Reaching tens of millions since 1987, menorah-lightings take place in major sports venues again this year
As Chabad of Southwest Broward County, Fla., prepares to host Chanukah events at two major sporting events this year, some of the rabbis involved took time to talk about how Chanukah at arenas and stadiums, which have brought the light of the holiday to tens of millions, including those watching broadcasts of the games at home, got started.
It was the third day of Chanukah, a cold December night in 1987. A young rabbinical student named Rabbi Pinny Andrusier (today co-director of Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Broward) recalls hanging on to the bleachers crammed with thousands of Chassidim at the farbrengen gathering at 770 Eastern Parkway, the world headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, awaiting his turn to inform the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—about a monumental new Chanukah program that Chabad was planning to host in South Florida.
Nine days earlier, at a farbrengen celebrating the 19th of Kislev, the Rebbe had asked those gathered to increase their efforts in spreading the message of Chanukah’s miracles. About 1,200 miles to the south, Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus, co-director of Chabad of South Broward County, Fla., was listening in on a telephone hookup to the farbrengen, heard the Rebbe’s call to action and was glad that he would have good news to report.
Tennenhaus had been brainstorming how to transform South Florida’s Chanukah scene, “I said we’ve got to do something bigger and better this year,” Tennenhaus tells Chabad.org. He had the idea of holding a menorah-lighting at a Miami Dolphins football game.
Billy Robbie, son of Joe Robbie—then the owner of the Miami Dolphins—would frequent the Chabad House directed by Tennenhaus, enjoying the good cheer and herring at their weekly kiddush. Robbie was enthused with the idea and helped make it a reality.
Tennenhaus already had plans in place for a menorah-lighting at the Dolphins game, but now—inspired by the Rebbe’s latest call to action—he would take his idea to the next level by increasing the size of the menorah from four to eight feet in height and decking out the stadium with signage worded “NFL: Night of the Festival Lights.”
The next week, when Andrusier told the Rebbe how they would be bringing the light of Chanukah to an audience of nearly 80,000 at the Miami Dolphins versus the Washington Redskins football game, the Rebbe gave him a bottle of “L’chaim,” smiling broadly, and told Andrusier to invite the Chassidim at the farbrengen. After Andrusier did so, the Rebbe smiled again.
The following day, Tennenhaus, Andrusier and several other Chabad rabbis looked on as Rabbi Abraham Korf, regional director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Florida, lit the menorah at the Joe Robbie Stadium, accompanied by Cantor Zalman Baumgarten singing the strains of “Maoz Tzur,” a Chanukah classic. The lighting took place just before the game began, with both teams on the field as Tennenhaus addressed the fans, all 80,000 of them, of which an estimated 20,000 were Jewish.
The game was being broadcast on ESPN. They were allotted a five-minute time slot on the field with each minute overtime a $5,000 fine. Those five minutes became almost 15, “and Chabad hasn’t been billed for it yet, thank G‑d,” recalls Tennenhaus. Today, 32 years later, “I meet people in different places and they ask, ‘Are you the one who lit the menorah before the game where Dan Marino led that game-winning drive with two minutes left on the clock?’ ”
As one local newspaper put it, “The entire evening met with much success. As Divine providence would have it, the Dolphins came from behind with one-and-a-half minutes to go to beat the Redskins 23-21. Many fans leaving the stadium after the game chuckled out loud that maybe the menorah had something to do with it!”
The historic event was a catalyst for Chanukah celebrations at stadiums and arenas across the nation, from hardwood to ice. Here are some of the events Chabad will be sponsoring for Chanukah 2019:
Menorah-Lightings at Stadiums and Arenas Nationwide
Chabad of Southwest Broward will bring the light of Chanukah to two games this holiday:
Sunday Dec. 22, 11:30 a.m., they’ll be hosting Jewish Heritage Day at Hard Rock stadium. The kosher tailgate party will feature a concert with popular Jewish entertainer Eli Marcus, sponsored by the Miami Dolphins. Chabad will serve thousands of kosher hotdogs, as well as those Chanukah staples of latkes and doughnuts, to the several thousand expected to attend.
This year, the menorah will be lit during the second quarter on a platform built specifically for that purpose, with thousands of Chabad-related participants in special seating adding to the holiday cheer. Kids will have the opportunity to go onto the field and high-five the players after both games. As many as 70,000 people are expected to watch the lighting, many of them Jewish.
The Miami Heat face off against the Utah Jazz at American Airlines Arena on Monday, Dec. 23, with a kosher barbecue and a halftime concert with the Pardes Rock band. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. For the 11th year running, the menorah will be lit by Andrusier and Rabbi Chaim Lipskar during the first quarter.
“We’ll be turning the entire arena into a literal Chanukah festival!” says Andrusier.
Orlando, Fla.
