Anyone who remembers the 1972 massacre at the Munich Olympics knows that the famous sporting event can be dangerous for Israeli athletes. Fortunately, no Israelis have died at the ongoing Milan Winter Olympics, but they did lose thousands of dollars' worth of belongings and their passports in a robbery.
Israeli Olympian AJ Edelman, who competes in both the skeleton and bobsled sports at the games, posted on X Feb. 7, “While training for the Olympics the @israelbobsled apartment was broken into during their training, thousands of dollars of stuff and passports were stolen. What a season...”
Tell me @israelbobsled isn’t one of the best @NBCOlympics stories of 2026… pic.twitter.com/RgV8rkQQ3W
— AJ Edelman, OLY (@realajedelman) January 24, 2026
He has been trying to raise money online to cover the costs of the team at the Olympics, and had a hopeful announcement Sunday in response to an X post from someone who gave a donation. “Thank you so much!” Edelman wrote. “We have finally hit the goal of affording the Olympics, and so any further donations to the nonprofit will cover what I've had to borrow over the last 6 years for the team, which is quite extensive. It's incredibly helpful, thank you.”
WATCH: At the 2026 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony, Israeli skeleton racer Jared Firestone wore a kippah honoring the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) February 8, 2026
The Jewish people endure — resilient and proud.
Am Yisrael Chai!🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/Wp0WppsL0R
Anyone who wishes to do so can donate at a page for Advancing Jewish Athletics Inc., where the Israeli Olympians have reached about $64,000 of their $100,00 goal as of Sunday morning. The Olympic team provided a breakdown of all costs involved in getting Israeli athletes to the games, which in total was about $150,000.
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The Israeli Olympic team is made up of five Jewish athletes and a Druze athlete, and they travel with their Shiba Inu dog. The donation website summary states:
6 Israelis and a Shiba Inu. Representing a country and a mission.
The Israeli Bobsled Team has made history and qualified for the Milan Winter Olympic Games.
The team has covered the trip to the Olympics (60k) and now trying to cover the borrowing we took on to afford the last 6 years of what is an entirely self-funded journey (hundreds of thousands), as well as recover stolen equipment from our apartment that was burglarized.
Help us make history at the games and be a part of something truly special. #ShulRunnings
The Israeli Olympic team also released an inspiring video, which you can watch above, with the same information as the above summary, but also with clips of the athletes.
As you will find out if you watch the video, they call their team’s efforts “shul runnings,” using the Israeli word for school (it is also used to refer to synagogues). The dream of getting to the Olympics with the bobsled team has been a decade in the making, and in more colloquial English parlance the Israelis call their shul runs “the little sled that could.”
If the world were not so awash in antisemitism, the perseverance of the Jewish and Druze athletes in overcoming all kinds of obstacles, including a mass theft, to represent their country with the first Israeli Olympic bobsled team would be featured as one of the most inspiring stories at the Olympics. May God be with the Israeli athletes and protect them from harm as they make history at the Milan games.
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