B"H
The Haredim are upset again and I am excited to see how the new issue is going to end.
The famous Israeli manufacturer Strauss - Elit is in trouble. They should have expected the upcoming haredi protests but, instead, they only looked at the profit side.
Strauss - Elit is famous for its ice cream, microwave food, cottage cheese, coffee and especially for its sweets and chocolates. Now before Chanukkah, the demand for chocolate is rising, as many Israeli parents tend to give chocolate products as Chanukkah gifts.
Strauss - Elit, however, plans to expand on the international markets as well and there, people are not too interested in Chanukkah but rather in Xmas. In order to meet all customer' s desires, the company had a "great idea".
Products for abroad would be wrapped into shiny coloured paper showing Santa Claus and the products for the local Israeli market would be wrapped into shiny coloured paper showing Chanukkah motives. This way, Christian and Jewish customers would be happy and buy a lot.
The only problem is that many of the products which should be sold abroad are also being sold in Israel. If you go into a supermarket in Tel Aviv you might find a Santa chocolate produced by Strauss - Elit. The manufacturer provides the Chanukkah products with the best Hechsher; Badatz Edah HaCharedit. This way, all the religious are going to buy their Chanukkah chocolate.
Chocolate for the export being wrapped into Santa paper has either no Hechsher at all or a less accepted one. Who cares anyway ?
The Haredim are going wild because their and other Jewish children will be confronted with shiny chocolate pictures showing idol worship motives such as Mr Santa. Let alone the missing Hechsher.
But obviously there is a local demand for these kind of products. Otherwise Strauss - Elit would only sell them abroad.
The great demand comes from the majority of non - Jewish Russian immigrants. They make Aliyah in order to leave Russia and as soon as they arrive in Israel, they continue practicing their former religion called Christianity. I cannot count the incidents anymore when those immigrants screamed for non - kosher food. "We want everything just like in Russia", so they claim. And pork etc. is on the top of their menu.
In Agrippas Street, right behind the Machane Yehudah Market, we already have three non - kosher Russian stores. Business is going well and also Santa Claus appears in the shop windows right before Xmas.
I cannot really blame Strauss - Elit for their products showing Santas but rather the Jewish Agency for letting in all the Gentile Russians. If I do not like the food in a country, I am free to move somewhere else. But only coming here in order to get financial support and Aliyah benefits but otherwise complaining about the Jewish religion and especially the religious is totally out of place.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
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Shalom, Miriam. I am not going to mince my words, let me get straight to the point. I am an immigrant from Russia and I find your comments on our community deeply offensive if not shovinistic. The way you present the russian speaking community in your articles is just ignorant. Do you sincerely think that russian speakers are a bunch of pork-eating church going drunkards? Let me remind you that our input into Israely science, economy and art is more than sugnificant. Well, what the hell am I so upset about, your vews are just typical. My husband risked his life in the army and I spent 4 long years working for less than minimal payment in a Haredi Zdaka fund. You guys just don't have a gran of appreciation, do you? So be it, there is higher judgement than yours.
ReplyDeleteB"H
ReplyDeleteNot all the Russians coming to Israel are like that but the Russian community as a whole should ask itself why they are the most unpopular society in Israel. Maybe it doesn't apply to you so much in the States but most Russians coming to Israel are NOT Jewish and follow their old ways instead of getting adjusted to a new country.