Jacobo Ben-Yosef had heard that New York was exciting and vibrant. He had not expected Jewish scene to be the same.

“It was life-changing for me to look around the room, with Manhattan’s skyline in the background, and see proud Jews from around the world wearing kippahs and lighting Shabbat candles,” he said.

Ben-Yosef was one of more than 200 fans from six continents who gathered last Friday night on a Manhattan rooftop for a World Cup-themed Shabbat dinner, hosted by Chabad-Lubavitch’s Jewish Latin Center (JLC). Moroccan dishes sat beside Argentine favorites as guests who had never met before sang and welcomed Shabbat together, the iconic city skyline behind them.

New York and New Jersey will host eight matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, including the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium. As they do every time a World Cup comes to their country, Jewish communities across the region are welcoming a wave of visiting fans, among them Jews who have never set foot inside a Jewish community in their lives.

JLC has planned World Cup-themed Shabbat dinners throughout the monthlong tournament, paired with Thursday learning and mingling sessions, kosher picnics in Central Park and other gatherings between matches.
JLC has planned World Cup-themed Shabbat dinners throughout the monthlong tournament, paired with Thursday learning and mingling sessions, kosher picnics in Central Park and other gatherings between matches.

The timing works in their favor: six Shabbatot fall within the tournament’s 39-day run, and the region holds one of the largest concentrations of kosher food, synagogues and Shabbat-observant Jewish life of any of the 16 host cities, centered on the Teaneck-Englewood corridor in Bergen County, a short drive from MetLife Stadium.

For Gabriella Tenenbaum, who flew in from Germany, the scene and theme at the rooftop dinner was something she had never encountered. “Shabbat with soccer balls on the table!” she said. “I have never experienced a Shabbat like that.”

Word of the Jewish experiences available at the JLC for World Cup attendees has traveled beyond the fans already in town. Rabbi Mendy Weitman, who directs JLC, said a man in London called him to say he was coming to New York specifically to watch the World Cup.

“He said that if he’s coming to a city that’s so Jewish, he most certainly wants to join a Shabbat meal with his Jewish brothers and sisters,” Weitman said.

Alexandre Cohen traveled from a small Jewish community in Recife, Brazil, and said the dinner was the highlight of his trip so far. “I did not expect to meet hundreds of young, cool Jews celebrating Shabbat like this,” he said.

What began as a handful of Shabbat dinners in 2009 has grown into adult-education programs serving thousands, with the JLC's four rabbis teaching Torah classes in businesses and offices across the city, much of it in Spanish.
What began as a handful of Shabbat dinners in 2009 has grown into adult-education programs serving thousands, with the JLC's four rabbis teaching Torah classes in businesses and offices across the city, much of it in Spanish.

Jewish Experiences at Most Popular Sports Event on Planet

Rabbi Mendy and Frumie Weitman founded JLC in 2009 after noticing that young Latin-American Jews moving to New York were searching for a community resembling the close-knit ones they had left behind. What began as a handful of Shabbat dinners has grown into adult-education programs serving thousands, with four rabbis teaching Torah classes in businesses and offices across the city, much of it in Spanish.

Ahead of the tournament, JLC reached out to Chabad emissaries across South America, where soccer is an integral part of the culture, asking them to point their local fans toward an address in New York.

JLC has planned World Cup-themed Shabbat dinners throughout the monthlong tournament, paired with Thursday learning and mingling sessions, kosher picnics in Central Park and other gatherings between matches. The organization is also arranging private kosher dining for visiting groups; in one case, it coordinated with a restaurant to host 30 Jewish fans from Mexico.

JLC is not the only Chabad center preparing for the tournament. Near MetLife Stadium, Chabad of the Meadowlands is offering kosher food, tailgates, Shabbat meals and services, and minyans through the Final. In Miami, Chabad at the Stadium is greeting fans outside Hard Rock Stadium with a kosher hot dog cart and tefillin. Chabad centers in Philadelphia and Dallas have opened their doors for World Cup Shabbat dinners and “Torah, Tefillin ’n Nosh” gatherings, and Chabad centers in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey have coordinated kosher food, Shabbat hospitality and daily minyans for fans following matches there.

With 48 teams competing across the United States, Canada and Mexico, JLC is helping fans track down Shabbat meals, kosher food, synagogues and transportation between matches.

“Wherever a Jew travels, and for whatever reason they are traveling for,” Weitman said, “he should know that he has family waiting for him.”