The 17th Maccabiah Opens in Israel by Israel HighWay staff

Almost 7,000 Jewish athletes from 34 countries began the 17th Maccabiah games this week in Israel. Among the athletes are some world class competitors who won medals in previous Olympic games; others are bound for gold in future international competition.

But few if any world records will be set at the Maccabiah. Television networks will not be broadcasting the games. And no million dollar endorsement contracts will be signed for sneakers, power bars, or sports apparel.

So what's the big deal?

Issue of the Week is continued below.

Coming Home by Yitzhak Benhorin

Tuesday’s terror attack in Netanya may have cast a pall over a pre-aliya ceremony for hundreds of North American families, but Israeli ambassador Dani Ayalon said the blast would not deter 250 soon-to-be immigrants from moving to Israel.

At a farewell in a ceremony at New York's Kennedy Airport, Ayalon pointed out Israel is not the only terrorist target in the world.

"There’s terrorism in New York and London also," he said. In addition to the American immigrants, 150 families arrived on Wednesday from Toronto. Wednesday saw the largest group to make aliya from North America since the founding of the state. (Ynet News)

Wealthy and Assimilated by Doron Sheffer

For the first time in 2,000 years, Israel’s Jewish community will become the largest in the world next year, bypassing the American Jewish community, according to the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute’s annual assessment. The institute’s study was presented last week to the Knesset’s Immigration and Absorption Committee, and is slated to be presented to the government next week.

According to the assessment, Jewish communities worldwide will shrink in the coming years, while Israel’s Jewish community is expected to continue to grow. By 2020, the global Jewish population is expected to stand at about 13.6 million, compared to 13 million today, with 46 percent of the world’s Jews residing in Israel. Overall, Israel’s Jewish community is expected to grow by a million in that period.

Currently, about 80 percent of world Jews reside in Israel and the United States. The world’s third largest community is in France, which is home to about 494,000 Jews. (Ynet News)

"Exodus" Project Renewed

The Jewish Agency has resumed the "Exodus" project, which had been suspended since the fall of 2000 due to security concerns. 620 youth leaders and educators from North America, who are in Israel on study trips, took part. "Exodus" project participants reenact the events of the pre-state Ha'apala period of clandestine immigration, mainly through the well-known story of the immigrant ship, Exodus. In this they are joined by actual former clandestine immigrants (Ma'apilim) from those days.

Resumption of the project was made possible by the improvement in the security situation and upturn in the number of North American youth arriving on study trips, a number which, according to Hermon, is expected to exceed 30,000 this year. (Jewish Agency)

Israeli Young People Share Their Perspective by Daniel Woike

The Jewish community in Indiana is getting a taste of life in Israel, as the Jewish Federation of Northwest Indiana sponsored an event last week with performances from a group of Israeli Scouts and introduced four camp counselors from Israel who will be spending a month in the community. The two separate groups both brought a message of unity to the Jewish Federation Community Building, telling area residents about the similarities in their cultures.

The Israeli Scouts, consisting of 10 teenagers, performed a number of songs, singing in both Hebrew and English. In between songs, a video presentation showed the landscape of Israel and provided a narrative to the songs.

Yuval Amitay, the group's 24-year-old counselor, said one of the Tzofim Friendship Caravan's goals is to clear up misconceptions about Israel. "We try to show them Israel from Israelis' points of view, which is different than what's on CNN," he said. (Northwest Indiana News)

Camp Profile: Washington DC JCC:
There's More than One Israeli Ambassador in Washington

Campers who have never been to Israel are studying a large map on the floor, trying to place the miniature houses, animals and flowers they've been given.

"No! You can't put those houses there! They're in the water!"

"No, they're on the shore. See? Tel Aviv is next to the sea!"

"You can't put the camels in the water either! They belong in the Negev."

These are the conversations overheard in Noa Irony's Israeli Culture class at the Washington DC Jewish Community Center (DCJCC). Noa, 21, the first shlicha the DCJCC has hosted in many years, traveled from Raanana to bring her life's experience to the J as a counselor for the Counselors-in-Training (CIT) program.

"I wanted to experience something different and help Americans understand Israel from a firsthand point-of-view, not just from CNN," says Noa. "My greatest wish is to make them want to know more and go for a visit in Israel and to understand why it is so important to have this country for our people." Each Wednesday, Noa teaches three Israeli Culture classes to campers. She uses art, music and games to show the campers Israel's present and past. She also teaches the CITs about Israel so that they can lead their own education programs, like "Israel Day," an all-day event on the last day of camp that is the work of teens at the J from beginning to end.

