American Perspective on the Maccabiah Games

Every four years, Israel hosts the Maccabiah Games which is essentially the Jewish Olympics.  It’s sanctioned by the International Olympics Committee and (according to Wikipedia) is the third largest sporting event in the world (!).  During the opening ceremonies, the United States team arrived looking exactly as they did in the Beijing Olympics with the tweed fedora hats and blue polo shirts.   Team U.S.A. in Israel!

This year there are athletes from 51 countries competing in 31 sports events.

Sounds impressive, right?

The opening ceremonies were a few days ago and I’m lucky enough to be very close to several of the events in Tel Aviv.   One of the events, Men’s Beach Volleyball, is literally a 5 minute walk to the beach.

I left the house a little early yesterday morning to watch the first round beach volleyball game of  Israel vs. United States because I wanted to beat the large crowds (it’s not everyday you get to see an Olympic game between Israel and the U.S., right?).    It seemed like this would be an exciting game to watch between the two countries.  Not to mention, it’s high tourist season right now and the beach is more crowded than usual.

When I arrived at the court, I honestly thought I  was in the wrong place or had mixed up the start time.  The only people there appeared to be the volley teams and their coaches.  I could count the spectators on one hand.

I present exhibit A (click to enlarge):

Most of the people at the court were there out of obligation whether it be coaches, players, referees, or ball boys. I couldn’t sense any other local Israelis at the event and only a few American tourists stumbled upon the game half way through it during their stroll along the beach.

It’s a shame too because it’s a really exciting thing to see professional athletes in their Olympic gear. Unfortunately, it’s not nearly as exciting without a crowd. It felt more like a practice session than an actual competition.  15 minutes into the game, I stopped clapping when the U.S. team made a point simply because I got tired of hearing only myself clap.

My theory of the ghostly turn-out is one of two things:  Either nobody knows about the Olympics in Israel, or, no one cares about the Olympics in Israel.

Unfortunately, my instinct tells me it’s the latter since these games have been around for quite a while (the first year being 1935) and the games aren’t a big secret especially to the locals.

The competitive nature of Americans insists that we rush to any sporting event that pits the United States as a collective team against any other world team.  I honestly believe it’s in our nature to be competitive and to cheer United States teams regardless of the sport or the location. There is no question when it’s an Olympic-esque event.  Maybe it’s ignorant of me to assume other countries rush to support their team too.

Yesterday E & I also checked out the women’s rowing event (again, Israel vs. U.S.A) and a Juniors baseball game (Mexico vs. Israel).  The baseball game attracted a larger crowd although still only comparable to a little league game back in the states.

Is it exciting to see live sporting events?  Of course!  I love getting into the game and cheering for a team (especially the U.S.).  But there’s an essential piece for any sporting event to become great….. it needs fan!

Third largest sporting event in the world, my ass.   What’s the point if no one is there to see it?  It reminds me of the old riddle:  If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

See my pictures of the 2009 Maccabiah Games on my Flickr page:

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Polish vs. English:

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A very serious lesson learned in Israel

There’s two things that people are constantly talking about here in America right now that I was shielded from while in Israel:

• The economy
• Gas prices

Americans are “tightening their belts”.  Saving more of their money.  Concerned about job security and 401k’s.  Holding off on buying a new car.  Paying off credit cards.

Everyone agrees that it’s a scary time.  But aren’t these changes actually kinda good for Americans?  I mean, haven’t we been living above our means for far too long?

Strangely enough, I learned a lot of these financial lessons while I was in Israel and it didn’t take a complete crash of the economy to help me realize them.  Tightening the belt.  Saving money.  Living frugally.  These are all things that I had to learn the hard way with the help of a few Israelis.

There was a time that I was drowning in debt.  College has a sick way of doing that to a student.  With minimum wage part time jobs, an abundance of credit card applications on campus (for a free t-shirt!), and a lifestyle to maintain, I found myself in debt far too young in life.  But I recovered (after lots of hard work) and chalked it up to bad judgment.  I still had the American mentality though.  Even though I’m a minimalist, I was still a consumer (cough… new computers) and can be rather wasteful (cough…buying too many groceries).

