[ad_1]
JTA – When the New York Giants and Washington Commanders meet on Sunday Night Football this weekend, there will be two extra lights inside the stadium.
Sunday is the first night of Hanukkah, and for the first time in a National Football Leagues marquee game, there will be a menorah lighting.
Organized by the Chabads teen Network, CTeen International and Chabad of Maryland, the lighting will take place after the first quarter of games in Washington. It will be shown on the FedExFields jumbotrons; it is not clear if the NBC broadcast will show the television lighting.
According to Chabad, East Coast chapters of the teen movement will attend the game, while local rabbis will lead a menorah parade and tailgate party outside the stadium, handing out menorahs, latkes and sufganiyot, or Hanukkah donuts, to Jewish fans.
With eighty thousand fans watching from the stands and more than 18 million tuning in from home, the first public menorah lighting of the top games will spread the light of Hanukkah at a time when popular culture is seething with anti-Semitism, Chabad said in a statement to the Jerusalem Post.
According to NBC, Sunday Night Football has held the top spot for the top games for 11 consecutive years and averaged 19.3 million viewers in 2021. FedExField, located east of Washington, DC, holds 82,000 fans.
It is truly an unprecedented opportunity to share the warmth and light of Hanukkah, Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky of CTeen International told the Post.
The public display comes at a time of increased anti-Semitism, including in the sports world.
Last month, an Australian Jewish teenager was drafted into the country’s premier soccer league, but faced a barrage of online hate, while the anti-Semitism controversy surrounding Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving made headlines for much of the fall.
Neither the Giants nor the Commander have a single Jewish player, only a handful in the entire league. Washington owner Dan Snyder, the subject of several investigations into alleged financial and sexual abuse in his organization, is Jewish and a member of the Greater Washington Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He is considering selling the franchise.
John Mara, president and co-owner of the Giants, is not Jewish, but has previously expressed frustration when his team’s schedule overlaps with Jewish holidays. He expressed his displeasure earlier this season when the Giants played on Rosh Hashanah, saying: We have always asked the league to take the Jewish High Holidays into account when making our schedule. (Maras’ co-owner, award-winning film producer and team president Steve Tisch, is Jewish.)
This weekend’s game is especially important on the field as well: The Giants and Commanders are currently tied and both are fighting for a playoff spot.
|
Sources 2/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/hanukkah-menorah-lighting-to-be-held-on-sunday-night-football-for-first-time/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
[ad_2]