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

Dan Hadani collection (990044357650205171)

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

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