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‘Sunday Night Football’ to feature first-ever Hanukkah menorah lighting
(JTA) — When the New York Giants and Washington Commanders face off on “Sunday Night Football” this weekend, there will be two extra lights inside the stadium.
Sunday is the first night of Hanukkah, and for the first time ever, the National Football League’s marquee game will feature a menorah lighting.
Organized by Chabad’s teen network, CTeen International, and Chabad of Maryland, the lighting will take place after the game’s first quarter in Washington. It will be displayed on FedExField’s jumbotrons; it is not clear whether the NBC broadcast will show the lighting on television.
According to Chabad, East Coast chapters of the teen movement will attend the game, while local rabbis will lead a menorah parade and tailgate party outside the stadium, where they’ll distribute menorahs, latkes and sufganiyot, or Hanukkah doughnuts, to Jewish fans.
“With eighty thousand fans watching from the stands and upwards of eighteen million tuning in from home, the prime-time game’s first public menorah lighting spreads Hanukkah’s light at a time when popular culture reels from antisemitism,” Chabad said in a statement to the Jerusalem Post.
According to NBC data, “Sunday Night Football” has owned primetime’s top slot for 11 straight years, averaging 19.3 million viewers in 2021. FedExField, located just east of Washington, D.C., fits 82,000 fans.
“It’s a truly unprecedented opportunity to share the warmth and light of Hanukkah,” Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky of CTeen International told the Post.
The public display comes at a time of increased antisemitism, including in the sports world.
Last month, an Australian Jewish teen was drafted into the country’s leading football league, only to face a barrage of online hate, while the antisemitism controversy surrounding Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving made headlines for much of the fall.
Neither the Giants nor the Commanders have any Jewish players — there are only a handful in the entire league. Washington owner Dan Snyder, who is under multiple investigations for alleged financial and sexual misconduct in his organization, is Jewish and is a member of the Greater Washington Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He is considering selling the franchise.
John Mara, president and co-owner of the Giants, is not Jewish but has previously expressed frustration when his team’s schedule has overlapped with Jewish holidays. He voiced his displeasure earlier this season when the Giants played on Rosh Hashanah, saying, “We have always requested the league take the Jewish High Holy Days into consideration when formulating our schedule.” (Mara’s co-owner, decorated film producer and team chairman Steve Tisch, is Jewish.)
This weekend’s game holds extra importance on the field, too: The Giants and Commanders are currently tied in the standings and are both vying for a playoff spot.
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The post ‘Sunday Night Football’ to feature first-ever Hanukkah menorah lighting appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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120th anniversary of the Forverts advice column “Bintel Brief”
מזל־טובֿ! דעם 20סטן יאַנואַר 2026 איז געוואָרן 120 יאָר זינט דער גרינדונג פֿון „אַ בינטל בריוו“ — דער עצות־רובריק פֿונעם פֿאָרווערטס. די רובריק איז פֿאַרלייגט געוואָרן פֿונעם גרינדער און לאַנגיאָריקן שעף־רעדאַקטאָר אַב קאַהאַן אין 1906.
כּדי אָפּצומערקן דעם יום־טובֿ ברענגען מיר אײַך צוויי זאַכן:
• ערשטנס, אַן אַרטיקל וועגן אַ טשיקאַווען בריוו וואָס איז אָנגעקומען אין דער פֿאָרווערטס־רעדאַקציע אין יאַנואַר 1949, פֿון אַ לייענער וועמעס זון האָט חתונה געהאַט מיט אַ קריסטלעכער פֿרוי
• צווייטנס, אַ פֿאָרווערטס־ווידעאָ אויף ייִדיש וועגן דער געשיכטע פֿון „אַ בינטל בריוו“, מיטן געוועזענעם פֿאָרווערטס־רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלער און דער פֿאָרווערטס־אַרכיוויסטקע חנה פּאָלאַק.
The post 120th anniversary of the Forverts advice column “Bintel Brief” appeared first on The Forward.
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Report: Khamenei Moved to Underground Bunker in Tehran
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a televised message, after the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Amid tense expectation of US strike on key assets of the Islamic regime, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was moved into a special underground bunker in Tehran, the Iran International website reported on Saturday.
The report further added that the supreme leader’s third son Masoud Khamenei has taken over day-to-day management of the leader’s office, functioning as the de facto main channel for coordination vis-à-vis the executive branches of the government and the security forces.
The report describes Khamenei’s hideout as a “fortified site with interconnected tunnels.”
On Thursday US President Donald Trump said that a “massive” naval force was heading toward Iran.
“We have a lot of ships going that direction just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction. And we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters.
“We have an armada. We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it. We’ll see,” Trump added.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, along with three destroyers, was spotted making its way to the Middle East from Asia, according to ship-tracking data.
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Israel, Syria to Finalize US-Brokered Security Deal ‘Soon,’ as ‘Developments Accelerate Noticeably’
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria, March 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
i24 News – Syrian and Israeli officials are expected to meet soon under US mediation, perhaps in Paris, to finalize a security agreement between Damascus and Jerusalem, a source close to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa told i24NEWS on Saturday.
According to the Syrian source, the talks will also focus on various potential joint strategic and economic projects in the buffer zones between the two countries.
“There is very optimistic talk suggesting the possibility of even opening an Israeli embassy in Damascus before the end of this year, given the significant progress in the prospect of Syria joining the Abraham Accords,” the source said.
The original Syrian plan was limited to a security agreement and the opening of an Israeli liaison office in Damascus without diplomatic status, the source tells me. “But developments are accelerating noticeably under pressure from the United States, and specifically by President Trump, and amid growing Syrian openness.”
If Damascus manages to reach an integration agreement with the Druze in southern Syria, similar to its agreement with the Kurds in the northeast, and Israel commits to respecting Syria’s unity and territorial integrity, then al-Sharaa would be open to elevate the status of the agreement with Israel to more than just a security agreement, to also include diplomatic relations and an Israeli embassy in Damascus.
“The al-Sharaa government believes that a viable compromise to advance a peace process with Israel would include a 25-year lease for the Golan Heights, similar to the one Jordan previously signed with Israel over the border enclaves, turning it into a ‘Garden of Peace” of joint economic ventures,” the source said.
The source close to al-Sharaa also tells me that US President Trump is seeking to bring Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Al-Sharaa together for a peace agreement signing ceremony.
It should be noted that Israel has repeatedly rejected returning any part of the Golan Heights, let alone the entire territory.
On another front, the source stated that Damascus intends to adopt a new local administration system based on expanded administrative decentralization to enhance participation in local communities across all Syrian governorates.
According to the source, this solution would resolve persisting disputes with the Druze, Kurds, Alawites, and other minorities. A new Syrian government is expected to be formed within the next three months, the source added.