For 16 years, Chabad of Long Island City has cheered on the runners with kosher snacks and prayers
As they cross the Pulaski bridge from Brooklyn to Long Island City and pass the halfway mark of the New York City Marathon’s 26.2 miles, an exuberant Jewish welcome awaits the runners. They hear the Jewish music before they see it, passing the bend and approaching Chabad of Long Island City’s pit-stop. 13.4 miles in, wait Rabbi Zev and Rivka Wineberg, co-directors of Chabad of Long Island City along with scores of volunteers from their community. They’re handing out kosher snacks, and offering a spiritual boost—a quick tefillinwrap before they run off.
Rabbi Zev Wineberg knows the challenge and the thrill first hand. Two years after opening his stand along the marathon’s route, he participated in the NYC Marathon 2010. “It’s invigorating,” he says, noting that the support really makes a difference. “Running a marathon is an extreme challenge,” one runner, Meir G., tells Chabad.org, amid the cacophony of cheering and encouragement at Chabad’s stand, “The support and connection makes it possible. When we run by Chabad’s cheering spot, it makes us feel connected with the Jewish community and it makes us feel we will break through our boundaries and reach the finish line.”
“It’s a day of real unity,” Wineberg adds, “It’s a beautiful event bringing people together.” When the marathon passed their home and Chabad center, the Winebergs saw it as an opportunity. “We live by the creed that if it is in front of you, there’s a reason for it,” the rabbi says, noting that his first year doing it brought an increased public awareness of kosher. In 2008, the marathon organizers distributed Gatorade, which wasn’t kosher at the time, so Wineberg handed out Powerade as the runners passed by. It attracted media attention, and by the next year’s marathon, Gatorade had acquired kosher certification.
“When watching the New York City Marathon this Sunday,” the New York Times noted in 2008, “consider the plight of the kosher marathoner, who because of Jewish dietary laws may not replenish himself with sports drinks that lack kosher certification.”
“There is no kosher certification for Gatorade, and I felt that kosher runners should have something to drink besides water,” Wineberg told the Times.
“So the rabbi bought cases of Powerade, a sports drink that is kosher-certified, and said he will offer it to ‘anyone who wants it, but specifically to runners who are strictly observant. We want to support their physical and spiritual well-being,’ he said.”
The Winebergs teamed up with Friendship Circle—a Chabad organization that works with special-needs children—to cheer on the runners. Team Friendship has raised more than $50,000 through their runners, who welcome the boost Chabad of Long Island City provides. “This is the most amazing race,” says Chaim Backman, who’s running for Team Friendship. “The cheers when seeing other Jews mean so much.”
