The 2003 National League Championship Series coincided with the weeklong Jewish festival of Sukkot. During that week, Rabbi Boruch Hertz, an emissary of the Lubavitch Chabad, built a sukkah across the street from Wrigley Field and encouraged everyone, but especially Jews, to come in and pray with him.
The move did not upset any existing loyalties, he said, since he always preferred playing baseball to watching. (This is also an easy to way to disavow any claim that his divided loyalties were responsible for the Cubs’ collapse against the Mets last year.) He has developed a fondness for the Cubs, however, and admires their persistence.
He was coy, though, about whether he believes God actually favors the Cubs. “The Cubs are bringing the whole city together,” he said. “God is definitely a fan of people doing good things and being happy.”
