page_title: History of the Maccabiah Games
section_title: The Maccabiah and the Aliyah
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Maccabiah Games / The Maccabiah and the Aliyah
caption_attribution_description: אוסף דוד עופר - המכביה השניה&#160;; פריט מספר 79
context_page_description: The History of the Maccabiah, a quadrennial International Jewish multi-sport event, dates back to 1912 and the Games of the V Olympiad.
context_section_description: The early Maccabiah games that took place in 1932 and 1935 served as a way to illegally bring Jews to Israel and to effectively bypass the limited Jewish immigration permitted by British authorities in the same period. It was for that reason, the 2nd Maccabiah was nicknamed "Aliyah Olympics". Some notable delegations to the 2nd Maccabiah completely stayed in the land of Israel after the games. Most notable, the Bulgarian delegation that brought 350 Jews, athletes, their family members, and an orchestra, which arrived in Jaffa Port, returned to Sofia, Bulgaria empty, sending only their equipment back. It is one of the reasons the British authority at the time refused to allow the 3rd Maccabiah to take place in the spring of 1938. The tradition of making an Aliyah continued onward during the 1950s with the 3rd and 4th Maccabiah games. Today, Jews who want to make Aliyah to Israel often do so during the Maccabiah.
caption: The Bulgarian athletes parading in the stadium at the 2nd Maccabiah Games opening ceremony, most of which stayed in Eretz Yisrael after the games.[14][15]
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