Courtesy of JTA. Photo credit: Mark Brown/Getty Images
A Jewish Mets fan wears a team kippah at a 2021 game against the St. Louis Cardinals
(JTA) — In September 2023, the last time the New York Mets had a Jewish Heritage Day at Citi Field, the Israeli acting consul general threw one ceremonial first pitch, and the comedian Eitan Levine threw another. Then the actor Ezra Miller and singer-songwriter Matisyahu threw a third, tossing a matzah ball toward home plate in a memorable gag.
Between innings, Matisyahu performed, and videos screened in the stadium show Mets mascot Mr. Met lifted on a chair during the hora. The in-house organist played Adam Sandler’s “The Chanukah Song.” In all, it was a shticky celebration of Jewish culture.
There has not been another Jewish Heritage Night at Citi Field since.
Few seemed to notice the last week, when a handful of social media posts called out the Mets for not advertising a Jewish Heritage Night when they recently announced the full slate of upcoming themed nights. On Thursday, that narrative got turbocharged when writer Kevin Deutsch published a Substack essay alleging that this year’s “exclusion” of Jewish Heritage Night could be a response to an increasingly anti-Zionist and antisemitic atmosphere.
“The team is holding many ethnic heritage celebrations in 2026 and Jews are excluded from that list,” Deutsch said in an interview “The dropping of the Jewish heritage event and the exclusion of Jewish fans from the team’s identity-based celebrations is a fairly recent development, and a major ongoing story.”
“Rumors are that the Mets don’t want to deal with policing antisemitic protests,” wrote Michael Brendan Dougherty, a senior writer at the conservative National Review. “The night would attract pro-Palestinian and antisemitic activists bringing signs or unfurling banners.”
Some Jewish Mets fans say they are not concerned.
“The Mets have been nothing but kind and welcoming to their Jewish fans,” Levine, who set a world record when he threw the first pitch at Citi Field in August 2023, said in a video on Instagram in which he wore a Hebrew-language Mets hat. “There are a ton of teams in the MLB that don’t have a Jewish heritage day, and it has nothing to do with Israel.”
But does it? A representative for the New York Mets did not respond to a request for comment.
The franchise has hosted a variety of heritage nights since the 1990s. Before 2023, the Mets often but did not always host a Jewish heritage night, which was occasionally swapped with Celebrate Israel Night, last held in 2022.
In 2024, the team announced it was doing away with many of its individual heritage nights, instead replacing them with multi-day cultural themed programming called “A Celebration of Queens Culture” that was designed to be more broadly inclusive.
At least a dozen MLB teams do have Jewish nights on their public calendars this year, according to a list compiled annually by Zach Raab, a Jewish baseball evangelist who works for the league.
Since announcing its policy change, the Mets have added back some themed nights. This season’s schedule of upcoming themed games include nights honoring Italian heritage, first responders, Japanese heritage, Dominican heritage and LGBTQ community.
“Jewish Mets fans are a core part of the fan base, and the fact that they have been excluded from a long roster of ethnic celebration nights is, frankly, offensive,” Deutsch said. “The fact that this exclusion happened before 2026 and went uncovered by mainstream media makes this situation even more troubling.”
The Mets have indicated support for its substantial Jewish fan base in other ways. Last year, the Mets honored Holocaust survivor Lidia Mayer. Kosher food has exploded in availability at Citi Field, which even had kosher-for-Passover options available during the holiday earlier this month.
