact, Israel returned with a bigger and stronger delegation to the Olympic Games in Montreal (1976), gaining a fifth (Edouard Weitz in weightlifting), a sixth (Esther Rot in hurdling), a seventh (Rami Meron in wrestling), and a twelfth place (Micha Kaufmann in shooting) in individual events, while the national soccer team reached the last eight in the Olympic tournament. Esther Rot can definitely be considered Israel's top athlete of this decade, having been elected five times (1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976) athlete of the year in Israel.

Tennis has come to the fore as a popular sport with 14 centers having opened in various parts of Israel. The most outstanding Israeli tennis player is Shlomo Glickstein (b. 1958) who first entered the national Israeli youth championship competition at the age of 10 and won the title for his age group. He went on to compete in international events and by the end of 1981 was seeded 30 in the rankings of the Association of Tennis Professionals.

Basketball continued to be Israel's best representative sport during this period. Major achievements were: Asian Games championships (1970, 1974), the European Cup for nations (1976) and the victory of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the European Cup for champions in 1977 and 1981. Furthermore, basketball became the first sport in which an Israel national team defeated a national team of the U.S.S.R. when Israel won their game in the European junior championship in 1972. Israel also placed sixth in the intercontinental Cup of 1977 and fifth in the European championship of that year. A striking victory in this sphere of sport was the defeat of the Washington Bullets, the champions of the U.S. National Basketball Association by Maccabi Tel Aviv in September 1978 by the narrow margin of 98 -- 97. The major sport events in Israel during this period were again the Maccabiah Games (the eighth in 1969, the ninth in 1973, the tenth in 1977, the eleventh in 1981), and the International Hapoel Games (the ninth in 1971 and the tenth in 1975). Other major events held in Israel include: The Olympic Games for the Disabled (1968); the International Spring Cup in volleyball (1970, 1976); the world championship in sailing in the 420 class (1970); the Eight Nations' Cup in swimming (1971, 1978); and the European junior championship in judo (1974).

At the end of the 1970s Israel was attempting to enter the European sport scene, as a result of its rejection by Asian sport organizations. Up to date Israel has been accepted into the European region of seven sports and is continuing its efforts to be accepted in more European federations.

In January 1979 the praesidium of the Israel Olympic committee issued a statement breaking off all sporting relations with South Africa, apparently in order to remove any objection to Israel's participation in the Olympic Games scheduled to be held in Moscow the following year. At a plenary meeting of the I.O.C. held a few days later, however, they rejected the statement. Ultimately Israel did not participate in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

[Uriel Simri/Editorial Staff Encyclopaedia Judaica]

1983-1992
The decade 1983-1992 was noted in Israel's sports for two major breakthroughs -- one in the political domain, the other in the athletic arena.

The political breakthrough began in 1989 when the Soviet Union, under President Gorbachev, relented in its opposition to the acceptance of Israel into the European zone of the various international sport federations. Thus Israel, which had been without a continental affiliation since its expulsion from Asian sports in the mid-1970s, was able to enter the European federations and their regular activities. By 1992 this procedure had been completed for all practical purposes, the European Soccer Federation (UEFA) being one of the last federations that had not granted Israel full membership status. At the same time the UEFA from 1987 invited Israel's youth teams to participate in its championships and in 1992 invited the national champion as well as the cup-holder to participate in the annual competitions organized by it.

The major breakthrough in athletics occurred during the Olympic Games in Barcelona in the summer of 1992 when two Judokas succeeded in bringing to Israel for the first time Olympic medals -- Yael Arad returning with the silver medal in women's 61 kg. class and Oren Smadja with the bronze medal in the men's 71 kg. class.

Israel had, in fact, been very close to gaining its first Olympic medals already at Seoul in 1988. However, Joel Sela and Eldad Amir had to be satisfied with a fourth place in the Flying Dutchman class of the Olympic yachting competitions, after forfeiting one race because it was held on Yom Kippur. The same couple was placed eighth in the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles. Similar placings, which were the best during those Olympics, were achieved by the yachtsmen Shimshon Brockman and Eitan Friedlander in the 470 class, as well as by the marksman Yitzchak Yonassi.

