Maccabi Case Study: Alexander Iskin
I am 18 years old and a grammar school student in Goslar, Germany.
After emigrating from Moscow, Russia, with my parents, my sister Anna (then 6) and me (then 2) we ended up living in a small town called Goslar.
Especially my parents had to struggle hard to make a living and to cope with the initial isolation. After leaving family, friends and jobs behind, they had to face numerous difficulties, like learning the language and finding new jobs in order to make a living.
Even if I was a child, my childhood and youth was stamped with these difficulties and also with the fact of being different. Of course I found friends at school and through table tennis (which I started playing at the age of 5), but as we were the only Jewish family in our home town I never had the chance to find out more about my roots. Now I understand that playing table tennis was one of the most important decisions of my life. It enabled me to join Maccabi Germany, and to meet fabulous people of the same origin.
Since I joined Maccabi, it has become an important part of my life. It enabled me to get to know wonderful Jewish people and to share something really important with them - sports.
The Maccabiah 2005 was an amazing experience. I will never forget these moments when I saw Jews from England, France, Argentina, even China entering the stadium. The whole Maccabiah with its fabulous sportive and social events felt like a roller coaster through happiness. It connected me to people with a similar destiny and made me feel like coming home!
I often have the feeling that I am not enjoying my life at its fullest but as soon as I meet my friends from Maccabi - I feel that I do and that's great!
Alexander Iskin
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