My wife and I attended the opening ceremonies of the Maccabiah Games to see our son Michael participate as part of the U.S. fencing team. The Ramat Gan stadium was filled with 40,000 other spectators and 7,000 athletes from 52 countries — including China and Azerbaijan. It was very touching to see Jews from all over the world. In some instances, Hebrew was the only language for communication. Here was a very real demonstration of the Jewish diaspora.
Security was tight. I was constantly asked: “Yesh lecha neshek? [Do you have a gun]?” The largest contingents were from Israel and the United States. The U.S. team took a half hour to circle the stadium. The entire production took three hours, and in typical Israeli fashion, there was mass confusion getting to and from the stadium — not to mention New York-style traffic jams.
There was a tzedakah collection for people injured in terrorist attacks who are receiving rehab through athletics, called Tikvah (Hope). A contingent of terrorist-injured children, led by one child on crutches because of a missing leg, headed the entire parade. There was also a contingent of family members of those athletes who died in the bridge collapse at the 1997 games.
The energy of the athletes and some spectators at the opening was unbelievable. Many of the teams did not just walk around the stadium but jumped up and down over the entire circuit around the stadium, cheering, singing national songs and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Some groups in the stands responded with equal enthusiasm. Most noteworthy was the team from Brazil that went absolutely bonkers. They continually broke ranks, ran all over the stadium, onto the podium, posed for pictures with the Israeli teenage girls who lined the field, exchanged shirts, pins and had a wonderful time.
Our son Michael has had a wonderful time participating in the fencing competition. He has met lots of fencers from all over the world and has made many new friends. The group has been shlepped all over the country to see the sites.
In the individual events, Michael came out somewhere in the middle. The United States team handily beat the French team 45-31. Michael led off and opened the lead at 10-4 that then widened throughout the match. They entered the gold medal bout and were defeated by an extraordinarily strong Israeli team that deserved to win. Nevertheless, they were quite satisfied with the silver medal.