1953 Maccabiah Games

4th Maccabiah
Host cityTel Aviv, Israel
Nations23
Debuting countries Brazil
 Chile
 Rhodesia
Athletes890
Events18 branches of sports
OpeningSeptember 20, 1953
ClosingSeptember 29, 1953
Opened byIsraeli President Itzhak Ben-Zvi
Main venueRamat Gan Stadium

Eight hundred ninety athletes representing 23 countries competed in the 1953 4th Maccabiah Games, held September 20 to 29, in 18 branches of sports.

Israeli President Itzhak Ben-Zvi opened the Games at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv District, in front of a crowd of 50,000. American Olympic wrestling champion Henry Wittenburg carried the US flag for Team USA. At the closing ceremony Prime Minister David Ben Gurion addressed the collected athletes, saying: "Come back to us for the next Maccabiah, and bring along representatives of Romania, Hungary, and Russia," as a crowd of 50,000 cheered.