Muscular Judaism

Muscular Judaism (German: Muskeljudentum) is a term coined by Max Nordau in his speech at the Second Zionist Congress held in Basel on August 28, 1898.

[2] In addition, the "muscular" Jew is the opposite of the Halakhic and the Haskalah Jew—the man of letters, the intellectual—who was said to be busy all his life engaging with esoteric subjects.

Between 1896 and 1936, Jewish athletes won a disproportionate number of medals for Austria at the Olympics than their proportion of the total Austrian population.

[4][dubious – discuss] Nordau's idea of Muscular Judaism also inspired the founders of Hakoah Vienna, a Viennese sports club especially well known for its football team.

American journalist Franklin Foer has written that Hakoah (Hebrew for "the strength") was "one of the best teams on the planet" at its height in the mid-1920s.

Max Nordau , who coined the term "Muscular Judaism"
The women's gymnastics team of the Basel Jewish Sports Association. Photo from the Jewish Museum of Switzerland 's collection.
Gymnastics in Beit HaKerem, Jerusalem , 1925