Maccabiah fans gather on Netanya coast for beachside festivities
Introduced for the first time this year, ‘Maccabiah Village’ draws Israeli and Diaspora Jews alike to Poleg beach for 8 days of sports, food and music
Hundreds of people gathered on Netanya’s sunset-drenched Poleg beach to hear the beloved Israeli band Teapacks perform at the Maccabiah Village sports complex on Tuesday evening, as part of the 21st Maccabiah Games.
The village, which opened last Thursday, strives to give Israeli competitors a chance to get their friends and family involved in the games, as well as to give them a chance to mingle with athletes from other countries.
Maccabiah Village, which will close at the end of this week, also serves as the showcase for a number of sports introduced for the first time to this year’s games, including 3×3 basketball, beach volleyball and bouldering. Emulating a carnival, the colorful venue blends together competitions and activities for the public, with live musical performances and food trucks.
The event’s highlight on Tuesday was the sunset concert by Teapacks, most famous outside of Israel for its 2007 Eurovision entry, “Push the Button.” In the early afternoon, the event had a sparse turnout, but by evening families had begun to gather on the beach in anticipation of the live performance.
Though they attended Maccabiah in years past, Ilana and Israel Tenenbaum said they only came to Maccabiah Village to see Teapacks perform.
“They’re our age, about 60, so we grew together,” Israel Tenenbaum said of the band. The couple lives close to the venue in Netanya and has family competing in the games, but they only recently heard of the event through Facebook.
“I’m surprised that it’s not fuller,” said Ilana. “We only heard about the show yesterday.”
“When I was younger, our family would go to all of the openings of the Maccabiah Games,” Ilana said. Her husband used to perform with his class in the opening ceremonies at Ramat Gan Stadium when he was in grade school, she said.
One of the more intense competitions on Tuesday evening was a semifinal game between the Israeli and US 3×3 basketball teams, who faced off against each other in the sweltering heat. The 10-minute match, though close throughout, ended in a decisive Israeli victory, 13-9.
Gil Noyovitch, an Israeli contender from the winning team who plays professionally in Israel’s second division, Liga Leumit, enjoyed competing in Maccabiah Village’s open environment.
“You interact with everybody, it’s easier to see everyone during the competitions, more casual,” Noyovitch said.
Although Noyovitch is an experienced basketball player, having played since third grade, he is relatively new to 3×3 matches. He took part in his first 3×3 game a mere two weeks ago in Bratislava in which Israel narrowly lost to the Slovakian team.
A year after 3×3 basketball made its debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics, the Maccabi World Union announced it would become an official sport for its next games. “It’s more intense,” Noyovitch said of 3×3 basketball. “You have much shorter offenses, so you gotta be more ready.”
At the food trucks near the basketball courts, vendors sold European-style hot dogs, Druze pita and hamburgers. Given the temperature, the American-style ice cream truck was particularly popular with attendees, drawing a crowd into its corner on the sand.
Adjacent to the ice cream was 60-year-old Samy Halabi, the sole vendor of Druze pita. Halabi admitted that he expected a much larger turnout for the event.
“The first day was good, there were people, around 1,500 to 2,000…lots of families. Today it’s sparse, [and this is] in the afternoon, in the morning there wasn’t anything.”
Nevertheless, he was enthusiastic about working at the event. “Druze eat very richly. Stuffed cabbage, mujaddara, grilled meat,” he said while preparing food for a customer.
Although Halabi came to the event for work, he is a longtime Maccabiah fan and has attended its opening ceremonies in the past. He proudly noted that his town, Daliyat al-Karmel, hosted Maccabiah badminton games this week.
“I was there many years ago, in Tel Aviv, when there was the accident with the bridge,” he said, referring to the 1997 collapse of a bridge over the Yarkon River during Maccabiah’s opening ceremony, which killed four athletes from the Australian delegation.
Halabi views the games as a way to connect Israel’s citizens. “Maccabiah unites the nation,” he said. “It isn’t just games and sports.”
