Cuban group overcomes advanced journey hurdles to achieve Maccabiah Games

This time, she was joined by dozens of athletes who needed to journey by 5 nations over greater than 4 days to achieve Israel – a consequence of each the turmoil affecting journey to Israel usually and the distinctive complexities of getting wherever from their communist island nation within the Caribbean.

That was the yr the Games had been marred by the collapse of a pedestrian bridge over the Yarkon River in Tel Aviv that killed 4 members of the Australian delegation and injured 60 others.

This time round, Eskenazi, now 56, is each an athlete and the vp of Patronato de la Casa de la Comunidad Hebrea de Cuba, her nation’s Jewish neighborhood and major synagogue. She’s a former Hebrew faculty director and has been concerned in Cuba’s Maccabi applications since 2013, Cuba’s first yr with a full delegation.

For this summer season’s Games, Cuba despatched 52 athletes to take part, lots of whom already dwell in Israel after making aliyah. But for the 29 members who made the journey from Havana, the journey was something however simple.

And that will have been the case even when Air France hadn’t canceled their flights – as a result of battle in Iran – midway by their journey.

As Eskenazi defined, because of quite a lot of political and financial components, it’s not simple to get out of Cuba. Her athletes wanted varied visas that will enable them to journey by Europe to get to Israel, and Cuba doesn’t have a nationwide airline with the identical worldwide capabilities as journey giants like Air France or Turkish Airlines.

And as a result of Cuba’s oil provide lags behind a lot of the world, Air France doesn’t supply flights from Cuba. So they needed to journey to Panama first, simply to get to Paris.

Part of the delegation flew from Paris to Austria, whereas others went by Abu Dhabi, the place Eskenazi stated Cubans don’t want visas. And every group had layovers of 12 or 15 hours, making the overall journey from Cuba to Israel take 4 or 5 days.

Eskenazi’s journey was completely different, as a result of she had a visa that allowed her to journey by the United States. She flew from Havana to Miami to New York to Tel Aviv. Even then, she nonetheless had an 18-hour layover in New York.

Eskenazi stated her group wouldn’t have made it to Israel with out the assistance of the Maccabi World Union, the worldwide group that places on the Games and helps native delegations.

“We are here thanks to the Maccabi World Union,” she stated in a telephone interview from Israel. “Maccabi World Union, they did many things for Cuba, for the Cuban Jewish community to participate in this Maccabiah.”

So as soon as the Cuban cohort lastly made it to Tel Aviv, it was understandably a significant arrival.

“It has been very, very emotional for us because in Cuba we have many difficulties right now,” Eskenazi stated. “And to arrive here, to have electricity, to have food, to be safe, to have our friends, to make sport, to share with all of the people from all over the world, has been very emotional, very emotional for us.”

It’s additionally been a profitable journey, competitively talking.

Cuba has gained a number of medals, competing in sports activities together with softball, futsal and basketball. Eskenazi herself has gained two: a silver medal within the one-mile run and a bronze within the five-kilometer competitors for the 55-59 age bracket.

But past sports activities, Eskenazi stated it’s been a particular expertise for her athletes – who hail from a rustic with a comparatively prosperous however small Jewish neighborhood – to be surrounded by Jews from all over the world.

“It’s very important because imagine that you can share with people from Holland, from France, from the United States,” she stated. “We met people from Ukraine, from Argentina, from Mexico, from different parts of the world. It’s been very very emotional.

“We are happy to be here because we love to share here with the Israeli way of life,” Eskenazi added.

“For us it’s very interesting, and we love Israel. Remember that we are Jewish people, and the Israeli people, they are friendly. This is a very special country. If you can see people, for example, with kippah on the street, with tefillin or tallit, it’s like to be inside of the synagogue, a big synagogue. It’s amazing to be here.”

And after the Games finish, it’s proper again on the airplane dwelling. Hopefully with fewer stops this time.

Eskenazi stated her delegation is once more splitting up into smaller teams, with some flying again by Paris and Panama, and others going by Madrid straight to Havana.

Regardless of the logistics and the journey delays, Eskenazi stated Israel is a particular place.