Monday, Dec. 23 will also see the Chicago Bulls take on the Orlando Magic at Orlando’s Amway Center, with a kosher pre-game and concert at 5:30 p.m., featuring Chassidic rapper Nosson Zand and activities for the entire family. Orlando Magic president Jeff Weltman will light the menorah center court at half-time, 8 p.m. It promises to be Central Florida’s largest Chanukah event for the sixth year running with about 20,000 spectators present. The event is sponsored by Chabad of South Orlando, Chabad of Greater Orlando and Chabad of Downtown Orlando.
Houston, Texas
Chabad Outreach of Houston will be hosting Jewish Heritage Night at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 21, at the Toyota Center as the Houston Rockets play the Brooklyn Nets. A menorah will be lit in the media suite, with Chabad’s 200 guests seated there. Kosher refreshments will be served, and a special Chanukah message broadcast on the jumbotrons. An estimated 18,000 are expected to hear the message of Chanukah, according to Rabbi Mendy Traxler, director of Chabad Outreach of Houston.
San Francisco, Calif.
Rabbi Yosef Langer, director of Chabad of S. Francisco, has been a popular fixture at local team games—Giants and Warriors—for 15 years now. “It was before Rosh Hashanah,” describes Langer, “and I’d come blow the shofar at the game.” After blowing the shofar, the giants came out ahead. The production team then asked Langer to sit behind home plate, right behind the screen, in the first row of seats, to bring the Giants good luck. “Maybe we’ll need you again later,” they told him.
Sure enough, later on, the Giants had several players on base and needed a few runs. “Blow the shofar, and we’ll have a surprise for you.”
As Langer got ready to blow the shofar into the microphone, looking up at the large screen centerfield, he watched as he was introduced as the “rally rabbi.” It was then that “ ‘rally rabbi’ was born,” recalls Langer with a chuckle. Since then, he has become a beloved presence at games occurring in proximity with the Jewish holidays.
Chabad of S. Francisco arranged a kosher tailgate party and pre-Chanukah menorah-lighting at a Warriors game held at the Chase Center in early December to a sold-out crowd of nearly 20,000 people who learned about the holiday.
New York City
CTeen, Chabad’s international teen network, will be lighting the menorah at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center as New York’s two basketball titans, the Knicks and the Nets, go head to head on Thursday, Dec. 26, at 8 p.m. This will be CTeen’s seventh annual public lighting at Barclays, with 18,000 fans looking on as the basketball-themed menorah is lit. “We wanted to give the teens Jewish pride,” says Rabbi Shimon Rivkin, CTeen’s director. “It’s going to be a huge crowd.”
East Rutherford, N.J.
Chabad of South Bergen County and the Meadowlands will light a menorah for the first time outside MetLife Stadium, home to New York’s Giants and Jets, as the Jets square off against the Pittsburgh Steelers, at 1 p.m on Sunday, Dec. 22.
Rabbi Yitzchok Lerman, co-director of Chabad of the Meadowlands and rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Rutherford, N.J., has brought the holiday of Sukkot to MetLife for the past few years and says that whenever he goes for a game, “people always come over and ask me to pray for their team.” Lerman will light the menorah for the thousands entering the stadium and hand out small personal ones to those in need.
Not generally well known for its Chanukah celebrations, Salt Lake City will see a menorah lighting at the Vivint Smart Home Arena—home of the Utah Jazz—for its fourth year, on Thursday, Dec. 26, at 8:30 p.m. “We wanted to find a way to bring everybody together, something that would unite as much of the community as possible; here in town the Jazz are a pretty big draw,” notes Rabbi Avremi Zippel, program director at Chabad Lubavitch of Utah.
Chabad will have part of the arena’s top floor for their guests, serving up kosher food, with performances throughout the first half of the game by world-renowned Cantor Shulem Lemmer during timeouts. Lemmer will perform the national anthem, and assist Zippel and his father, Rabbi Benny Zippel, co-director of Chabad Lubavitch of Utah, with lighting the menorah.
Columbus, Ohio
For the seventh year now, Chabad of Columbus will sponsor Jewish Heritage Night at Nationwide Arena, home of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, on Sunday, Dec. 29, at 5 p.m. “There are Jewish kids who sadly don’t have any exposure to being Jewish. This may be the only holiday experience they have, seeing the menorah being lit,” says Rabbi Areyah Kaltmann, director of Chabad of Columbus. “Chanukah needs to be celebrated with the proper respect and excitement.”
Mike Todd, the Blue Jacket’s in-game announcer, says that the arena really comes to life on Jewish Heritage Night. “The enthusiasm that Kaltmann brings and level of Jewish pride in this really reflects what diverse groups we have in our community.”
Additional Chanukah celebrations taking place at sporting events are:
Chabad of Portland, Oregon: Chanukah “Jewish Heritage Night” with the Portland Trailblazers on Monday, Dec. 23, at 6 p.m.
Chabad of Southern Nevada: Golden Nights at Hyde Park Arena, Dec. 23, at 7 p.m.
Click on the link for more information about Chanukah-related events near you.
Source: https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/4584885/jewish/Chanukah-Touches-Down-in-US-Stadiums.htm
