ABSTRACT

During the interwar years, competitive sport become a global phenomenon, in which competitive games were organized by international bodies and professional athletes performed as (inter)national icons of health, beauty, and social success. The following article explores the nature of this transnational change in one particular place: the Jewish community of Mandate Palestine. By focusing primarily on two Zionist athletic delegations (male and female), the paper illustrates the particular way in which the Hebrew worldview positioned athletic performance within its emerging national project. Specifically, it highlights the way in which, unlike the athletes of many other societies at the time, the Hebrew athlete was not embraced as a national symbol. In incorporating the story of the Hebrew athlete’s marginalization, the article advances a necessary (re)examination of “big” Zionist phrases - like “new Jew” or “Muscular Judaism” - not as mere clichés, but in their historical context, as powerful reflections through which a specific group of people perceived themselves and their bodies.

摘要

在两次世界大战期间，竞技体育成为一种全球现象，国际机构组织了竞技比赛，职业运动员作为（国际）国家的健康、美丽和社会成功的象征进行表演。以下文章探讨了这一跨国变化在一个特定地方的性质：托管巴勒斯坦的犹太社区。通过主要关注两个犹太复国主义运动代表团（男性和女性），该论文说明了希伯来世界观在其新兴的国家项目中定位运动表现的特殊方式。具体来说，它强调了与当时许多其他社会的运动员不同，希伯来运动员不是被视为国家象征。在结合这位希伯来运动员被边缘化的故事时，这篇文章对“大”犹太复国主义短语——比如“新犹太人”或“肌肉型犹太教”——进行了必要的（重新）审查——不仅仅是陈词滥调，而是在其历史背景下，作为强大的一组特定的人通过这些反射来感知自己和他们的身体。