https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2366-4083
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ABSTRACT
During the interwar years, competitive sport become a global phenomenon, in which competitive games were organized by international bodies and professional athletes performed as (inter)national icons of health, beauty, and social success. The following article explores the nature of this transnational change in one particular place: the Jewish community of Mandate Palestine. By focusing primarily on two Zionist athletic delegations (male and female), the paper illustrates the particular way in which the Hebrew worldview positioned athletic performance within its emerging national project. Specifically, it highlights the way in which, unlike the athletes of many other societies at the time, the Hebrew athlete was not embraced as a national symbol. In incorporating the story of the Hebrew athlete’s marginalization, the article advances a necessary (re)examination of “big” Zionist phrases - like “new Jew” or “Muscular Judaism” - not as mere clichés, but in their historical context, as powerful reflections through which a specific group of people perceived themselves and their bodies.
Acknowledgment
I wish to thank Iris Rachamimov, the Exceptional Selves Laboratory, and the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute for their support in the article. Many thanks as well to the editors of this issue, Jaclyn Granick and Abigail Green, for their support and invaluable feedback during the writing process. To my friend and colleague Thom Rofé for her vital input. Additionally, I am grateful for the comments I received on earlier versions of this article from Erik Jensen, Robert Edelman, Daniel Heller, Assaf Mond, Ohad Kohn and the two anonymous readers.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Due to limitations of possible scope, this article focuses primarily on Maccabi Eretz Israel, setting aside the stories of other influential physical culture clubs in the yishuv, chiefly, the Hapoel organization. Nevertheless, the perception of competitive sport and the Zionist body within those organizations was similar to that of Maccabi, so for the purposes of this paper, Maccabi is a suitable representative. Though Hapoel [“The labourer”] ostensibly represented the ethos and interests of the working class, while Maccabi was associated with the urban middle-class, the similarity of their discourse in this period suggests a relatively uniform Hebrew worldview towards the athletic body that transcended domestic political definitions.
2 Levitan. “The Maccabi Delegation to London,” Hayarden, 22 August 1934. [in Hebrew].
3 Levitan. “Eretz Israel in India,” Kolnoa, 25 April 1934. [in Hebrew].
4 “The Western Asiatic Games,” 1934. Section 1. Box 4. Folder 36. Maccabi Sports Union Archive [henceforth, “MCA”] [Hebrew]
5 Belkind. “Belkind Dairy,” Section 3-02. Box 1, Folder 1. Rishon LeZion Archive. henceforth, “RLA” [Hebrew]
6 See also: Neumann, Land and Desire, 1–180.
7 Mosse, The Image of Man, 41–47. See also: Tosh, A Man's Place, 187; McKay, Messner and Sabo, Masculinities, Gender Relations, 1–12; Connell, Masculinites, 37; Mangan, ed. Making European Masculinities, New York: Routledge, 2013, 1–3.
8 Collins, Sport in Capitalist Society, 85–93; Edelman, Serious Fun, 1–125; Dyreson, “The Emergence of Consumer Culture,” 261–281.
9 Keys, Globalizing Sport, 181.
10 Creak, Embodied Nation, 22–51, Jacob, Working Out Egypt, 125–156; Morris, Marrow of the Nation, 141–180; Huebner, Pan-Asian Sports, 55–102; Balslev, Iranian Masculinities, 245–280.
11 Jensen, Body by Weimar, 3–142; Joan Tumblety, Remaking the Male Body, 95–166.
12 Pfister and Niewerth, “Jewish Women in Gymnastics and Sport in Germany 1898–1938,” 300.
13 Cahn, Coming on Strong, 82.
14 Jensen, Body by Weimar, 99–101; Tumblety, Remaking the Male Body, 101–102; Frost, Seeing Stars, 109–150.
15 “Women 's sport – to where,” Davar, 4 January 1937. [in Hebrew]
16 Heinrich, Hertha. “Women 's Sport,” Davar, 24 November 1933. [in Hebrew]
17 “Women 's sport – to where,” Davar, 4 January 1937. [in Hebrew]
18 Yinon. “Women 's Sport,” Davar, 12 November 1934. [in Hebrew]; Yinon. “Hess was Discovered,” Davar, 20 November 1935. [in Hebrew]
19 Heinrich, “Women 's Sport,” Davar, 24 November 1933. [in Hebrew]
20 Frenkel. “Our way to the second Maccabia,” Doar Hayom, 31 October 1933. [in Hebrew]
21 Bar-Har. “Will young girls play football,” Hamaccabi, December 1926. [in Hebrew].
22 Ibid.
23 Boyarin, Unheroic Conduct, 271–312.
24 Smilansky. “Foreign Work,” Ha’aretz, 10 January 1924. [in Hebrew]
25 Gordon, A.D. “A.D. Gordon Letter to 'Maccabi',” Davar, 8 February 1926. [in Hebrew]
26 Keys, Globalizing Sport, 183.
27 Hau, The Cult of Health, 177. Weber, “Gymnastics and Sports,” 70–98; Pfister, Gymnastics, a Transatlantic Movement, 1–170; Hofmann, Turnen and Sport, 7–240; Nolte, The Sokol, 1–180.
