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Gilly\u2019s at Rocket Arena hosted the pregame party during Jewish Community Night.<\/p>\n
The event, a partnership between the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and the Cleveland Cavaliers, included a pregame gathering at Gilly\u2019s at Rocket Arena, where attendees enjoyed kosher pizza in a space lined with sports memorabilia and featuring a basketball arcade game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have season tickets with the Cavaliers, so we think it\u2019s a great combination,\u201d Frank Nisenbaum of Beachwood, who was attending the event with his wife, Jean, told the Cleveland Jewish News. \u201cWe\u2019re proud of who we are, and we are also big-time Cavs fans. We think it\u2019s a great job by the Federation to have this exposure at a Cavs game. We\u2019re very happy about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bradley Sherman, chair of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland Campaigns for Jewish Needs in 2021 and 2022 represented the Federation at the event, said it was special for the Cavs to invite the organization to help support this night.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially now with everything going on in the world, the idea of being able to bring the community together, especially for a fun and joyous occasion, means a lot,\u201d Sherman told the CJN. \u201cIt\u2019s great to see so many faces that you know here while also making plenty of new friends. It means a lot to have everybody here show up and support both our amazing basketball team and our amazing community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jason Hillman, vice president of basketball operations for the Cleveland Cavaliers, said sports entertainment provides an opportunity to get everyone, regardless of background involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s what sports entertainment should be all about, we have the chance to host everybody,\u201d Hillman, a congregant of Congregation Mishkan Or in Beachwood and a Solon resident, told the CJN. \u201cEverybody should feel welcome at a place like Rocket Arena and feel like they see themselves here. It\u2019s why we do what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The game was also Noche Latina, or Latin Night, which celebrated Hispanic\/Latino culture and heritage with dance performances, a Spanish broadcast and a pregame party, just like the one for the Jewish community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is how we roll,\u201d Kevin Clayton, executive vice president, chief impact and equity officer of Rock Entertainment Group, the parent company of the Cavs, said while addressing attendees during the party. \u201cWe stand up for this community, to the point where we are the only team in sports that has a Jewish ERG (employee resource group) called JUICE (Jews for Unity, Inclusion, Connection and Education). That\u2019s important because your Cavs have the courage to lead from the front. We know how important this community is, and we wanted to make sure that our team members have a place where we could grab our arms around them when they need support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clayton, who traveled with the Federation on a trip to Israel in 2025, said the experience changed his life forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were things I saw about Israel and in the Israelis and Jewish people that I never knew,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve brought back some of those principles here to make Cleveland a better community.\u201d<\/p>\n
A portion of ticket sales purchased through the Federation benefited the organization\u2019s annual Campaign for Jewish Needs.<\/p>\n
Attendees sporting Cavs\u2019 jerseys and shirts, mingled and enjoyed snacks before the game.<\/p>\n
David Seltzer was dressed up in a steam-punk inspired costume with the Cavs\u2019 logo on a metal-looking top hat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had the tools out for other costumes, so I went ahead and made myself a Cavs\u2019 version,\u201d Seltzer, a Beachwood resident who attended with Yair Oppenheim and Isabelle Seltzer of Fair Lawn, N.J., both also dressed in the outfits. \u201cWe like to wear steam punk costumes. And I thought, \u2018Oh, I could definitely do this with the Cavs logo.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Hillman, Sherman and Clayton all addressed attendees at Gilly\u2019s during the party, thanking them for their support.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an amazing foundation here,\u201d Sherman said. \u201c(When I was campaign chair), I got the opportunity to work with this Jewish community and see the wonderful things we do here, in Israel and all over the world. I see how we build community, save individuals, support our friends and family, and make both Cleveland and the world a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n
About 30 Jewish community members then gathered on the basketball court and unfurled a large American flag during the national anthem. Children were later selected to high-five Cavs\u2019 players as they ran onto the court following halftime.<\/p>\n
Several attendees watched the game from a suite, while others purchased tickets throughout the arena.<\/p>\n
Hillman is from Detroit and said it was a \u201ctough week\u201d after a 41-year-old U.S. citizen who immigrated from Lebanon 15 years ago, rammed his vehicle into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich. on March 12, opening fire and causing an explosion using fireworks, before killing himself. Hillman said he learned through that attack how powerful community can be.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is incredible and inspiring,\u201d Hillman told the CJN. \u201cThe strength of the Jewish community in Cleveland is beyond words. The fact that the Cavs have partnered with the Federation and are hosting this night is equally inspiring. We\u2019re big on community, whether that\u2019s our Northeast Ohio community, our Jewish community or our Cavs\u2019 community \u2013 we\u2019re honored to host this. It\u2019s a special night for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite a 120\u2013103 loss to the Miami Heat on March 25 at Rocket Arena in downtown Cleveland, more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,305,193,3846,75723,6,8453],"class_list":{"0":"post-694051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavaliers","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","12":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","13":"tag-employee-resource-group","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-rocket-arena"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116335706621698313","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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