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Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Lakewood Yeshivois Refuse To Accept Chabad Child In Their Schools


Letter from the Chabad parent:

Here Is What I Am Thinking About This Tisha Bav

It was two and a half years ago when Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz addressed a dinner in Lakewood and gave a speech that no one was expecting.
“L’tzaareynu harav, we have a machala in Lakewood,” said Rechnitz. “No other out of town community would ever allow a child to be left without a school. In LA if a child wouldn’t have a school , the first day the whole community would be all over it. The same thing would happen in Baltimore, Chicago, Toronto or anywhere else. This is basically a Lakewood machala. Yes, there a few kids in Monsey, more than a few kids in Brooklyn, but nowhere else and at no other time in history was this problem close to the magnitude it is in Lakewood.”
Rechnitz ultimately retracted his words and the firestorm that shook Lakewood to its core slowly settled down with everyone saying that, Baruch Hashem, the situation had changed.

"International Presence" Guy Slashes Tires of Chevron Settler ... Caught on Video



Israel has summoned Brigadier General Einar Johnsen, who heads the Temporary International Presence in Hebron. to the Foreign Ministry over the publication of a video allegedly showing one of his staff members slashing the tire of a Jewish owned vehicle in the city.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Foreign Ministry to act after the incident, which occurred a year ago, was published on Channel 2.

It follows the release earlier this month of a video of TIPH’s legal counsel slapping a 10-year Jewish child in Hebron.

TIPH could not be reached for comment. It’s 64 member observer force has operated in Hebron since 1997, when the Hebron agreement split the city. It placed 80% of the city of over 200,000 residents under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority, and the remaining 20% under IDF rule. Hebron’s Jewish community of some 1,000 people, lives solely in the part of the city under IDF control. 

Watch the Grand Opening Of the Lincoln Tunnel In 1938


Shelly Silver Says He Fears Death in Prison, Says He’s Sorry



Too bad that Shelly didn't wear  a shtreimel and have a beard. If he had, he would have had more sympathy  from the heimishe public .... now nobody gives a damn! 
Sheldon Silver, fearing he will spend the rest of his days behind bars, said he’s sorry for what he did in one of NY State government’s most powerful jobs – and said he’s worried about his well-being.
“I worry about my own age and health. I pray I will not die in prison,” the 74-year-old former Assembly speaker wrote in the July 19th letter to Manhattan federal Judge Valerie Caproni, according to a New York Daily News report.
Caproni is expected to sentence Silver to prison on corruption charges next Friday.
“The only confidence I have left is thanks to the strength and support of my wife, who is my rock,” Silver wrote. “[B]ut we are both crumbling. I worry about my grandchildren and how they will be treated because of me. I worry that my wife will be destitute. I worry about her trying to visit me while continuing to be a full-time helper for her 93 year old mother.”
He later writes, “Everything I ever accomplished has become a joke and a spectacle.”


Chareidi Visitors To Davos Creating A Major Chilul Hashem

Thousands of chareidi families are currently and will be visiting throughout Europe during bein hazmanim, mainly in region of the Alps in Switzerland or France, as well as Austria and Italy. Unfortunately, some are leaving a bad taste with their local hosts.
One of the most prestigious resorts in the country is Davos, Switzerland, where admorim, rabbonim and public figures visit, along with ‘amcha’ – regular Israelis. According to vacationers staying in the area, the streets of Davos during bein hazmanim appear similar to Meah Shearim and Bnei Brak due to the large presence of chareidim.

Monday, July 23, 2018

Anti-Trump "New York Daily News" Going Down the Drain

The New York Daily News – which has become infamous for over-the-top covers mocking the president – laid off half of its newsroom staff on Monday 
Employees received an email on Monday explaining that the Tronc-owned paper is “fundamentally restructuring” to focus on its digital audience.
“We are reducing today the size of the editorial team by approximately 50 percent and re-focusing much of our talent on breaking news – especially in areas of crime, civil justice and public responsibility,” the memo, which was obtained by Fox News, stated.
“I know this is difficult news to hear and want to assure you we are working hard to treat each employee with respect and to make the transition as smooth as possible,” the memo stated.
The tabloid’s human resources department promised to reach out to all affected employees by the end of the day on Monday and layoffs are effective immediately, but exiting staffers will be paid for the next 90 days.
“The decisions being announced today reflect the realities of our business and the need to adapt an ever-changing media environment,” the memo continued. “They are not a reflection on the significant talent that is leaving today.
The paper’s now-former editor in chief Jim Rich and managing editor Kristen Lee were among the cuts, with Robert York taking over as the tabloid’s top editor. Rich returned to the role earlier this year after first splitting with the paper in 2016. He has now removed all mention of the Daily News from his Twitter bio, replacing it with “Just a guy sitting at home watching journalism being choked into extinction.”
The Daily News has become known for its outlandish, anti-Trump cover images. The paper recently featured an illustration depicting Trump as a Supreme Court justice with the headline, "We Are F*#%’d.” The paper has also depicted Trump as numerous variations of a clown, a racist, “nuts,” the “anti-Christ” and even the poop emoji.  
The tabloid called Trump voters “mindless zombies” and categorized Trump a “Dead Clown Walking” when he failed to win the Iowa caucus in 2016.
The Daily News was criticized for referring to Ivanka Trump as “Daddy’s Little Ghoul,” mocking the first daughter. Political commentator Britt McHenry told Fox News that the cover was “reprehensible” and lacked “any sort of decency.”
Politico reported in 2017 that some members of management felt the anti-Trump direction of the paper was having a negative impact on the paper’s bottom line by “costing the News subscriptions in places like Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.”
Tronc acquired the paper from Mort Zuckerman in 2017 for only $1, assuming liabilities and debt in the process.

