'We don't cater to you people': US hobby store refuses to stock Jewish items
I never heard of the Hobby Lobby before, and you can bet that I won't be shopping there.Let's go to the videotape.
Steven Green, the billionaire owner of the Hobby Lobby, claims that stocking Jewish items contradicts his Christian values.
Green owns more than 550 Hobby Lobby stores nationwide, all of which are closed on Sunday, the Christian Sabbath. He is also known for his lawsuit against President Obama’s health care law, which he says tramples on his religious liberty by forcing him to insure employees for medical services he objects to on religious grounds. Many legal experts agree the case has a good chance of landing at the Supreme Court.
He’s also known for holding one of the country’s largest collections of ancient biblical artifacts, including what’s believed to be the oldest known copy of a Hebrew prayer book. In unveiling the book on Thursday, Green dated the item to 840 C.E., declining to use the more Christian-sounding 840 A.D. so as not to offend Jews.
The Hobby Lobby Hanukkah controversy began when Berwitz learned that on a recent shopping trip his wife’s friends could not find anything related to Hanukkah at their local Hobby Lobby store in Marlboro, N.J., though it was stocked with Christmas items.
According to Berwitz, one of the women asked about bar mitzvah cards, and a Hobby Lobby salesperson replied: “We don’t cater to you people.”
That story prompted Berwitz, who own a market research company and writes the “Hopelessly Partisan” blog, to call the Marlboro store and ask why it seemed to be ignoring Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights, which begins on Nov. 27 this year. He wrote that he received the following response:
“Because Mr. Green is the owner of the company, he’s a Christian, and those are his values.”
Berwitz told Religion News Service that he then called Hobby Lobby’s corporate headquarters in Oklahoma City, and the company confirmed that it does not stock items for Hanukkah, and did not give a reason. When he asked whether the company carries Passover merchandise, he was again told no.
“As someone with a great many Christian friends and acquaintances,” Berwitz wrote, “I can honestly say that I don’t know even one who would see the intentional exclusion of Jews as having anything to do with their religious beliefs.”As I said at the outset of this post, I only heard of this store a few minutes ago, but as far as I am concerned, he can keep his Christian values and not cater to Jews. I'd rather patronize Jewish-owned stores anyway.
Labels: anti-Semitism, Chanuka
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:19 AM
10 Comments:
It doesn't bother me that a christian won't stock other religion's items.
It bothers me that they call people not like themselves "you people".
Spit
It seems Mr Green is also the owner of the world's oldest siddur.
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.ca/2013/09/worlds-oldest-siddur-discovered.html#.Uk6NvBBguz8
So, you think private companies should be forced to sell religious items for faiths other than their own?
He may have meant the Leftist Progressives when he said "you people." This store chain has been harassed for years now over their self identification as a "Christian" enterprise. (E.g., they won their court case so that they don't have to offer abortion pills in their health insurance. Not shopping there, if you see it differently, is the correct familiy response. Or don't work there if you don't like their benefits. But the shrill attacks from the Progressives are, as always, ceaseless. Here's what I said about it yesterday:
Sorry, folks... if you want Hobby Lobby to stock Hanukkah stuff, you'll have to start by stocking Christmas stuff in the NYC Judaica shops. Hobby Lobby makes no bones that their thing is Christianity. They don't bother anybody. That does not make them anti-Jewish. But your New Left Progressive Democrat on-going harassment of them may indicate that you are anti-Christian. Hobby Lobby was my source of choice for art supplies that my family donated for six years to Shabbat dinner children's art tables and for centerpieces made by the preschool. I love Hobby Lobby. And thank you, Hobby Lobby, for finding and stocking art supplies that we could consistently afford to provide for Shabbat dinner.
BTW, Mr. Berwitz is a Leftist Progressive Democrat, complete with bully tendencies. They are going after the Evangelicals, who they imagine are conservative. You're positive he didn't make up the "you people" thing? But what Mr. Berwitz won't know or pass on, if he does know, is that, for example, the Progressive Interfaith Episcopalian denomination put on a program out of the UK in the late '90s that held that an Episcopalian should shun and cut off ties with any adult child of theirs, who converts to Judaism or raises the grandkids Jewish. Mr. Berwitz won't like that, so he'll bury that info. Leftism is a conflict producing mental flaw.
BTW2, I can't tell you how much worse I've heard among Jewish groups than "you people" as regards the human dignity of, say, Sarah Palin, etc. Get a grip, people. Don't let the Alinsky wedge be driven.
Carl,
I disagree with the owner's decision. But I'd no more call Hobby Lobby's not selling Chanuka (never can spell that word right) items 'anti-semetic' than I'd call not selling Burkas 'islamophobic'
Still, time to send an e-mail.
Well, here's one Christian who won't be shopping at Hobby Lobby either. If they don't want "you people" shopping and spending money there, they won't get "me people" shopping and spending my money there, either.
And, no, Aarradin, I don't think any private company should be forced to sell religious items for faiths other than their own. However, for a company to not do so for one reason clearly showing pure bigotry, they need to be shown a cost, boycott by non-bigots, for their bigotry. If they're free to make their own marketing decisions, then non-bigoted potential customers are likewise free to shop elsewhere.
Incidentally, if anyone wants to tell Hobby Lobby what they think about their policy, here's the link to their website's Contact Us page. I just gave them my two cents on this topic.
Eh, there's always Michael's.
Certainly you wouldn't argue that a Jewish owned store is obliged to sell Christian (or other avodah zarah) items? Why should we care, at all? They just don't need to be rude about it.
I accidentally stumbled across this post looking for an email address for someone at US Hobby (toy type hobbies), and cannot believe "you people" (as in anyone who lets others religious beliefs control their lives) will try to destroy a business (or their reputation) because they don't sell a particular faiths holiday items... You have the right to not shop there like anyone else, but why? REALLY?? MANY places do not cater to every religion. I dont know a single business chain that carries EVERY single religions items! However, they might sell other items I need/want, and I'm not going to try to destroy their rep because of it. "Oh my, NATIONAL NEWS, Chik-Fil-A is closed on Sunday's and doesn't sell Sufganiyot, so I'm not going to enjoy their delicious chicken"! People make the biggest deals out of nothing, which is why everyone is so lawsuit happy, our schools are screwed up, and nobody wants to enjoy life anymore (because we're afraid we'll offend someone, or break a BS law)... What a joke! Live YOUR lives and let others live theirs how they see fit. WHO CARES? What would Hobby Lobby do with the 99% of everything else they sell (and people actually buy) if they stocked EVERY religions items (and didn't forget ANYTHING, as not to OFFEND that one shopper)? It's like was mentioned earlier, there are MANY store who simply sell items to a specific religion, NOT NATIONAL NEWS PEOPLE! Is it because he's rich and you're just jealous? Or maybe because the article writer is in part of the media and can raise a big stink because they're really just BORED with their own life! SO SAD! I'm not of either religious belief, but certainly shop their and eat at Chika-Fil-A, because I like the other things they sell. If I want a specific religious item, I'll either find it elsewhere, or buy it online, but certainly won't harrass every store owner or employee that doesn't have what I want (I was brought up a spoiled brat)...
Post a Comment
<< Home