The Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club yesterday marked International Holocaust Rememberance Day with a visit to Holocaust survivor Avraham Avraham
Today the entire world will mark International Holocaust Rememberance Day, and Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club too will participate in this annual event by paying their traditional visit to Holocaust survivor Avraham Avraham. The club have maintained ties with Avraham, who captured the hearts of the entire Maccabi family after team members helped him with renovations in his flat two years ago. Since then those ties have gone from strength to strength. For this year's visit, the club decided upon an unusual representation – goalkeepers only. They included Juan Pablo and Under-21 international Barak Levi from the senior squad, Maccabi and international Under-19 Matan Amber and Maccabi and international Under-17 Haviv Ohayon. Also joining in were Chen Abdo, educational advisor at the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division, as well as representatives of Maccabi Tel Aviv's community orientated fan organisation "Achim Lesemel", who are always on hand to assist needy members of the club's wider community.
"No story could possibly recreate what actually happened at the time", Avraham tells us of his youth in Romania under Nazi rule. Avraham played football as left winger for Maccabi Bucharest, came to Palestine before the end of the Second World War and fought in the ranks of the Jewish resistance movements Beitar and Etzel in what was then a British mandate. After the establishment of the State of Israel Avraham was awarded a medal of heroism for his efforts and returned to play football for Maccabi Holon and even had a spell there as coach. The Maccabi players were visibly moved by the entire visit and even Juan Pablo, who cuts such an impregnable figure on the pitch, was clearly touched by Avraham's story: "This is like re-living a piece of history".
Now in his nineties, Avraham remains a positive, jovial fellow and an avid Maccabi Tel Aviv fan from the time he arrived in the country. He never misses a Maccabi match on the television and now will be able to do so while wearing the official matchday jersey he received from Juan Pablo. In return, Avraham was prepared to share with the Spaniard his first impressions of the club's new number 1 keeper: "So far I like what I see, when I see you on the telly I look into your eyes and I can see how focused you are". When the visit was over Avraham thanked the players for their presence, and for their support throughout the year. And in closing he made this pledge: "When I go to the pensioners' club tomorrow, I'll be sure to wear my new Maccabi shirt".
