Chanukah Pride on Monday Night Football, at Stadiums and Arenas

by Ellen Braunstein – chabad.org

The venerable American tradition of Monday Night Football will meet the ancient Jewish holiday of Chanukah this evening in front of hundreds of thousands of NFL fans at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. Before and during the nationally televised Miami Dolphins vs. Tennessee Titans game, Chabad-Lubavitch at the Stadium will host a Chanukah celebration and Jewish Heritage Night at the Dolphins home.

The game “promises to be a night of Jewish solidarity, unity, and pride,” said Rabbi Yakov Menaker, who directs, with his wife, Raizel, Chabad at the Stadium.

“It’s an opportunity for Jewish fans to connect with each other through the medium of sports,” he said. “People come to have fun and express a different side of themselves than they would in a synagogue.”

Bringing the lights of Chanukah out into the public sphere began 50 years ago, in 1973, when the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—launched the Chanukah awareness campaign, encouraging Jews everywhere to have their own menorahs and publicize the holiday to others. This was within a few years followed by large public displays of Chanukah menorahs to spread the holiday’s message of light and hope wherever they find themselves.

And many, many people find themselves in sports stadiums.

So, in 1987, Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus, co-director of Chabad of South Broward in Hallandale, Fla., became the first person to kindle a menorah at a sporting event during halftime of a Miami Dolphins football game at what was then called the Joe Robbie Stadium. More than 75,000 fans were on hand, with both teams on the field during the 15-minute Chanukah ceremony.

Tennenhaus recalled decades later: “I [still] meet people in different places, and they ask, ‘Are you the one who lit the menorah before the game where Dan Marino led the game-winning drive with two minutes left on the clock?’”

Chabad-sponsored stadium menorah-lightings have since then become an annual tradition in many places around the country.

“After the events of Oct. 7, it’s more important than ever to do what we can to elevate Jewish pride and unity,” Menaker said, pointing out that 65,000 fans will be on hand to take part in the Chanukah festivities.

The menorah-lighting will take place at the pregame Chanukah party, slated to begin at 7:15 p.m. “There will be food and live music,” Menaker said. The menorah-lighting will likewise be shown on the jumbotrons during the game.

Chanukah Events Around the World

Sports fans are celebrating the warmth and light of Chanukah at football, basketball and hockey stadiums and arenas around the country, including a menorah lighting at SoFi stadium for a Los Angeles Chargers game. Last year’s Chanukah game was witnessed by 70,000 people.

“It was cheered on very well,” said Rabbi Shimon Rivkin of CTeen, the Chabad Teen Network. “The team welcomed us back this year. The Jewish community was ecstatic to see such a thing happen.”

In Las Vegas, Chabad of Southern Nevada and the Desert Torah Academy hosted a Chanukah celebration during the Stanley Cup-champion Vegas Golden Knights hockey game.

Chabad of Columbus, Ohio, again partnered with the Columbus Blue Jackets to host a Jewish Heritage Night during its Dec. 10 game with the Florida Panthers at Nationwide Arena. It’s part of an Eight Nights of Fun organized by Chabad in celebration of Chanukah this year, said Rabbi Areyah Kaltmann, director of Chabad of Columbus. This year’s theme, “Our Flame Will Never Be Extinguished,” relates to the desire many Jews have to celebrate Chanukah with “more light, love and Jewish pride in solidarity of our brothers and sisters in Israel.”

It will also be Chanukah Night on Monday, Dec. 11 at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Stadium, when the Jewish Heritage Program features a Jewish family night out with the 76ers basketball team. There will be a menorah-lighting at halftime, latkes and jelly doughnuts, and music from Chabad emissary Rabbi Menachem Schmidt’s Baal Shem Tov band.

The 76ers will then go on the road, where there will be another menorah-lighting on Dec. 13 at the Little Caesars Arena when they play the Detroit Pistons. Rabbi Yishai Eliefja of The Shul-Chabad Lubavitch in West Bloomfield and other Chabad centers helped organize a giant menorah, the branches lined with basketballs.

“It’s a beautiful chance for the Jewish community to come together to do something fun and exciting and family-friendly to celebrate Jewish unity and Chanukah,” Eliefja said. “But this year, the event takes on additional meaning with all the darkness that’s happening around the world against the Jews here and in Israel.”

Click on the link for more information about Chanukah-related events near you.