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Who
Is The Maccabi World Union?
By
Larry Butchins Ramat Gan, Israel ---- July 10, 2009 ......The Maccabi World Union was established in 1895 and is one of the longest-standing, continuously-operating Zionist movements, with over 400,000 members, in 65 countries on 6 continents. In addition to the Maccabiah, (aka "Jewish Olympics) which it stages in Israel every 4 years, the Maccabi World Union MWU is involved in a great many on-going global initiatives that leverage sporting activity to create Jewish and Israel related educational opportunities. The Maccabi World Union's activities are slightly different in each region, based on the needs of each community, however, their goals and methods remain consistent: Jewish continuity and informal education through sports and recreation. In Israel, Maccabi is famous for its professional sports teams, including Euroleague champions, Maccabi Tel Aviv. However, the Maccabi World Union is also involved in a wide range of social action initiatives and informal educational programs. The Maccabi Tzair Youth movement engages tens of thousands of young people in community service as volunteers, working with youth in the most economically distressed areas in Israel, and helping to distribute MWU-donated food parcels over the Jewish holidays. Maccabi also provides sports rehabilitation services to victims of terrorism. In Latin America Maccabi serves as a community center where all Jewish recreational and educational activities are focused. As a non-religious, apolitical movement, the MWU appeals to every kind of Jew, and have been particularly successful at reaching the unaffiliated in places such as Eastern Europe, where the revival of Jewish life and continuity are so vitally important. The Maccabi World Union has made a particular effort to nurture future leaders in FSU/CIS communities by establishing local summer camps, and by bringing them to regional sporting events, on leadership missions to Israel, and to the Maccabiah. MWU Young Leadership Committees are being formed in four cities: Tel Aviv, New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. The purpose of the YL initiative is to bring together, fun, smart, successful young professionals who have an interest in sports, entertainment - and above all, Israel - in order to put some great events together, to raise money for disadvantaged Jewish children from around the world to participate in MWU programs, and to ensure a strong new generation of leadership for the movement. Maccabi intends investing a great deal in this special group, arranging top speakers for committee meetings, and granting VIP status to YLC members at the Maccabiah this summer. According to Nirit Harel French, Executive Director, North America, Maccabi World Union: “We have pulled out all the stops and planned an itinerary for a week not to be forgotten, which will include VIP status at all Maccabiah sporting events, ceremonies and activities, as well as training with our paratroopers, visits with participants of our various programs, Shabbat experiences with our four new chapters and with the athletes, and a special baseball event hosted by Jamie McCourt of the LA Dodgers (who is a member of our prestigious LA Committee of 18), and so much more. The 18th Maccabiah, MWU's "jewel in the crown ", will take place next week (opening Monday night, July 12) and will be an extravaganza unlike any other seen in Israel or in the Jewish world - including 10,000 athletes (nearly the same number of athletes as the Olympics, 80-90 percent of whom have never been to Israel) and drawing some 25,000 tourists to Israel from nearly 70 countries. The Maccabiah is the largest Jewish event in the world, the largest tourist event in Israel, and ranks third in size among global sporting events. Many Jewish, sports, government and other international VIPs are expected to be at the opening ceremony- a very beautiful and moving spectacular with more than 2,000 performers. For many it is a transformational moment to see this amazing display of Jewish strength and solidarity from around the world, and there is rarely a dry eye in the audience. This year’s
Maccabiah kicks off with an opening ceremony at the Ramat Gan
Stadium on Monday night, July 13. Three time Gold medal Olympian
swimmer Jason Lezak of the US team, will light the flame. As the world’s
third largest sports event after the Olympics, the Maccabiah Games
plays host to 3000 junior Maccabiah athletes, aged 15 -18; 5,000
open athletes, 2,000 masters and Paralympics. In addition to the
visitors, Israel will itself be fielding a team of more than 2,000
athletes. Sports for
which competitors will be going for Gold include: artistic gymnastics,
badminton, baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, bridge, cricket,
chess, fencing, golf, gymnastics, handball, half-marathon, field
hockey, judo, karate, netball, lawn bowls, rowing, rugby, squash,
soccer, softball, swimming, table-tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon,
track and field, ten-pin bowling, volleyball, water polo, wrestling
and windsurfing. The 18th Maccabiah Games will be utilizing powerful Web 2.0 new media social networking to connect in real time with millions in Israel and worldwide. There are Twitter channels: wmu, maccabi, israelmaccabiah and #maccabiah and two official Facebook groups. A state of the art Web 2.0 Maccabiah Web site is expected to be launched within the next 48 hours.
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