This Year’s Maccabiah Anthem Is the Song of the Summer

I have to say, it’s possible that I’m more obsessed with sports songs than with actual sports. Those wondering what I’m talking about — and no, it’s not the Knicks’ “Go New York, Go!” anthem (written by Jewish entrepreneur Jesse Itzler in 1993) — may not be aware of the lore of the FIFA World Cup songs and anthems. I firmly agree with Vulture’s assertion that Shakira’s “Waka Waka (Time For Africa)” is the best such song, though I am partial to this year’s new anthem, “DNA (More Than Just a Game),” sung by Andrea Bocelli, David Guetta and EJAE.

But as much as I love those songs, in my humble opinion, this year’s new Maccabiah Games anthem has them all beat.

That’s right, the Maccabiah Games, the biggest sports competition of the Jewish world founded by Yosef Yekutieli in 1932, is happening at the end of the month — from June 30 through July 14 to be exact — and for the first time in decades, the competition is releasing an actual new anthem.

The song was actually supposed to be a cover of the 1981 “Maccabiah Song,” written by the late “First Lady of Israeli Song” Naomi Shemer, but when it was given to two of my very favorite Israeli artists, singer and sometimes rapper Nunu and rapper and rarely singer Jimbo J, they made it into a sassy, catchy, wonderful tune of its own titled, aptly and succinctly “Sport.” (There was initially some drama with Shemer’s offspring, who said they were never asked for permission to use the song, but an understanding was eventually reached).

The song does feature samples from the 1981 song, including the refrain “yoter maher, yoter gavoa, yoter yafeh, yoter chazak” — faster and higher — and ends with an “am Yisrael chai” from the original song. But in between is a humor-filled rap and song number, with a refrain in which these two, clearly not so athletic, proclaim in Hebrew and English: “I’m really really good at sports.”

Nunu, whose 2025 album “Ma Chutz Mi Ze” (“What Else”) perfectly captures Israel’s post October 7 existential malaise, is the stage name of singer songwriter Naomi Aharoni-Ga. And this isn’t her first collaboration with Jimbo J, the rapper name of Omer Havron, who is also really good at making incisive commentary about living in Israel. The two recently recorded a gorgeous cover for the classic Israeli song “Hayiti Na’ar” (“I Was a Young Man”), but in this case, they bring so much more of what makes them such unique artists.

These two are just perfectly matched for this song, bringing both silliness and pathos, especially in the chorus, which features a delightful mix of English and Hebrew.

“Aba told me, honey/Shalom Lehitraot[“hello and goodbye”]/I’m on my way to Natbag [the Israeli moniker for Ben Gurion Airport]/And I’ll give everything I’ve got,” the two sing together.

And then in Hebrew, they continue: “From all four winds/You’re all brothers and sisters/And training for 2000 years,” they address to the contest’s participants who come from every corner of the globe. This year’s contest features around 55 participating countries and more than 8000 athletes.

Yes, the “I’m really, really good at sports” may be a tongue-in-cheek reference to the good old (and misguided!) preconception that  Jews are bad at sports but the clip also features Israel’s best athletes, including Olympic medalists Artem Dolgopyat and Stav Hershko. Over all, it has me really excited for this year’s Maccabiah.

I’m also thrilled to put this song on my workout playlist. I think I’ll be amping myself up every time I’m on the treadmill by singing with a heavy Israeli accent “I’m really really good at sports” for quite a while.