Maccabiah Games

Marc Kallick, a former track standout for Marina High and UC Irvine, and Darren Levine, who played basketball and volleyball at University High, are scheduled to compete in the Maccabiah Games, which begin July 14-24 in Ramat Gan, Israel. Kallick won gold, silver and bronze medals in the 4 x 100-meter relay, 110 high hurdles and long jump at the games in 1993. Levine was a member of the 1988 boys' basketball team that won a gold medal at the Maccabbi Youth Games in Chicago.

Concerning your article ["Honoring Hebrew Hoopsters," by Gary Goldstein, Nov. 9], which makes note that the first great basketball players were of the Jewish faith, let me upgrade your information on this subject. I and five others of the Jewish faith, who played basketball for the YMHA in Montreal, played on the Canadian Olympic basketball team in London in 1948. We had lost the Canadian Championship in 1948 to the British Columbia team, but beat them in Toronto in a four-team round-robin, which determined that YMHA team was the lead half of the London team.

The 13th Maccabiah Games opened today amid tight security with a record 4,350 Jewish athletes from around the world competing in events ranging from chess to track and field. Hundreds of police, backed by paramilitary border patrol units and an anti-terrorist squad, were deployed to ensure security for the Maccabiah Games. The stadium at Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv, where the opening ceremony was held, was swept repeatedly today for bombs. Police Cmdr.

A veritable United Nations of warmup suits in Pamela Mogul's hall closet testifies to her whereabouts for the better part of July. The garments bear the colors of Mexico, France, Brazil and Argentina as well as the USA, souvenirs of her summer adventure in Israel. One year after her ability to walk was compromised by an accident, she served as men's and women's tennis coach at the 16th Maccabiah Games, which were staged under the threat of terrorism.

Each member of the Los Angeles track and field team won a medal and Valencia swimmer Lindsay Gassner earned a silver and gold Thursday in the North American Maccabiah Youth Games in Detroit. Los Angeles won a gold medal in the inaugural co-ed 400 relay event while silver-medal winners included West Hills' Bethany Weinstein (200 meters, 28.1 seconds); Sherman Oaks' Abram Lieberman (200, 25.1); Westlake Village's Andra Grosser (200, 26.

A veritable United Nations of warmup suits in Pamela Mogul's hall closet testifies to her whereabouts for the better part of July. The garments bear the colors of Mexico, France, Brazil and Argentina as well as the USA, souvenirs of her summer adventure in Israel. One year after her ability to walk was compromised by an accident, she served as men's and women's tennis coach at the 16th Maccabiah Games, which were staged under the threat of terrorism.

Not possessed of just one dominating skill, Steve Lazarus became an All-American soccer player at Cal State Northridge by combining a little of this and a little of that. So it was no surprise that Lazarus excelled recently in a little-known game called mini-football, which combines elements of soccer, basketball and team handball.

At age 61, most men are looking forward to slowing down. Not Herman Sater. He can't afford to. He's chasing a dream, and if he slows down, it could turn into a nightmare. How many men, after 29 years as a weekend warrior, suddenly get the opportunity to compete on an international level? That opportunity has come to Sater, an Encino tennis player never previously involved in anything bigger than a Southern California amateur tournament.

There are few things Karen, Louise and Susan Schwartz have not accomplished in their amateur volleyball careers. Collectively, the sisters have won a NCAA championship, a state high school championship, a series of Los Angeles City high school titles, a number of individual awards--and the list continues. Surely enough to decorate any mantel or wall.

Jennifer Frank doesn't care to brag. She doesn't boast about the biggest victory of her track career, which came four years ago when she won the 100-meter dash at the World Maccabiah Games in Israel. She hardly ever mentions the title that came with the victory. "But deep inside, it's very important," Frank said. "I'm the world's fastest Jewish woman." Frank is eager to prove that this accolade--achieved when she was 18 years old and fresh out of Oak Park High--is deserved.

A suicide bomber killed himself and two Israeli soldiers at a crowded bus stop north of Tel Aviv on Monday, bringing Israel and the Palestinians closer to conflagration as Israel quickly retaliated. Israeli tanks shelled Palestinian security outposts in the West Bank towns of Tulkarm and Jenin just hours after the bombing. No casualties were reported.

Lenny Krayzelburg is going to swim at the Maccabiah Games next month in Israel. Krayzelburg's mother very much wants him to stay home. Krayzelburg's father very much wants his son to go. The Maccabiah Games are sometimes called the Jewish Olympics. The Games are held every four years in Israel. Jewish athletes from around the world come to compete and also to fill their souls with a sense of their heritage.

How many cliches can a director of publications at the Israeli Democracy Institute cram into one short newspaper article? Judging by Uri Dromi's latest effort ("A Letter to an American Jewish Friend," Commentary, June 17), quite a few. His ideas are old, worn out and wrong. Some of them are even dangerous. To imagine, at this stage of the game, that by giving up the settlements Israel would suddenly become much stronger and united is a naive delusion recognized by most Israelis. That's why Prime Minister Ariel Sharon currently enjoys such a wide public support.

Organizers of the Maccabiah Games said Friday that this summer's Jewish Olympics-style event will go on as scheduled even though nearly half the athletes from abroad will stay away out of fear of violence. "There will be a Maccabiah on July 16," said Iris Dror, a spokeswoman for the games. Arieh Shumer, director-general of Israel's ministry of science, culture and sports, said the final number of participants remains in question. "We have another month. . . . [It] is a long time.

Fearful of terrorist attacks, growing numbers of diaspora Jews are canceling planned visits to Israel this summer in a trend that is outraging the nation's political leaders and deepening its sense of gloom over the conflict with the Palestinians. So many Jewish athletes have refused to come here for the Maccabiah Games, held every four years and scheduled to open July 16, that organizers pleaded with the government Sunday to postpone the event for a year.

Four of five officials found guilty of negligence in the collapse of a footbridge at the 1997 Maccabiah Games were sentenced to prison terms Monday. Four Australian athletes died in the bridge collapse. The Maccabiah Games bring Jewish athletes from around the world to Israel for competitions and festivities every four years. On July 14, 1997, athletes were to enter a stadium for a gala opening ceremony by way of a rickety footbridge over the polluted Yarkon River.

A third Australian athlete injured when a bridge collapsed at the opening of Israel's Maccabiah games two weeks ago has died, hospital and team officials said. Elizabeth Sawicki, 47, of Melbourne, died of lung damage caused by poisons in the water into which the Australian team members plunged as they marched over the bridge toward the stadium for opening ceremonies July 14. The bridge over the Yarkon River buckled as participants in the Olympic-style event were walking across it.

Among the thousands of athletes marching in the opening ceremonies of the 15th World Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv on Monday will be two American teammates with starkly different perspectives on the proceedings. Jennifer Frank will make her second trip to Ramat Gan Stadium for the quadrennial games. The Oak Park sprinter returns to defend the 100-meter title she won in 1993. "It didn't really sink in last time," Frank said. "I'm a lot older and hopefully I will remember a lot more."