Tens of thousands of football fans had a front-row ticket to a vast publicizing of the miracle of Chanukah, as they watched the NFL Sunday Night Football’s first menorah-lighting.
On Sunday, Dec. 18, the first night of Chanukah, a menorah-lighting took place at the game between New York Giants and Washington Commanders at FedExField near Washington, D.C.
Sunday Night Football is the most-watched television program in the United States, drawing almost 19 million viewers each week.
A few hours earlier and almost 3,000 miles away, there was another menorah-lighting viewed by tens of thousands at the NFL game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Tennessee Titans at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.
CTeen, the Chabad Teen Network, organized the menorah lightings at the games along with Chabad-Lubavitch of Maryland and Chabad of the Beach Cities in Redondo Beach, Calif.
At the FedExField, representatives of CTeens and Chabad of Maryland lit the menorah after the first quarter of the high-stakes game. The game drew 62,000 fans to the field with nearly 20 million more tuning in from home.
While CTeen and Chabad of Maryland had been in talks to have a menorah-lighting at the game for months, the game was moved on Dec. 5 to the Sunday Night Football timeslot, so they had less than two weeks to get ready for a prime-time event.
CTeen From Along the East Coast Will Attend
CTeen chapters from all over the East Coast attended, and a teen recited the blessing and lit the custom-designed menorah. After the game, representatives from CTeen International and Chabad of Maryland, as well as the CTeen participants, took a photo together on the field. Chabad of Maryland also organized a menorah parade to the field, a kosher tailgate party and distributions of menorahs, latkes and traditional doughnuts.
“For CTeen to pull off a menorah-lighting during the prime-time game of the week is a very major statement,” says Rabbi Sholom Raichik, co-director with his wife, Chana, of Chabad of Upper Montgomery County in Maryland. “It’s a very big step forward in the concept of pirsumei nissa [publicizing the miracle of Chanukah].”
On the other side of the country, CTeen chapters from Southern California gathered at the SoFi Stadium for a menorah-lighting between the third and fourth quarters of the game. The stadium has an expandable capacity of up to 100,000 seats, and fans also watched the lighting on the stadium’s 70,000-square-foot screen. Designer David Weiss created a unique football-themed menorah for the occasion, sponsored by Menorah.net.
“We will kindle just one light on the menorah that night, but its impact will reflect in thousands of souls,” says Rabbi Yossi Mintz, director of Chabad of the Beaches.
NFL Menorah Lightings a 35-Year-Tradition
The first NFL game to feature a menorah-lighting took place in 1987, also a Hakhel Year, at a Miami Dolphins game against the Washington Redskins. It was arranged by Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus, director of Chabad of South Broward County, Fla., with the blessing of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson of righteous memory.
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 broadcast on ESPN.
On Dec. 25 of this year, the Dolphins’ home field, now named the Hard Rock Stadium, will once again feature a menorah-lighting.
Rabbi Yakov Menaker of Chabad at the Stadium holds a kosher tailgate at the Hard Rock Stadium whenever there is a home game. When the home games overlap with Chanukah, he also has a menorah-lighting. But this time, it will take place on the field before kickoff, instead of at the parking lot. The Israeli consulate will also be in attendance.
“We bring a lot of light and energy to the Jewish fans who come,” says Menaker.
Publicizing the Miracle of Chanukah
The Rebbe initiated the public menorah-lightings campaign nearly 50 years ago, to spread awareness of the Chanukah miracle and message and to share Jewish pride. Now, menorah lightings take place in very visible locations all over the world, from the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, to the royal palace in Amsterdam.
This year, in particular, will see larger gatherings at menorah-lightings across the world as it is a Hakhel Year. Occurring every seven years, the Hakhel Year lends additional significance to gatherings like menorah lightings. In ancient times during the Hakhel Year, the entire Jewish nation would go to Jerusalem to hear the Torah from the king. The Rebbe encouraged Jews to also gather during the Hakhel Year to strengthen Jewish learning and observance.
“The public menorah-lightings and the public celebration of what the menorah represents, and the idea of light and Torah and Jewish life, and being able to be proud of who we are, it’s like Judaism on the offense, if we can say it that way,” says Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, vice chairman of CTeen International and the executive director of Merkos 302, which provides programming for Chabad-Lubavitch centers around the world.
“They call it pro-semitism. In the face of anti-semitism, add pro-semitism. To be able to share Jewish pride with all Jews in all types of places, where people should feel comfortable and people should be able to celebrate who they are, that’s a core value of American democracy.”
For the teens who are involved, some of whom may be the only Jewish students at their schools, a public menorah-lighting and public display of Jewish pride can be particularly impactful, noted Kotlarsky.
“This idea of teenagers—and Jews in general—being able to stand up in a place like this and see that this is something we can celebrate and that the message is something that’s applicable across the board, this idea of adding light and pushing darkness away with light, is at the core of why we got involved.”
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