Yosef Yekutieli (also Joseph Yekutieli; he, יוסף יקותיאלי; April 12, 1897 – September 25, 1982)
was a prominent member of the international
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
sports organisation
Maccabi. He was the founder of the
Maccabiah
The Maccabiah Games (a.k.a. the World Maccabiah Games; he, משחקי המכביה, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics"), first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sp ...
,
Israel Football Association, and the
Israel Olympic Committee
The Olympic Committee of Israel (Hebrew: הוועד האולימפי בישראל) is the recognized National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Israel, and the governing body of Olympic sports in Israel. The OCI's headquarters is located at the Nation ...
.
Yekutieli was the 1979
Israel Prize
The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor.
History
The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...
recipient for his special contribution to society and the state in sports.
Biography
Yosef Yekutieli was born in
Kartuz-Bereza in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...
(now in western
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
). In 1909, at the age of twelve, he
immigrated to
Ottoman Palestine with his family.
He studied at the Tachkemoni Religious School in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
and later at the
David Yellin College of Education in Jerusalem. After completing his studies Yekutieli return to
Jaffa working for the
Eretz Yisrael Office
Eretz ( he, ארץ) is Hebrew for "land", "country" (with the definite article, HaAretz ( he, הארץ, "the land")
In particular, it may refer to:
* HaAretz HaMuvtahat, the "Promised Land"
* Eretz Israel, the Land of Israel
* ''Haaretz'', origi ...
, later playing football for the
Maccabi Tel Aviv until the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
.
In 1914 Yekutieli was drafted to the Turkish army and was appointed physical education instructor at the Mujahideen headquarters and at the public school in
Nablus
Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...
.
Yekutieli served as a Turkish-German interpreter at the German transport companies K.K. 502., until being exiled to
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
in 1918, along with all the other Jewish military members.
At the end of the war, Yekutieli returned to
Jaffa working for the Eretz Yisrael Office at the
Zionist Commission and
Palestine Land Development Company. For two years, he worked for the
Israel Electric Corporation acquiring land rights for high-voltage power lines from
Naharayim to Tel Aviv.
Following his return to Palestine at the end of war, Yekutieli operated and ran the "Maccabi" until his death. He was the driving force behind the foundation of sport institutions in Israel, including the
Eretz Israel Football Association in 1928,
the Federation for Amateur Sports in Palestine (now the
Israeli Athletic Association
The Israeli Athletic Association (IAA; איגוד האתלטיקה הישראל), located at 10 Shitrit Street, Tel Aviv, Israel, is the governing body of athletics in Israel. Doron Kofman is its President, and Jack Cohen is its General Secret ...
) in 1931 and the
Olympic Committee of Eretz Israel in 1933.
Maccabiah
In June 1929, at the World Congress of Maccabi in
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
, Yekutieli announced his proposal to organize the
first Maccabiah, the "Maccabiada" ( he, המכביאדה), in the spring of 1932, to be held in
Mandatory Palestine
Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
. The road to fulfilling the vision was long and difficult. The
1932 Maccabiah Games
The 1st Maccabiah (aka The Maccabiah and the White Horse Olympics) ( he, המכביה הראשונה or he, המכביאדה) was the first edition of the Maccabiah, which was held in Mandatory Palestine from March 28 to April 2, 1932. The games ...
were opened on March 28, 1932 and were held in the
Maccabiah Stadium, which had been built especially for the games in the northern part of Tel Aviv. Around 400 athletes from 22 nations participated in the games, which became a recurring event every four years, except during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
and the
1948 Arab–Israeli War
The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...
.
The Maccabiah Flag, a donation by Yosef and Yehudit in memory of their son Amnon, a squad commander in the
Palmach
The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Companies") was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Palmach ...
who was killed during the 1948 war at the foot of the
Nabi Yusha fort, was first hoisted during the
3rd Maccabiah in
Ramat Gan Stadium in 1950.
Later years
After the formation of
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
in 1948, Yekutieli was appointed as a senior official of the government's abandoned property committee. Yekutieli retired in 1966. In 1971, he released his first book, an autobiography.
Yosef married Yehudit, the daughter of
Akiva Aryeh Weiss
Akiva Arieh Weiss, also spelled Aryeh (1868-1947), was a Zionist activist, architect, and city planner in Palestine. He is best known as the primary founder of Tel Aviv. He had been the initiator of the project to create the "first Hebrew city" ...
, the founder of
Ahuzat Bayit, and they had four sons and two daughters. Their son, Gideon Yekutieli, was a professor of Physics at the
Weizmann Institute of Science, the first Israeli
nuclear physicist.
Awards and recognition
In 1954, he was awarded the Israel
Dov Hoz Prize and in 1979, he was awarded the
Israel Prize
The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor.
History
The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...
for lifetime achievement in the design of sports and physical culture, promoting Israel and the establishment of international base of Israeli sports.
In 1981, he was awarded distinguished citizen of Tel Aviv.
Legacy
In June 2008, in a ceremony attended by Tel Aviv Mayor
Ron Huldai, the Yosef Yekutieli street in North Port, near the first
Maccabiah Stadium was named after him. In
Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, a road has been named after him. The Joseph Yekutieli Maccabi Archive at
Kfar Maccabiah is also named after him.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yekutieli, Yosef
1897 births
1982 deaths
People from Byaroza
Jews from the Russian Empire
Israeli footballers
Israeli educators
Ottoman military personnel of World War I
Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire
Israel Prize for special contribution to society and the State recipients who were sportsman
Maccabiah Games
19th-century Jews from the Russian Empire
20th-century Russian Jews
20th-century Israeli people
20th-century Israeli educators
20th-century Israeli Jews
Association footballers not categorized by position