President's Message

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Dear Maccabi USA Family member;

We should be most proud of our successful program at the recent Maccabi Australia International Games chaired by Ricky and Jodi Reff assisted by Harold Friedman and Lou Moyerman. The feedback from our 115-person Team and 50 supporters was fantastic. Jeff Houseman and the Australian Organizing Committee did a great job.

No sooner had we returned when we hit the ground running gearing up for the European Maccabi Games this July in Vienna, Austria. The significance of this locale cannot be overstated: The Games will be the largest gathering of international Jewry in Vienna since the Holocaust. The Opening Ceremony will take place in the plaza in front of City Hall, where 70 years before Jews were rounded up for deportation to their death. Under the leadership of Jeffrey Bukantz, Team USA will show its solidarity with European Jews, past, present, and future. We will demonstrate the power of our Jewish identity and we will not be cowered by history.  We will help rewrite history with Jewish accomplishments in sports and spiritual might.  You don't have to be a Maccabi person to join us!!!!

Then what? In March, I will be joined by our U.S. Chair, Fred Cohen; our Mission Co-Chairs, Toni Wortman and Dhana Cohen; and Jed Margolis, our indefatigable Executive Director, for site inspection and meetings in São Paulo, Brazil, to prepare for the Pan Am Maccabi Games next December. That means viewing the various venues, selecting the hotels, meeting with other delegates, and reviewing organizational, transportation and strategic and security plans.

With so many activities taking place, the need for a younger leadership is growing. The "old guard" is still in place, but not because we do not wish to relinquish our seats. We need you to volunteer, to get involved, to participate and to help raise the funds needed to fuel our organization and to bestow the life-changing experiences on others. We are a volunteer organization, which means that we need YOU. And when I say YOU, I mean those who are willing to help us in all areas of our needs.

Congratulations to Phyllis Magerman who recently received Maccabi USA's highest honor, the Robert E. Spivak Leadership Award. An endowment has been established to name the athlete B'nai Mitzvah Ceremony in her honor, in perpetuity.

Our Mission as a leading Jewish organization is to share our pride in Israel and in our Jewish Heritage. Unfortunately, the winds of anti-Semitism have been gathering strength and have turned to full-blown demonizing and delegitimization of the State of Israel.  Those who wish to see her annihilated are growing in numbers, often led by the large voting block in the U.N. The threat is real, both physically from Iran's nuclear intentions and from the political and cultural demagoguery taking place in the media, on campuses and internet in all their forms.

To halt and reverse this trend, I joined forces with my colleagues at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to fight back. We have begun to work within our community of Jews and Christians to educate the public about Israel's problems and concerns.

This is not the space to educate us all about the issues facing Israel and Jews worldwide.  I encourage you to take the time and inform yourselves from reliable sources, which we are adding to our web-site, as Maccabi USA views Israel as the centrality of Jewish Identity and pride. I urge you to get involved as we need as many advocates for Israel as possible.

Sincerely,

Ron Carner
President, Maccabi USA