IDF Soldier Killed With Armor-Piercing Rifle Made in Iran

Sgt Aviv Levi

The Palestinian sniper who shot and killed IDF Sgt. Aviv Levi on Friday used an Iranian gun with the ability to penetrate ceramic bulletproof vests, an initial investigation by the military concluded.

The armor-piercing gun was said to be an Iranian replica of an Austrian Steyr rifle, a report by Israel’s Channel 2 said.

Despite the fact that the IDF was aware that Hamas is in possession of such weapons, the soldier was wearing the standard ceramic vest when shot and not the heavier vest that could have protected against the sniper’s bullets. The reason for that was the low chances of such a rifle being used.
Hundreds attended the funeral of Levi, 21, an infantry soldier in the Givati Brigade, who was laid to rest in Petah Tikva.

The hypocrisy in opposing Israel's Nationality Law

In May 2004 Salim Joubran, an Arab-Israeli, was appointed permanent judge of the Supreme Court. 

The independence of which Joubran enjoys in Israel as an Arab judge was demonstrated in March 2012 at the ceremony of inauguration of the president of the Supreme Court, when Joubran chose not to sing the Israeli national anthem, the Hatikvah.

This is an image unthinkable in any other country from Morocco to Iran. Perhaps even in many Western democracies. 

Israel has just approved the law on the “state of the Jewish nation”

Critics in global circles and the media have been spouting forth on the “attack on pluralism and democracy”.

After 70 years, Israel lacks a constitution. It is a quite a unique anomaly among Western countries, because constitutions are the cornerstone of democracies, they define their identity and purpose.

Israel has “basic laws” on individual rights (in that sense, Israel is as liberal as New Jersey) and the separation of powers, but not a fundamental law that defines the identity and purpose of the state. The new law is approved in order to fill the void. 

Without a Nationality Law, the “law of return” (a tenet of Zionism which guarantees automatic immigration rights to Jews, for example to the French Jews now under Islamist attack) could one day be overthrown as “discriminatory”, as well as the anthem of Israel (which expresses the faithfulness of two millennia of Jews to their land), the flag (another Jewish symbol with the Star of David) could be challenged in court for ignoring the rights of the Arab minority and the Menorah (the Knesset symbol also engraved on the Arch of Titus in Rome) could be considered “racist”. 

The law protects all these.

Opponents argue that declaring Hebrew to be the official language of Israel, while guaranteeing a “special status” to Arabic, is detrimental and racist toward the Arab minority. 

But even the Constitution of France states that “the language of the Republic is French” (article 2) while recognizing the “regional languages” as part of the “French heritage” (article 75). 

Has anyone ever attacked France for this, despite its having a large Arab minority from its former colonies? 

Every road sign and recorded announcement in israel is in both Hebrew and Arabic (English as well, and sometimes recordings have a Russian option)

The Arabs in Israel have equal voting rights. Not only that, but Israel is one of the few places in the Middle East where Arab women have always been able to vote. The Arabs hold numerous seats in the Knesset and the only party ever banned by Israel is a Jewish one (Kach). Israeli Arabs have also held various government po‎sitions.

At the time of the foundation of Israel, only one Arab high school was open, today there are hundreds of Arab schools.
The only legal distinction between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel is that they are not required to serve in the Israeli army. 

In 1999, Abdel Rahman Zuabi was the first Arab-Israeli to enter the Israeli Supreme Court.

 Israel is the “freest Arab nation” in the world, the only country where an Arab spring really succeeded, and without bloodshed..

The law approved by the Knesset puts a bank on the thundering, satanic campaign of international delegitimization that, even after 70 years, calls into question the right of Israel to define itself as the nation-state of the Jewish people.

