{"id":396730,"date":"2026-07-13T17:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/396730\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T17:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:06:10","slug":"san-francisco-giants-jewish-heritage-night-celebrates-jewish-culture-identity-israel-jewish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/396730\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco Giants Jewish Heritage Night celebrates Jewish culture, identity – Israel & Jewish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

(July 13, 2026 \/ JNS)\n <\/p>\n

Blowing a shofar on the field at Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, as part of the team\u2019s Jewish Heritage Night last week was a very special experience for Rabbi Yosef Langer, executive director and founder of Chabad of San Francisco.<\/p>\n

The ritual has gathered people \u201csince the beginning of time, and baseball is a sport that brings all peoples together,\u201d he told JNS on July 7. \u201cThis is the horn of freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

His son, Rabbi Moshe Langer, told JNS that his father often says that leaving one\u2019s comfort zone and doing a good deed for another lets one \u201ctiptoe into the miraculous.\u201d That\u2019s just what the elder rabbi does when he blows the shofar, the son said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Rabbi<\/p>\n

Rabbi Moshe Langer, assistant director of Chabad of San Francisco (left) and Rabbi Yosef Langer, executive director and founder of Chabad of San Francisco, during Jewish Heritage Night at Oracle Park, in San Francisco, July 7, 2026. Photo by Aaron Bandler.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going out of his comfort zone. He\u2019s blowing the shofar. He\u2019s dancing, and it really has a ripple effect around the world,\u201d the son told JNS.<\/p>\n

The elder rabbi was part of the pregame festivities before the Giants fell 9-3 to the Toronto Blue Jays, as some 32,140 looked on.<\/p>\n

\u201cRally rabbi,\u201d someone yelled at Langer as he talked to JNS, using a nickname that refers to his having been involved with the Jewish heritage event for the Giants for 25 years.<\/p>\n

Attendees received giveaways of black jerseys that said \u201cGiants\u201d in Hebrew and the words \u201cl\u2019chaim,\u201d or \u201cto life,\u201d on the back, and the number 18, which corresponds to \u201clife\u201d in Hebrew. Pizza slices with latke toppings were served at the stadium.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Latke<\/p>\n

A slice of \u201clatke voda\u201d pizza served during the San Francisco Giants\u2019 Jewish Heritage Night at Oracle Park, July 7, 2026. Photo by Aaron Bandler.<\/p>\n

Jason Steckler, who founded the Israeli folk dance class Rikud By the Bay in 2024 with his wife Tovael Hagai, told JNS that the class performed at the event to send \u201ca message of having a space for the Jewish community to come together, not with such a heavy heart all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are other outlets to celebrate your own Jewishness in whatever way that feels meaningful to you, and for us, it\u2019s through dance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The group performed a Hebrew song \u201cMy Israel,\u201d which is \u201ckind of like the Hora style, but it\u2019s like a new, more modern music,\u201d Hagai told JNS. It also performed a song whose title translates to \u201cPeace Will Still Come to Us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dance is a \u201cuniversal language,\u201d Hagai said. \u201cNo matter what language you speak or politics you follow or any culture, as long as you dance with us as a group, and we\u2019re all having a good time, that\u2019s the main thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Tovael<\/p>\n

Tovael Hagai and her husband, Jason Steckler, founders of the Israeli folk dance class Rikud By the Bay, performed as part of the dance team at the San Francisco Giants\u2019 Jewish Heritage Night at Oracle Park, July 7, 2026. Photo by Aaron Bandler. <\/p>\n

Before the game began, Theresa Vi\u00f1al, in-park host for the Giants, interviewed Jon Fried, a volunteer with the Chabad Giving Kitchen, which prepares and distributes meals to people in need.<\/p>\n

The interview blared on the stadium\u2019s main screen.<\/p>\n

The Giving Kitchen was listed<\/a> as the \u201cbeneficiary\u201d of Jewish Heritage Night on the Giants website.<\/p>\n

Fried told JNS that it was \u201camazing\u201d for the Giants to interview him on the field.<\/p>\n

At the Giving Kitchen, \u201cwe feed homeless and other people who are unable to get food on their own, and also provide care packages,\u201d he said. \u201cWe also give matzo ball soup out in the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery week, the elderly and low-income people, we give whole meals to for Shabbat,\u201d he said. \u201cThey get to share in your heritage a little bit, and you spread the joy and happiness in giving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fried thinks that San Francisco is the \u201cgreatest city outside of Israel to be Jewish.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Jon<\/p>\n

Jon Fried, a volunteer for the Chabad Giving Kitchen, during the San Francisco Giants\u2019 Jewish Heritage Night at Oracle Park, July 7, 2026. Photo by Aaron Bandler. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe got a Jewish mayor. We\u2019re a city on the rebound, and I think part of it is because it\u2019s the city of love and accepting everybody for all different faiths,\u201d he told JNS. \u201cI\u2019m five generations here, but I\u2019m going to tell you that antisemitism has no place in San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s Jewish heritage night, and the community showing up to it, sends the message that \u201cwe don\u2019t care about\u201d the Jew-haters, according to Joshua Laber, a volunteer for the Young Adult Leadership Committee for Congregation Emanu-El, a Reform synagogue in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to live our lives,\u201d he told JNS. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be open and honest about who we are, and we\u2019re going to be ourselves in public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every year, the committee, which plans events for young adults in the Bay Area, brings people to Jewish Heritage Night. This year, it came with about 60, which is in line with prior years, according to Laber.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people appreciate that they do this,\u201d he said of the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know a lot of other Jewish organizations are out here too,\u201d he told JNS. \u201cFriends who I know through Emanu-El have bought tickets through AEPi or whatever Jewish organization they\u2019re affiliated with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey make a good showing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(July 13, 2026 \/ JNS) Blowing a shofar on the field at Oracle Park, home of the San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-396730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}