28 Stanislawski, Zionism and the Fin-de-Siècle, 19–97.
29 On Jewish Gymnastics in Germany: Wildman, The Alterable Body, 1–282. [in German]
30 “Maccabi Annual Assembly,” 1927. Section 1. Folder 54, MCA. [in Hebrew]
31 Idels, “Can We Call Gymnastics Sport,” 95–114. [in Hebrew]
32 “Cultural Committee Protocol”. 1929. Section 1.10, Box 159, Folder 22, The Wingate Institute Archive for Archive Physical Education [henceforth, “WIA”]. [Hebrew]
33 Bourke, Dismembering the Male, 176.
34 Zweig, The World of Yesterday, 58.
35 Even-Shoshan Dictionary 1997, s.v. “Sport”. [in Hebrew] [my emphasis].
36 The Hebrew word for gymnastics – Hitamlut – is based on the same Hebrew root as the word Amal (i.e. labour).
37 Brenner and Reuvani, Emancipation Through Muscles, 77–118; Bodner, When Boxing, 1–13.
38 Even today various boxing analysts consider Leonard to have been one of the best boxers in history.
39 “The Eretz-Israel Boxing Champion,” Ha-Maccabi, January 1931. [in Hebrew]
40 Keisari, Uri. “From my Point of View,” Doar Hayom, 22 January 1933. [in Hebrew]
41 A.R. “Primadone.” Bamaslol, December 1933.
42 Lewinsohn, Fritz. “Olympic Training Miki Hirschel,” Mitteilungsblatt, 4 April 1939. [in German]
43 Hirschel came from a family of Kosher butchers.
44 Sherman. “Wrestling Greats – Nicholas “Micky” Hirschl Return to Los Angeles,” Wrestling USA Magazine, 1 October 1985.
45 “What we lack? Youth interested in sports,” Haboker Sport, 13 May 1939. [in Hebrew]
46 For a contemporary historical analysis of the 2nd Maccabia see: Spiegel, Embodying Hebrew Culture, 57–96.
47 Idels, “Imagined Games,” 85–110. [in Hebrew]
48 Nirenberg, Anti-Judaism, 8–11; Gilman, The Jew's Body, 9–243.
49 On the Zionist desire to stop being “others”: Brenner, In Search of Israel, 1–17.
50 For a historical analysis of the reciprocal relationship between internationalism and nationalism: Sluga, Internationalism 1–9.
51 See note 10.
52 Keys, “Soviet Sport,” 413–434.
53 'Return to history' was a common Zionist phrase that described how, in contrast to the supposedly passive state of Diaspora Jews (waiting for redemption), Zionists are (once again) active Jewish agents in the world’s politics, culture and history.
54 In 1930 and '31, for example, Maccabi leaders organized a non-competitive yet 'manly' Jewish bike tour from Palestine to Europe: Hotam, “‘Re-orient-ation’,” 53–75.
55 Simon. “Maccabi World on the actions of Maccabi Hagibor,” Davar 27 April 1927. [in Hebrew]
56 Levitan. “Towards the Games in London,” Kolnoa, 25 January 1934. [in Hebrew]
57 Ibid.
58 “Nadivi to Almgor,” 1934. Section 5.15. Folder 12. WIA. 13 July 1934. [in Hebrew]
59 The event, created by Frenchwoman Alice Milliat in 1922, arose as a reaction to the IOC male leaders' decision to limit women’s participation to a few “female fields” such as tennis and equestrianism. As a result, Milliat and her organization aspired to prove that female athletics, deserves its equal place in the Olympic Games.
60 “The Hebrew Flag in London”. The National Library of Israel. 21 July 1934. [in Hebrew]
61 Belkind, “Belkind Dairy,” RLA. [Hebrew]
62 Levitan, “The Maccabiot delegation in London,” Hayarden, 22 August 1934. [in Hebrew]
63 Belkind. “Belkind Dairy,” RLA. [in Hebrew]
64 Levitan. “Our Daughters,” Kolnoa, 28 April 1933. [in Hebrew]
65 Levitan. “Tennis,” Kolnoa, 18 December 1931. [in Hebrew]
66 Neumann, Idith. “My Profession – Grace Trainer,” Haboker, 18 July 1957. [in Hebrew]
67 Shalav. “Leah Fletcher Death,” Ha’aretz, 3 January 2012. [in Hebrew]
68 Pfister and Niewerth, “Jewish Women in Gymnastics,” 300.
69 A.L. “A visit to Yaffa Cohen,” Haboker Sport, 28 January 1939. [in Hebrew]
70 “Levey,” Section 4.06. Box 191. Folder 2. WIA, 1934.
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Ofer Idels
Ofer Idels is a Doctoral Fellow at Tel Aviv University School of History and a former Leo Baeck London Institute International Fellow. His research focuses on issues of language, embodiment and subjectivity in Modern Jewish History. His work has been published in Cathedra, Israel, Zmanim: A Historical Quarterly and Monatshefte.