Kfar Maccabiah The Natural Place for Business & Pleasure - History

The proud tradition of Kfar Maccabiah is vision become reality through the drive, ability and efforts of volunteer members of Maccabi World Union's Executive and Mayors of the city of Ramat Gan.

 

It is also intimately linked with the Maccabiah Games, or as they are popularly called, "the Jewish Olympics", revived in newly-independent Israel in 1950 after a 15-year hiatus caused by World War II, the Holocaust and Israel's War of Independence. Perturbed by the makeshift facilities and tent towns pitched to house Maccabiah athletes in 1950 and 1953, MWU Chairman Aharon Netanel conceived the fine notion of progressively establishing a permanent accommodation base like those built in Olympic host cities. "The Maccabiah Village" is the exact English translation of the Hebrew "Kfar HaMaccabiah".

This vision of a sports center for the local community and world center for Jewish sports so captivated the legendary founding Mayor of Ramat Gan, Avraham Krinitzki, and his Deputy, Shalom Zysman, that they granted MWU 50 dunams (11 acres) of Jewish National Fund (JNF) land adjacent to the National Park on the edge of the city.

The first building at the Kfar was inaugurated a few weeks before the 5th Maccabiah in 1957, and intensive development and construction over the next four years saw the opening of Kfar Maccabiah Hotel in time for the 6th Maccabiah in 1961. Aharon Netanel saw the work in progress, but sadly, he passed away before the opening. Ever since, the official name of the whole complex has been Kfar Maccabiah in memory of Aharon Netanel.

In these early years, Kfar Maccabiah functioned as a hotel and hostel for youth groups and sports teams from all over the world. The next great development leap began in 1969, when a group of energetic younger Maccabi leaders organized around Michael Kevehazi of blessed memory started extensive new construction. They had staunch support from MWU Chairman Dr. Yisrael Peled, who was concurrently Krintzki's successor as Mayor of Ramat Gan. On an adjacent land parcel, it included building a brand-new Sports Club, to this day one of the leading and largest facilities in the country; the original land parcel was developed to retain its early purposes and become one of Israel's premier Convention and Event centers.

By the year of the 12th Maccabiah in 1985, the Kfar had a 140-room 4-star hotel, large Event Gardens, and a purpose-built seminar center; it had achieved a solid position and high status in Israel's tourism industry and convention and event businesses. At that time, Maccabi Israel, the country's largest national sports association moved its headquarters to "Maccabi House", a 4-storey building that also houses Maccabi World Union, the HQ and Departments of the Maccabiah Organizing Committee, and the unique Pierre Gildesgame Maccabi Sports Museum and Yekutieli Archive, the only facility in the world dedicated to the history of Jewish sports and athletes in the modern era. It attracts many hotel guests and visitors, researchers and students, and its outreach program brings numerous groups from abroad and school groups from Israel.

The idealism and generosity of Maccabi members from all over the world, combined with commercial success achieved through the Kfar's high standards, are evident throughout the development and redevelopment of the complex. The Centro Deportivo Israelita of Mexico City donated an entire floor as a youth hostel, and during the 1990's, the large Rayman Center function and event halls were developed, along with a very high-capacity kitchen and catering block. Kfar Maccabiah probably holds the national simultaneous outdoor catering record: every 4 years, it hosts the invitation-only Welcome Evening and Party for thousands of Maccabiah athletes. In 2005, about 8000 people from 55 countries gathered for the event, and the 18th Maccabiah in July 2009 is likely to top even that number.

The same factors of Maccabi vision and determination continue to propel development. Despite a deep and extended crisis in Israel's tourism industry caused by the security situation in 2000-2004, an MWU leadership group gathered around Amir Peled and General Manager Yoram Eyal to build a 124 luxury suites wing called the "Second Home in Israel", and refurbish the 1980's hotel at a cost of $40 million, raising accommodation and service standards to international 5-star levels. During 2000 – 2007, no other new hotel or major redevelopment took place in the metropolitan Tel Aviv area or Dan Region, nor in fact, in any other major urban locality in the country.

The entire Kfar Maccabiah complex and its history is a testament to the proposition that the striving for sports achievement and excellence is precisely identical to the achievement of excellence in management and performance of service. In July 2009, during the 18th Maccabiah, the world's largest international Jewish event and Israel's largest tourism event – in Hebrew, Maccabiah Chai!, the letters of that word being the numerical equivalent of 18 – Kfar Maccabiah will again serve the International Maccabiah Committee and HQ, a handsome fulfillment of the ongoing vision of it Founders.