In Israel's representation at the Barcelona Olympics, 11 out of the 31 representatives were newcomers to the State of Israel, primarily from the former Soviet Union. The top achievements of those newcomers were the sixth place of weightlifter Andre Danisov in the 100 kg. class and the eighth place of Yevgeni Krasnov in the pole vault.

The significant improvement of the standard of the top athletes can further be seen from a list of achievements in recent years in other sports. In July 1992 Johar Abu-Lashin, a Christian Arab from Nazareth, became the first Israeli professonal athlete to gain a world champion's title, when he became lightweight champion of the World Boxing Federation. The same year windsurfer Amit Inbar was placed second in the world championship (and a disappointing eighth in the Olympics). after having ranked first in the previous year. Another newcomer from the Soviet Union, the wrestler Max Geller, succeeded in winning the silver medal at the European championships in freestyle wrestling in 1991.

On the other hand basketball, which had been the outstanding sport in Israel for its quality for a long time, supplied disappointments in the last decade. Whereas the men's national team was placed second in the European championship in 1979, sixth in 1981, and fifth in 1983, it receded to ninth place in 1985, to eleventh in 1987, and thereafter did not qualify for the final stages of the championship (until 1993). However, in 1986 the team succeeded for the second time in history (after 1954) to qualify for the final stages of the world championship, where it came seventh.

The Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team also did not succeed in repeating its earlier successes (wins in 1977 and 1981) in the European Champions' Cup games. Although the team reached the finals three years in a row (1987-1989), it was beaten at that stage by teams from Italy and Yugoslavia. After 1989 Maccabi did not manage again to reach the Final Four. The women's national team in basketball succeeded in 1990 to reach the "final eight" in the continental championship, but this turned out to be a one-time achievement.

Israel's tennis managed to be in the limelight from 1986 until 1989, when the men's team held its place among the top 16 nations in the world within the framework of the Davis Cup games. As of 1990 attempts to return to the top have not been Successful. The above achievement was mainly due to Israel's no. 1 player, Amos Mansdorf, who at the peak of his career (in 1987) ranked no. 18 in the world. In the following years Mansdorf had a ranking around no.30.

While soccer remained Israel's most popular sport, the Football Association had very little to show as far as achievements on the international scene were concerned. In 1989 Israel came closest to repeating its appearance in the final stages of the World Cup (the first and only time was in 1970), but drew with Colombia in Ramat Gan, after losing by a single goal in the away game. Israel reached this stage after winning the zone of Oceania, to which it was removed by the FIFA as a result of the Asian boycott and the UEFA's refusal, up to that time, to let Israel participate in the European zone.

In 1988 the Knesset passed the "Sports Law," after tabling it for 13 years. Its major provisions called for mandatory certification of coaches and instructors; mandatory health and loss of income insurance of athletes participating in competitive sports; mandatory periodical medical examinations for participants in competitive sports; and prohibition of the use of any doping materials. The Minister of Education and Culture was given a number of regulatory powers within the frame of the law.

The Knesset also approved, early in 1991, the appointment of a deputy minister in the Ministry of Education and Culture to be in charge of sports. When the Labor Party returned to power in 1992, it too appointed a deputy minister.

The quadrennial Maccabiah and the Hapoel Games continued to be the major sports events in the country. While the participation in the Maccabiah Games expanded -- in 1989 athletes from the former Communist bloc participated for the first time -- the athletic standard of the Games left much to be desired. The Hapoel Games, on the other hand, developed in scope and in standard up to 1987, but were greatly reduced in 1991 as a result of a serious financial deficit.

[Uriel Simri]

The Encyclopedia Judaica CD-ROM contains all the text of the original 16 Keter volumes, the eight yearbooks and the two Ten-Year update volumes. In addition it includes many statistical updates and an interactive time-line. The CD has over 2500 pictures, 100 maps, slideshows, audio, and fifteen minutes of video.