Jewish Pride Night With the Fisher Cats

Manchester, NH — A first-ever kosher food concession in the stadium, supervised by Chabad, served kosher hot dogs, hamburgers, falafel and other goodies to a cheering crowd of 500 Jewish children and adults.

Before the opening pitch, the Chabad Tefillin Booth was mobbed with boys and men waiting their turn to don the phylacteries—a first for many of them—and who stayed for the Mincha prayers. The 7th inning stretch lasted just long enough for the Maariv (evening prayers) to be recited with a minyan.

The stadium, along the banks of the Merrimack River, was filled with the sound of Jewish music and the sight of dozens of swirling Israeli flags and hundreds of kids sporting colorful t-shirts, emblazoned with the names of the area’s Jewish camps, buying and trading Israeli baseball cards.

“There was such a palpable feeling of Jewish pride in the air,” said Rabbi Levi Krinsky, director of Chabad of New Hampshire.

“Jewish overnight camps and individuals came from all over the state and as far as Boston to attend. People just got caught up in the idea of a kosher night at the ballgame.”

The program, sponsored by Camp Gan Israel and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the AA affiliate for Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays, also attracted the attention of our local WGIR radio station, which aired an interview with Rabbi Krinsky about the event and about Chabad in general.

Krinsky told Lubavitch.com that the catalyst for this event was a trip to the stadium he took with his family two Passovers ago. They were stopped at the gate because they were toting matzah sandwiches for lunch and there is a no-food restriction at the ballpark. “I explained that it was a holiday and this was the only food we could eat” he says “so they made an exception for us and let us in.”

Article continued (Lubavitch.com)