Up until the 1940s, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s colors were Blue & White. However, in 1942 in order to stand in solidarity with the Jews of Europe who were suffering the horrors of the Holocaust and forced to wear the Yellow Star, Maccabi decided to change the White to Yellow when one of the legendary stars of the club, Yosele Merimovitch z'”l made the suggestion as friends and family continued to perish.
The stories of the Holocaust began to reach the Land of Israel and the Maccabi Tel Aviv players and they all felt terrible about the tragedies that were befalling their people. Yosele’s idea to make the change was accepted by management and the color Yellow has been associated with the club ever since.
Yosele Goldstein discusses the Yellow & Blue kit:
“In 1950, Maccabi took a trip to Yugoslavia and Switzerland. Jerry Beit HaLevi said to me that I was going to travel with the club as the 19th player. We played against Lausanne-Sport, Luzern, Bern & Zurich. We then played them back in Israel and Lausanne had Yellow jerseys. Yosele Merimovich gathered us together and said: ‘Do you remember the Yellow Star? I asked the Lausanne Sport management for their yellow kits and that’s the Maccabi kit today. We were all very moved.”
Watch as former player Yosef Goldstein talks about the decision to wear the Yellow Jersey:
