Organisers ramp up Maccabiah prep
THE 19th Maccabiah Games are now less than four months away and preparation for the grand event is in full swing.
THE 19th Maccabiah Games are now less than four months away and preparation for the grand event is in full swing.
Australia’s head of delegation, Harry Procel, recently took his leadership team to Israel for final preparation meetings at the seventh Maccabi World Union Plenary, and he says everything is on track for the Games to be the best yet.
“This is my eighth Maccabiah and I’ve never been more impressed with an organising committee preparing for an excellent Games than this one,” Procel told The AJN.
“The numbers look great at this point, and we’ve all come back reinvigorated with a lot still left to organise.”
The Australian delegation is almost finalised and there are great stories in the rugby and cricket teams.
Five brothers will don the green and gold for the rugby side, led by former Wallaby Glen Ella, while former Australian Test cricketer Julien Wiener will head to Israel with his sons Brett and Dean.
The Australian teams will be up against thousands of other athletes from around the world, in what the president of the Maccabi World Union, Guiora Esrubilsky, said will be the best Maccabiah Games both on and off the field.
“We are expecting almost 9000 athletes and in the last Maccabiah, there were almost 8000, so this is a significant increase,” Esrubilsky told The Jerusalem Post.
“There were 50 countries represented [last time] and we are expecting 71 to be represented this time.
“There are massive delegations coming from across the world. The USA is bringing over 1000 athletes, Brazil is sending 500, South Africa 400, with many other countries sending hundreds of people as well.”
Esrubilsky believes the Games are a great way for Jewish people from all over the world to embrace their identity and experience Israel in its entirety.
“Sports are a means by which Maccabi tries to bring people closer to a Jewish life and Jewish values, and emphasise the centrality of Israel,” Esrubilsky said.
“Our goal as an ideological movement is to fight assimilation, to work towards the continuity of Jewish life across the world and to bring them to identify with Israel. Sport is the tool that attracts the masses.”
The 19th Maccabiah Games will take place from Thursday, July 18 to Tuesday, July 30. The fundraising events will take place in Melbourne on May 23 and Sydney on May 25
AJN Staff
Photo: Australia’s leadership delegation (from left) Ellana Aarons, Tom York, Lisa Borowick, Tom Goldman, Harry Procel, Bob Mundell and Yvette Shaw.
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