Ducks, JCCs celebrate Jewish Heritage Night

Sitting in section 201 of Fairfield Properties Ballpark in Central Islip, Joe Margolin recalled being at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn and getting to meet the 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers, including the team that won the 1955 World Series.

Margolin’s father, also Joe Margolin, was a lawyer in Brooklyn with an office near Judge Peter B. Hanson, Walter O’Malley’s father-in-law. O’Malley owned the Dodgers then. 

“I actually met Sandy Koufax, I was a Brooklyn Dodger fan, Sandy had just come to the Brooklyn Dodgers as a bonus baby,” Margolin said. “He was there with (Duke) Snyder, (Gil) Hodges, the rest of the team.”    

Margolin, a Valley Stream resident, who takes part in programs offered by the Marion & Aaron Gural JCC in the Five Towns and a member of the Center for Adult Life Enrichment in Hewlett, was at the Long Island Ducks Jewish Heritage Night with his wife Ellen and members of other JCCs as well on Sunday. The Ducks have held the event for nearly a decade and the JCCs have been involved for the past three years.

“It gives me a chance to get out and identify with my fellow Jews, also to show that we are here and we’re not going anywhere,” he said

His favorite Jewish ballplayer is Hank Greenberg. He and Koufax are the most recognizable Jewish baseball players.

The night however was much more than about baseball with the shadow of the Israel-Hamas hovering.     

Along with the Gural JCC there was the Barry & Florence Friedberg JCC in Oceanside, Mid-Island Y JCC in Plainview, the Sid Jacobson JCC in Greenvale and the Suffolk Y HCC in Commack, which all partners with the UJA Federation of New York.

‘I think it’s incredible when the five Jewish community centers of Long Island come together to show support for Israel and the Jewish community,” said Stacey Feldman, executive director the Gural JCC, which serves surrounding communities such as East Rockaway and Lynbrook. “We are united and stronger together, and it just makes a lot of sense to celebrate and commemorate together.”

The first favorite Jewish ballplayer that came to mind is Koufax, “along with our hometown hero Jacob Steinmetz,” Feldman added. The Woodmere resident and HAFTR High graduate became the first Orthodox Jewish baseball player drafted. Selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2021 he is currently pitching for their High-A Hillsboro team.      

A somber tone embraced the ballpark when the family of Omer Neutra spoke to the crowd. Neutra, 22, of Plainview, is one of the eight Americans still held captive by Hamas. 

“Having a Jewish Heritage Night anywhere is one of the most important things we can do to just reinforce that being Jewish we should be proud to be Jewish, and we’re friendly and want to make sure everybody gets along with each other,” said Rick Lewis, the CEO of the Mid-Island Y JCC.

Nearly 20 Jewish organizations joined forces to create the Long Island Jewish Coalition to advocate for Israel and to be “proactive instead of reactive to today’s current events,” Feldman said.   

Dagan Cohen, who heads the Center for Israel at Sid Jacobson JCC, is also involved.

“We’re meeting all 19 organizations, all the JCCs, all the big organizations, every two weeks thinking together what can we do,” Cohen said, noting the fundraising. 

There was also glatt kosher food, baseballs decorated with the American and Israeli flags and a baseball game. The Ducks lost 7-5 to the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, but won their 10th series out of the past 11.