"Some have never learned anything about Israel beyond Jerusalem and the desert. Since they don't know much about Israel, they don't have any preconceived ideas about it," says Noa. "It works in my favor to be able to start fresh and to not have to take apart their old ideas."

Tymira Graves, 14, is a CIT with Noa. She attends the classes with other CITs also and with the younger campers. She has not yet been to Israel.

"I think it's cool to have Noa here. Noa is almost the same, but she also brings a lot of Israel," says Tymira. "There are a lot of things in Israel that are different, and she teaches us things we didn't know, like that Israelis invented cell phones and instant messaging. The kids are happy with her-they interact with her and listen."

Speaking of her life in DC, Noa likes that the buildings are not too tall (the law states nothing can be as tall as the Washington Monument) and that there are many parks, museums, and green spaces.

When asked if she would now like to visit Israel one day, Tymira says yes. "I want to learn the different things that they do because they do a lot of things that are different from here."

Noa will continue to put her experience and training to good use when she helps lead the Kibbutz Camp for the camp's younger campers in August. The camp groups will form their own kibbutzim, deciding everything from their kibbutz name to their daily schedule as a group where all have an equal say. The camp includes "tours" of Israel, Israeli cooking and immersion in a way of life that is foreign to almost all of the J's campers.

North American Muslim Learns About Tolerance in Israel
by Leora Eren Frucht

When Javeed Sukhera told friends in Toronto that he'd be spending the next three years of his life in Israel, some of them were aghast. "Israel? Of all the countries in the world, you had to choose Israel!" cried several members of the moderate Muslim organization he helped found. Sukhera admits that he, too, had a few apprehensions.

"I wasn't sure I'd be all that welcome: here I was, a North American Muslim of Pakistani background coming to live in Israel," recalls Sukhera, a self-described maverick with jet black hair and dark piercing eyes. But Sukhera was in for a surprise.

"Israel accepted and welcomed me with open arms. Israelis really appreciated the fact that I came here, and the overwhelming response has been one of tremendous curiosity," says the 24-year-old, sitting in a café in the Negev desert, casually ordering a drink in Hebrew - a language he has picked up with ease. (Israel21c)

Lebanese Christian Woman Loves Israel by Ted S. Stratton

TV personality Brigette Gabriel educates people about country that helped save her family. "I was robbed of my youth," says the auburn-haired, blue-eyed Gabriel, who was in Cleveland June 29 to speak to Israel Bonds. But even while she lived in her own personal hell, the youngster retained her hope. She received news of the war from squawky Radio Monte Carlo broadcasts, and when she was 13 she started going to school in a nearby town. She rode to school in a fortified tank, along with 18 other children. Pressed for time, she squeezed four years of education into two.

But the most comforting thing for Gabriel was knowing that the Israeli army was only a few miles away in Metulla. "We went to the Israelis and begged them to help us. That's how we -- the Christians in South Lebanon -- stayed alive."

In 1982, as the civil war escalated, the Israelis entered Lebanon setting up a permanent security area in the south. The IDF took Gabriel's mother, who was wounded in a skirmish, to an Israeli hospital, where the impressionable teenager saw hundreds of her fellow Lebanese lying on the floor being treated. She wondered why the Israelis were helping the supposed "enemy."

"I realized I was fed a fabricated lie by my government," recounts Gabriel. "As a child, all I heard was, ‘Jews are evil. They are barbaric. They are the source of trouble in the Middle East.' "Those days (in the hospital) changed my life. "Now, Gabriel says, she feels a tremendous amount in common with Jews and Israel. (Lebanese Lobby)

NBA Stars to Promote Peace

A delegation of past and present National Basketball Association stars is scheduled to arrive in Israel soon to offer basketball classes to Israeli and Palestinian children. Israel's Consul-General Aryeh Mekel met with NBA Commissioner David Stern, who gave the initiative the green light. The identities of the stars are being kept under wraps for the time being. (Ynet News)

Israel By Choice

Before graduating from high school last year, Natalie Walters (pictured), 19, of Southend, England, didn't know much about the different gap-year Israel programs available to her, but she knew that going to Israel for a year was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She also knew that she had three goals for the year: "to become independent, make new friends, and help the country."

