accabi
Greetings Extended
Parade and pa&eantry, gee the
Maccabi 'Came; under way.
•;,
The Israeli team led the
parade of athletes onto
the Palace floor.
LONNY GOLDSMITH
Staff Writer
T
he 3,700 athletes eagerly
took their marks at 6 p.m.
Sunday for the opening of
the 1998 Maccabi Games,
but the starting gun didn't sound at
the Palace of Auburn Hills until nearly
four hours later.
By the time the torch lighting and
fireworks closed out the ambitious
ceremonies, some of the 12,000 spec-
tators and teenaged participants had
already headed home.
"We feel bad because they worked
8/21
1998
22 Detroit Jewish News
too hard to try and make it too good,"
said Jack Mizrahi, who with his
cousin, David, had come to Detroit as
members of Brooklyn's Sephardic
Community Center team.
The athletes, ranging from 13 to
16 years old, began staging at the
arena at 6 p.m. Some waited in small,
unconditioned areas in rooms and
tunnels beneath the stands, and others
outside in the parking lot, swapping
lapel pins and previewing the compe-
titions, until it was their turn to line
up and march in — no easy task.
Most could not see the Ma'alot
Jarshicha Youth Band that entertained
spectators above nor hear the welcom-
ing words from television personality
Lila Lazarus.
It was around 8 when the 20-ath-
lete Israeli delegation led the teams
into the arena, proudly flying the
blue-and-white flag of their country.
Ninety minutes later, the host — and
largest — delegation, 423 Detroit-area
competitors, marched to their seats to
the beat of the music from "Rocky" to
wind up that portion of the show.
The march itself was often colorful.
Cincinnati's lead members somersault-
ed their way around the arena,
Boston's delegation sent up Silly
String, the Mexican delegation wore
sequined sombreros and Rochester,
N.Y.'s, in "Blues Brothers" style, wore
dark hats and sunglasses.
The crowd joined in the singing of
five national anthems — teams from
the United States, Canada, Israel,
Great Britain and Mexico are all tak-
ing part — and speeches of greeting.
JCC President Larry Wolfe welcomed
the athletes "with open arms and open
hearts." Rabbi Dannel Schwartz of
Temple Shir Shalom gave the invoca-
tion.
Then 12 Detroit athletes paid trib-
ute to the Israeli athletes murdered at
the 1972 Munich Olympics and the
GREETINGS
on page 26