The Maccabiah - famously, “The Jewish Olympics” - is held over 10-12 competition days in Israel every 4 years, constituting by participant numbers and logistics complexity one of the world’s largest sports events.

Many participants from abroad in the 1st and 2nd Maccabiot (1932 and 1935) settled illegally in the then-British Mandate of Palestine.  During the Holocaust era, Maccabi in Palestine, in Arab countries such as Egypt, Libya, Syria and Lebanon, in South Africa, Great Britain, the USA and on the European mainland, in Finland and Switzerland, survived.  After the State of Israel was established in 1948, the 3rd Maccabiah (1950) brought together athletes from those countries, from the remnants of Jewish Communities in Western Europe and from Latin America and Canada.  Starting from the 13th Maccabiah (1989), routinely large delegations come from re-established Maccabi frameworks in the successor states to the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and the former Communist Bloc states in East and Central Europe. 

History of Maccabiah

For further information: www.maccabiah.com

Quadrennial, bi-annual and annual mass cross-border Jewish sports and cultural events with Sports and Cultural/Educational Delegations from numerous Jewish Communities are Maccabi’s hallmark.

These international, continental, regional and national events are the largest mass gatherings in the Jewish world, bringing together very large numbers of male and female team and individual sports competitors of all ages in Open, Kids, Juniors, Masters and Challenged categories, attracting yet larger numbers of spectators, supporters and families, and engaging the energies and commitment of numerous volunteers.