Thanks to a collaboration with the Jewish Agency, her one-year program, "Israel By Choice" (IBC) - whose participants are eligible for scholarships by the Agency's MASA fund - was able to place Walters in a volunteer position within an Israeli population already familiar with England's Jewish community.

Along with several of her peers, Walters taught English in Shlomi, a small, picturesque town near the Lebanese border which is part of England's Partnership 2000 sister region. (Jewish Agency)

Playing Hoops in the Homeland by Rob Parent

Bryan Cohen said he doesn't expect to be impressed with the level of basketball competition he'll see next week. But then, he doesn't know much about his own teammates yet, either.

What Cohen does know is the reason that he and several hundred other athletes of all ages have gathered in Israel for the World Maccabiah Games has less to do with playing games against each other than it does learning about themselves.

"To tell you the truth, I don't think it's going to be that hard. The U.S. always has the best [basketball] talent," said Cohen, a resident of Huntingdon Valley entering his sophomore year at Abington Friends School. "This trip is really about learning about my culture, not about playing basketball," Cohen said. "It's just been fun meeting kids that are Jewish, and the same age and culture as me." (Philadelphia Inquirer)

According to the Maccabiah's organizers, "Maccabiah 2005 is a Jewish/Zionist sports event in Maccabi World Union's continuing tradition of more than one hundred years. Working to attract youth and young people to its events and living heritage, the Maccabiah intensifies and strengthens the connection between Jews in the Diaspora and the State of Israel." - The Maccabiah Vision

The Macabiah tradition dates back to 1912 when 15-year-old Yosef Yekutieli conceived of the notion of a "Jewish Olympics." By 1932 it was a reality, and 390 Jewish athletes from 18 countries competed.

The Maccabiah games represent another aspect of Jewish revival in the land of Israel. At a time when the scourge of terrorism threatens democracies, innocent civilians everywhere, and international travel, holding a large-scale international sports competition anywhere is an important milestone. More specifically, after years of terrorism in Israel, the youth of world Jewry has answered by flocking to Israel to compete. (In 2001, the fear of terrorism kept some participants away, and only 2,200 athletes competed.)

The competition will be the most competitive in history with no fewer than six reigning Olympic medalists competing, including Olympic backstroke champion Lenny Krayzelburg. The triple-gold medalist from the 2000 Sydney Olympics has been named the honorary captain of the American team. Other international stars participating include Russian sabre master Sergei Sharikov, who won four medals in three Olympics. In Atlanta, he won gold in the teams sabre and silver in the individual event. At Sydney, he won gold in the teams event and followed that with a bronze in Athens. Also in attendance is five-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist, Maria Mazina. The Russian fencer won gold in Sydney in the team epee.

One of the biggest attractions at the Maccabiah is one of the greatest Jewish athletes of all time, Mark Spitz. Although Spitz went on to win numerous gold medals at the Olympics he will never forget his first gold medal won at the 1965 Maccabiah Games and says that was a good springboard for the rest of his career. "It’s the vision for a number of athletes who come to the Maccabiah that they might one day be able to participate in future Olympics," he said.

Other stories behind the Maccabiah are presented here:

U.S. Runner Balances Religion and Races

Daniel Glass is no stranger to Israel. He is a Maccabiah competitor in the 10,000-meter race. Glass's passion for the sport poses problems when it comes to competing during the school year. As an observant Jew, finding a balance between his faith and his desire to compete is sometimes frustrating. "It's hard for me to race at Brandeis because I won t race on Shabbat, and that's when the majority of the competitions are [held]. It's an impediment," he said.

Jewish identity has always been paramount to Glass. Two days after he graduated from high school, he came to Israel to volunteer as an emergency medical technician for Magen David Adom in Beersheba. After his summer in Beersheba, Glass went on to study at Yeshivat Or Yerushalayim in Beit Meir. "That year solidified my dedication to Torah for the rest of my life," Glass noted. (Jerusalem Post)

Click here to view the Maccabiah's opening ceremony

Arab Israeli Wins Maccabiah Gold (Ynet News)

An Israeli Arab teenage girl from the town of Sakhnin became one of the first medalists in this year's Maccabiah Games with a victory in the women's 200-meter breastroke.

Asala Shahada, 17 (pictured), declared,"The Maccabiah belongs not only to all the Jews, but also to all the Israelis, and I am a proud Israeli," Asala said. (The Israel HighWay)

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