Jewish Giants fans went home happy Tuesday night after watching the home team, led by Jewish manager Gabe Kapler and starring Palo Alto-born Jewish player Joc Pederson, demolish the Tampa Bay Rays 7-0.
Jewish fans also went home cozy in their new Jewish Heritage Night scarves, which became progressively more useful as the innings wore on and a balmy afternoon gave way to a breezy evening at Oracle Park. The scarves, a perk for fans with designated Jewish Heritage Night tickets, are black and orange with “Giants” written on them in Hebrew and English. Plenty of Jewish fans rolled in wearing Jewish Heritage Night gear from years past, including T-shirts and baseball caps that say Giants in Hebrew.
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Of course, Giants JHN must begin with a shofar blowing. Rabbi Yosef Langer of Chabad of SF, one of the sponsors of the evening along with J. The Jewish News of Northern California, made his way to home plate just before the game began to perform his ceremonial duties as the Rally Rabbi.
Like other Bay Area teams that have Jewish Heritage Night, the Giants invite a local cantor to belt out the national anthem. Cantor Arik Luck of Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco had that honor this time.
Displays around the stadium featured messages about Jewish Heritage Night throughout the game — and a Chabad-provided playlist of upbeat Hasidic pop music had people genuinely dancing in the stands a couple of times.
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J. and Chabad of SF shared a table at the stadium concourse’s Community Clubhouse. We handed out newspapers and got to meet readers. Chabad, of course, spent a lot of time getting Jewish men to wrap tefillin — including one barrel-chested man who arrived with a Moishe House gaggle, made a beeline for the table and enthusiastically announced, “I want to wrap tefillin!”
Members of many local Jewish organizations came as groups, including several synagogues, and a group of students from SF Hillel.
And some people were willing travel to be there — such as this trio of UC Davis students who schlepped down for the game.
The win slightly improved the Giants’ Jewish Heritage Night record. The tradition began in 2005 with a 7-4 loss to the Phillies. Since then, the Giants have won just five Jewish Heritage Night games out of 18. Their last JHN win came in 2015 against the Brewers.