In Israel, the cost of living is the same if not higher than in the United States.  The gas prices are close to $7/gal, believe it or not.  Going to a restaurant will easily set you back $15 for a meal (Even a McDonalds meal costs $10).  And since a lot of the clothes and household items are imported, they tend to have a higher price tag too.

But the Israelis aren’t in debt like Americans.  In fact, they tend to have a surplus of cash on hand.  They enjoy nice things just like an American, but they also know that there’s limitations to how much they should spend.  Simply put, they live well within their means.

This is what I think Americans are learning now.

I’m not saying that I’m glad the economy is in a tail spin.  I think it sucks that people are worrying about their jobs and their retirement funds.  But I think when we all get to that light at the end of the tunnel, we’ll have a little better perspective on how we live and we’ll change for the better.

We’ll be a stronger country for it just as I feel like I’m a stronger person for having such a great example in Israel.

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I have to get used to American politeness again

I’ve noticed since arriving home that I haven’t really missed anything except the people I know here. I’ve only missed my family and friends. I’ve only missed the people that I used to see on a daily basis or the people I had grown accustomed to.

Some I’ve missed without even knowing them in the past. The people that hold open doors for me at stores or the cars that always let me get into their lane on the highway. I missed the “Thank you’s” and “You’re welcome’s” and all the minute politeness’ that are native to the United States.

You can keep all the super markets and bars and landscape.  I’ve simply missed the American persona.

Granted I may not have had these observations in New York or New Jersey where people take pride in their rudeness, but in the Midwest, politeness is king. We don’t really notice it until we’re outside of it.

This attitude was hard for me to let go of in Israel. Israeli’s are honest. VERY honest. Honest almost to a fault. To an American, this translates to rudeness. In reality it’s simply being open. Chivalry doesn’t really exist in Israel either when talking about opening doors or moving out of the way on the sidewalk when a woman passes. To a feminist, this seemed ideal. Because why should a woman be given special treatment over a man? But the reality is that it grated on my nerves more than anything. It got tiresome getting run into by men on the streets or getting ignored when a door shut in my face. I realized that chivalry wasn’t just a male thing in the United States, it was a people thing. We all did it for each other. Period.

But there’s a problem with this. Sometimes chivalry and excessive politeness comes off as fake. Very fake. At least in Israel I knew exactly what someone thought of me.  Everything felt straight to the point.

At first the language even felt brusque.  It’s customary simply to say sharply, “ma?” (what), in Hebrew when you need someone to repeat something.  In English, if you said “what?” in a sharp tone, people would get offended.  Especially in a customer service setting.  We prefer to hear, “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite get what you were saying.  Do you mind repeating that?”.  In Hebrew, “What?!”.  Simple as that.  I think in the end I’ve decided that Americans make it more complicated than it needs to be and the brusquness was starting to grow on me.

Regardless, both cultures have positives and negatives to their customs.  I’m lucky enough to have a nice inbetween view of them both.  I’ll decide which one I prefer another time.

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This is how I roll with the Bears in Tel Aviv

I have a border-line unhealthy love affair with the Chicago Bears.  I say unhealthy because when the games are at my finger tips, my mood can run hot and cold.  I could be excited or I could brush it off knowing that I’ll see them the next week.  When I know I’m just a remote control click away from them on any given football season Sunday, I’m calm as a honey bee.

When I can’t see them so easily (like when I’m half way around the world), my desire to watch them becomes so great that I start to feel little explosions of anxiety inside of me at the thought of missing a game.

Last weekend was the Bears’ opening game against Indie.  Because of the time difference, it showed here on ESPN live at 3am and replayed again at 9pm the next day.  Even though it was a re-run, I opted for the next night rationalizing that everyone would be sleeping back in the states and I could avoid knowing the score.  It was nice to watch the opening game although it wasn’t quite the same without it being live.
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