An IronPigs sellout!

Heritage night fans eat kosher dogs, sing

By Carl Zebrowski Editor

It’s only one night a year that you can go to a professional baseball game in the Lehigh Valley and hear the Israeli national anthem sung before the first pitch and eat a kosher hot dog. That’s Jewish Heritage Night at the IronPigs, and on June 13, the Jewish community came out to Coca-Cola Park to watch the Philadelphia Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate face the Toledo Mud Hens.

The Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley, host and organizer of the event, sold out the tickets it had available for the night. The holders of those tickets got their choice of a specially designed promotional giveaway after they entered the park: an IronPigs cap featuring a Star of David or a backpack with IronPigs emblazoned on it in Hebrew.

During the pregame festivities, several community members lined up with other fans behind the mound to throw the ceremonial “first pitch” (which is actually nu- merous pitches, one after the other). After that, students from the Jewish Day School sang “Hatikvah,” the Israeli national anthem, under the direction of Ariel Solomon, director of Hebrew and Judaics at JDS, and JDS alum and JCC staffer Yitzi Powers.

“It’s a really great opportunity for representation and just to be able to have our local Jewish Day School kids get on the field to sing the Israeli national anthem in front of an entire stadium of people,” said Powers. “I was happy to be a part of it.”

Powers’ dad, Rabbi Jonathan Powers, the mashgiach who oversees kosher food preparation for Muhlenberg College, ran the night’s kosher food stand. He served up meals of either a hot dog or knish along with potato chips and a drink.

Between the third and fourth innings, Aaron Gorodzinsky, the Federation’s director of campaign and security planning and organizer of Jewish Heritage Night, joined radio play-byplay announcer Sam Jellinek in the broadcast booth for an