Premier farewells NSW team
With the Opening Ceremony of the 18th Maccabiah Games just around the corner things are certainly hotting up.
Tom Goldman makes a presentation to Premier Nathan Rees
On Monday, all NSW Maccabiah participants and VIPS were delighted to be invited to a Farewell hosted by The Honourable Nathan Rees, MP, Premier of New South Wales and Minister for the Arts. There were other dignitaries present including the Honourable Eric Roozendall, MLC, Treasurer, and Honourable Kevin Greene MP Minister for Gaming and Racing and Minister for Sport and Recreation. The Jewish community was represented by the President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Robert Goot and Vic Alhadeff, the CEO of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies.
The function was held at Governor Macquarie Tower.
The Honourable Nathan Rees, MP spoke beautifully and seemed to have genuinely enjoyed his recent trip to Israel. In saying that, the Man of the moment who stole the show was of course our very own Tom Goldman, OAM, Head of Delegation of the Australian Team. Tom shared with us a very interesting story. The concept of the Maccabiah Games was the brainchild of 15 year old Russian born Yosef Yekutieli. The teenager was so energized by news of the 1912 Olympic Games that he conceived the fanciful notion of a worldwide Olympics for Jewish athletes in Palestine. With little encouragement, Yosef spent the next ten years developing details of this unique idea. In 1932, 390 athletes from 18 countries competed in the first Maccabiah.
