| Maccabi World Union | |
|---|---|
Original Maccabi logo |
|
| Formation | 1921 |
| Type | INGO |
| Purpose/focus | Sports |
| Headquarters | Kfar Maccabiah[1] |
| Location | Ramat Gan, Israel |
| Region served | Worldwide |
| President | Jeanne Futeran |
| Website | maccabiworld.org |
The Maccabi World Union is an international Jewish sports organisation spanning 5 continents and more than 50 countries, with some 400,000 members.[2] Maccabi World Union organises the Maccabiah Games, a prominent international Jewish athletics event.
The organisation comprises six confederations: Maccabi Israel, European Maccabi confederation, confederation Maccabi North America, confederation Maccabi Latin America, Maccabi South Africa and Maccabi Australia.
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The movement is named after the Maccabees (Hebrew: מכבים or מקבים, Makabim) who were a Jewish national liberation movement that fought for and won independence from Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
The origin of the word is not clear but the common opinion is that the word "Maccabi" (מכבי) is an acronym of the biblical sentence: "Who is like unto Thee, O LORD, among the mighty?" (Exodus 15:11), in Hebrew: "'מי כמוך באלים י", "Mi kamocha ba'elim YHWH".
The Maccabi World Union was created at the 12th World Jewish Congress in Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia in 1921. It was then decided by the secretariat of Jewish sport leaders to form one umbrella organization for all Jewish sports associations. Its aims were defined as working "foster physical education, belief in Jewish heritage and the Jewish nation, and to work actively for the rebuilding of our own country and for the preservation of our people". [2] In 1960, the International Olympic Committee officially recognized the Maccabi World Union as an "Organization of Olympic Standing".[3]
As early as the 19th century, Jewish sports clubs were founded in Eastern and Central Europe. The first club was the Israelite Gymnastic Association Constantinople (German: Israelitischer Turnverein Konstantinopel) founded in 1895 in Constantinople, Turkey by Jews of German and Austrian extraction who had been rejected from participating in other social sport clubs. Two years later, haGibor was formed in Philipople, Bulgaria and 1898 saw the founding of Bar Kochba Berlin along with Vivó és Athletikai Club in Budapest, Hungary.
Other clubs that followed were named after “Bar Kochba” or Hebrew names such as “Hakoah” or “Hagibor” that symbolized strength and heroism. One of the basic premises behind the founding of these clubs was Jewish Nationalism. The concept was that Jews were not only a religious entity, but also one based on a common historical and social background, having special cultural and psychological concepts that have been preserved to this day, resulting in a strong recognition of collective belonging.
In 1906, the first Jewish gymnastics club was formed in Palestine. Clubs later would spring up in other cities. By 1912, all of them joined the Maccabi Federation of Israel. That same year, the first relations were established between them and their European counterparts, when a decision was taken at the Maccabi Conference in Berlin to begin group trips to Palestine.
Maccabi GB is a member of the English National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS)[4] because of its work promoting the personal and social development of young people.