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The club basketball training sessions for this season will be conducted at Excelsior (Emaar) International School, 201 Ulu Pandan Rd, every Tuesday. The training session for the 1st to 4th graders squads of both genders will be held from 6pm to 7pm. The U11, U13,U15 squads of both genders will have their practice from 7pm to 8:30 pm.
Maccabi - The Name
History of the Name:
Maccabi symbolizes the commitment and the idea of a strong Jewish nation in a Jewish state. It is linked to the ancient Maccabees and their courageous fight to establish the right to honor their religion and to have freedom of conscience and sovereignty.
The Maccabi Movement adopted the several versions to the origin of its name:
- Maccabi - מכבי – מי כמוך באלים השם"” meaning: "Who thee, O Lord, among the gods?", is a verse that was taken from "ShiratYam" (Exodus, 15:11). It is believed that Judah Maccabee (Yehudah ha'Maccabee, in Hebrew) had this verse engraved on his shield when fighting the Romans. Judah and his family were the first to adopt the MCBI initials of the verse as their family name and therefore they are called Maccabeem. Their original family name was Hasmonean.
- Name of the Father of the Maccabeem - Mattathias the Hasmonean - in Hebrew, Mathityau Cohen Ben Yochanan (Y=I in Hebrew), whose third son was Judah the Maccabee.
- It was named after Judah Maccabee who was one of the great warriors in Jewish history, who laid the foundation of the future Hasmonean state. Judah, the third son of Mattathias the Hasmonean, assumed leadership of the revolt against Antiochus, the Roman conqueror. His exceptional military talent made him the natural choice as military commander of the Jewish rebels. Victories over the Romans opened up the road to Jerusalem. Judah entered at the head of his army, purified the defiled Temple and instituted a festival of eight days, which became a permanent festival, Hanukkah. Judah was killed during one of the battles, and his body was taken by his brothers from the battlefield to be buried in the family sepulcher in Modi'in. Today Modi'in is a Jewish city in Israel.
- The name of the Movement is Maccabi, spelled with an I, while Judah Macabee is spelled with double ee. In Hebrew both Judah maccabee and maccabi are spelled the same (with Yod...).
It seems that all the above three versions are valid, and Maccabi symbolizes Judah maccabee, his father - Mattathias, and the verse from exodus, which was the original.
Bibliography: Encyclopedia Judaica, Jerusalem. MWU Publications.