This summer, the Jewish world gathered in Israel. Athletes from 43 countries\u2014from teens to participants in their 80s\u2014returned to Jerusalem for the Maccabiah Games. The sports competition, held from July 1 to 14, is the largest gathering of the global Jewish family in Israel since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, now more than 1,000 days ago.<\/p>\n
They came despite ongoing threats of violence against the Jewish state. Threats and attacks against Jews continue to rise around the world, but the answer is to show up together in Israel.<\/p>\n
For 17-year-old Josh Mandel<\/a>, a pitcher from Manhattan, this summer\u2019s trip to Israel was never really about baseball. When the Games were postponed by a year, the delay gave him time to reflect and to conclude that the competition is \u201cbigger than baseball.\u201d He described how the Jewish community must unite and \u201cbe strong against antisemitism\u201d and spoke of his pride in representing America while playing in Israel.<\/p>\n Mandel is one of 900 Americans participating in the 22nd Maccabiah Games. Held since 1932 and known as the Jewish Olympics, it is one of the world\u2019s largest sporting competitions, taking place every four years. The Games opened at Jerusalem\u2019s Teddy Stadium, where Israeli President Isaac Herzog proclaimed Am Yisrael Chai, \u201cThe Jewish people live<\/a>.\u201d The Parade of Nations featured athletes from Argentina to Zimbabwe. The United States sent one of the largest delegations: Teenagers competing for a first medal marched alongside grandparents who have made the trip for decades.<\/p>\n For the Berman family of Mexico City, the Maccabiah is a three-generation affair. This summer, Karla Berman came to Jerusalem to cheer on her father in the 70-and-over tennis draw, her husband on the soccer field and her 16-year-old daughter, who is competing for the first time. Jewish athletes from around the world compete alongside Israeli Muslims, Druze, Jews and Christians. Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo\u2019s<\/a> 17-year-old son competed in 2017 for S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s Hebraica club, even though he is not Jewish.<\/p>\n \u2018A reminder of love, values and lives cut short\u2019<\/p>\n These are the first Maccabiah Games since the Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 people, offering an opportunity to remember fallen heroes. The open-water swims honored fallen soldier<\/a> and youth national team swimmer Eden Nimri<\/a>. The commander was murdered while standing guard at an Israel Defense Forces shelter, shielding 17 unarmed soldiers inside. She was honored with a symbolic swim of 170 meters\u201410 meters for each of the 17 lives she saved in her final moments\u2014remembered in the sport she loved.<\/p>\n Nimri was one of 18 fallen Israelis<\/a> honored with memorial pins designed by their families. One featured a cat that soldier Adi Leon drew for his little sister in a farewell letter he wrote before entering Gaza. Each pin, said Maccabiah chairman Assaf Goren, is \u201ca reminder of love, values and lives cut short too soon.\u201d<\/p>\n The opening ceremony provided more moments of commemoration and unity.<\/p>\n The families of the 12 Druze children who were murdered on a soccer field in July 2024 by a Hezbollah rocket carried the Maccabiah banner into the stadium during the opening ceremony. The delegation from France wore shirts honoring their teammate Dan Elkayam, who was murdered in the Chanukah mass shooting on Australia\u2019s Bondi Beach in December. He had planned to compete this summer but never got his chance. Freed from a Gaza tunnel, former American Israeli hostage Edan Alexander spoke to the crowd about how he survived.<\/p>\n He commemorated how \u201cIsrael remembers and sanctifies all the heroes who fell along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n The opening torch became a symbol of grief, turning into resolve, as it was carried by Evyatar Zeituni, a paratrooper officer gravely wounded defending a kibbutz on Oct. 7, before Paralympic champion Asaf Yasur and Olympic medalist Inbar Lanir lit the Maccabiah flame together.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Remembering Eden Nimri at the 2026 Maccabiah Games in Israel. Credit: Courtesy.<\/p>\n \u2018Strength, diversity and spirit of American Jewish life\u2019<\/p>\n A few delegations, including Canada and Australia, could not send athletes<\/a> because international travel warnings prevented insurance coverage. Some of them went to the Games on their own. Just showing up made a strong statement.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s slogan\u2014\u201cMore Than Ever\u201d<\/a>\u2014was built to capture an Israel-Diaspora bond that feels more vital now than at any time in recent memory. Jews from dozens of countries stood together, cheering in Hebrew, Spanish, French and English, a unified people gathered around sport.<\/p>\n Unity is the Maccabiah\u2019s original purpose. The first Maccabi sports club was founded in 1895<\/a>, after a group of Jewish gymnasts was barred from a local sports club in Constantinople for being Jewish. They created their own, responding with strength to those who called Jews weak and turning sport into an expression of Jewish pride.<\/p>\n Through its partnership with Maccabi Ukraine, Maccabi USA helped bring<\/a> a 51-member delegation of Ukrainian athletes, coaches and staff to the Games, many traveling out of an active war zone. The American and Ukrainian delegations gathered together in Jerusalem\u2014Jews standing with Jews across two conflicts.<\/p>\n![\"Remembering](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783680314_141_.webp\")
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