Today marks the start of the 18th annual Maccabiah games that pits Jew against Jew in various sporting events. Jews from around the world descended on Tel Aviv for futsal (indoor soccer), tennis, cricket and various other competitions for what some deem “the Jewish Olympics.” This year, approximately 5,700 athletes from 60 countries intend to participate. While some countries, such as the United States, hold tryouts for the games, other countries struggle to find enough Jews competent in any given sport in order to compete.
Alongside the atheletic competition, the games attempt to instill solidarity with Israel among Jews living in the Diaspora. This year, the Ministry of Absorption offered athletes $3,500 to make aliyah and move to Israel. Absorption Minister Sofa Landver advocated the program, stating, “currently, each athlete marches under his or her national flag… I hope that in future tournaments, many of them will march under one flag – the flag of the State of Israel, maybe as part of Israel’s own Olympic team.”
Israeli athletes recently gained noteriety, most recently with a tennis victory over Russia for a slot in the Davis Cup. Similarly, the NBA franchise Sacramento Kings selected Israeli basketball star Omri Casspi in the first round of this year’s draft.
Personally, I can’t wait for the Finnish futsal team to suffer a crushing defeat to the U.S. squad this Friday.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
