SALT LAKE CITY — On Sunday, the sound of singing could be heard inside the Delta Center during the Utah Mammoth hockey game as they had their very first menorah lighting.
“We did it at the Jazz for eight years,” said Rabbi Avremi Zippel with the Chabad of Utah. "Initially, with the way the schedule worked out, we decided to do the Mammoth. I think the Mammoth are growing very quickly in their popularity across the state."
“Especially at a sporting event, like it's all connected, and making sure that everybody feels safe and welcome, and that the Utah Mammoth are even doing that is huge, because I feel like not a lot of sports will do that, unfortunately,” said fan Jacklyn Gallegos.
Celebrating Jewish Heritage Night at a Mammoth game is something that meant a lot to Eli Wininger.
“All the antisemitism that's been rampant throughout the world since Oct. 7,” he said, "I was personally inside of Gaza just a month and a half ago, and it breaks my heart to see everything that happens around the world, but when I see moments like this of the entire area and community, and people that aren't and don't have to be with us, but showing their love and showing their respect, it warms my heart and makes everything feel worth it.”
Coming off the shooting in Australia, Wininger feels it's important to represent religion in public spaces.
“I was screaming my religion off the top of my lungs. I was raising an Israel flag. I was putting my Jewish star out,” he said. "I think that if our enemies succeed in silencing us, if our enemies succeed in having us be scared of our religion, our identity, then that is a huge loss for us and a huge victory for them."
Whether a fan at the game on Sunday was Jewish or not, they all agreed on one thing.
“It's important to support anybody, because intersectionality is so important,” Gallegos said.
“We're all we've got for one another,” Zippel added. "I think that in times of need, when different faiths can lean on one another and can expect that love and that tolerance from one another, we're all able to count on that in our times of need."
