SALT LAKE CITY — On the seventh night of Hanukkah, the Utah Jazz celebrated Jewish heritage at the team’s home game.
“Folks are celebrating Hanukkah, enjoying a Jazz game, experiencing Jewish pride on the largest level here in the state of Utah tonight,” said Rabbi Avremi Zippel.
During halftime at Wednesday’s game, Rabbi Avremi Zippel lit the menorah in front of 18,000 people.
“Tonight is the one time a year where in the Jewish faith we aim to do things in as public a fashion as possible, and back in 2015, the Jazz reached out to see if we wanted to do some sort of celebration during the holiday with them,” he said. “It's grown by leaps and bounds since then, and we're grateful that it keeps on growing and that they give our community the ability to celebrate in an arena with the team that everybody loves on a holiday that is so valuable and precious to so many.”
It's not a coincidence that the Jazz have never lost in front of the menorah, said Rabbi Avremi.
“I think for a lot of folks, seeing Jewish pride on that level and watching the menorah being proudly lit at halftime on the big screen and no one's cowering and no one's running in fear and we're not changing the way we're doing, this means a tremendous amount to the Jewish community at this time,” he said.