The Irish Senate just approved an anti-Semitic law banning the selling of Israeli goods produced beyond the 1967 line. 

Those who today are shouting at the “attack on Israeli democracy”  - where are they when in European squares “death to the Jews” is heard, when Iran calls for the destruction of Israel, when a UN agency is born to bring the grandchildren of the 1948 refugees to Israel to destroy it demographically, when Unesco cancels the Jewish history of Jerusalem and when the world does not recognize Israel's right to have its capital in Jerusalem?

Hypocrites, all.

Entire Kotel Wall a ‘danger zone’, archaeologist says


After a large stone fell from the Western Wall on Monday, an Israeli archaeologist declared the holy site’s entire plaza a “danger zone.”

Other stones “could immediately fall” and hurt people, Zachi Dvira told The Times of Israel. He is completing a Ph.D. on the archaeology of the Temple Mount.

The boulder that fell Monday morning at one of the sight’s areas designated for egalitarian mixed prayer weighed about 220 pounds, according to Israel Radio. It missed all onlookers but landed close to a female worshiper.
“I didn’t hear or feel anything until it landed right at my feet,” Daniella Goldberg, 79, told Hadashot TV news. She said that they “tried not to let the incident distract me from my prayers.”

Israel “doesn’t do proper preservation [of the site] because of politics,” Dvira said, arguing that the controversy surrounding the egalitarian prayer area has prevented the proper upkeep.
While the egalitarian section has been closed after the incident, he believes visitors should stand a few feet back from the wall in all of its sections, for safety reasons. He noted that several rocks from the Temple Mount’s other three supporting walls have fallen in recent years. The rock that fell Monday was broken in two from moisture created by the plants in the wall.
“It’s a matter of life or death,” he said.

In 2004, large pieces of Western Wall stone fell during Yom Kippur, injuring one worshiper.

The Western Wall’s official rabbi weighed in on Monday’s event.

“This is an unusual and most rare incident that has not occurred for decades,” said Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch. “The fact that this powerful incident happened a day after the 9th of Av fast, in which we mourned the destruction of our temples, raises questions which the human soul is too small to contain, and requires soul-searching.”

After the fast!

 R' Yoel Teitelbaum at the Kotel Prior to the Establishment of the State


Challenges, difficulties and even tragedies in personal and national life are, to a very great extent, unavoidable and in many cases not even preventable. 

Because of this, the test in life becomes not only how did one deal with the problem but rather how did one recover after the problem proved so devastating. The key to recovery from sad occurrences is therefore resilience – the ability to bounce back even after loss and defeat.

King Solomon in Proverbs defines the righteous person as someone who, even though he or she has fallen seven times, is still capable of rising again. In a sense he is describing evil and bad behavior in terms of an addiction from which one is unable to free one's self and remains hopelessly mired in the pit of one's misery and evil.

Foodborne illnesses have nearly DOUBLED

Longer summers and more imported fruit and veg are driving up the amount of bacteria on our plates


Diagnoses of foodborne illnesses nearly doubled from 2016 to 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest report.
Just today, the agency announced that 88 people have been sickened by Salmonella from live chickens they keep in their back yards.
Danger lurks not only in backyards, but in grocery stores, and cafeterias.  

TRUMP’S CURRENT APPROVAL RATING HIGHEST EVER, STUNS MSNBC


President Trump’s approval rating jumped up to 45 percent, the highest it has been throughout his presidency, according to a new poll released by the Wall Street Journal and NBC. The poll left an MSNBC panel shocked Sunday night by the improvement.

“President Trump has shown throughout his campaign and polling what I took away from the 2016 election is the American people authenticity,” said Kevin McLaughlin of Cogent Strategies Principle. “May not like what authenticity is, what he’s saying or how he’s doing it, but he doesn’t back down from it. When he goes out and does these events, I will call them, it actually helps him in fly over country.”


“He defies political gravity,” he continued.

“So is he right when he basically says he ‘can walk down Fifth Avenue and shoot people’ and people would still stand with him?” asked host Kasie Hunt.

According to the poll, President Trump’s approval rating was up one point from the month of June, at 45 percent.

88 percent of the Republicans surveyed approved of the job the president is doing. (RELATED: Poll: A Staggering Number Of Republicans Approve Of Trump’s Helsinki Performance)

“President Donald Trump’s approval rating edged higher during a week in which he faced withering criticism following a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, signaling that he is positioned to weather the latest controversy sparked by his unusual brand of politics,” the Journal said.

The survey was conducted from July 15-19, a day before the president’s highly criticized press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It spanned past the length of the controversy. While the president received heavy backlash for his comments, it clearly was not reflected in his approval rating.

Two scientists From Gaza found dead in Algeria

Both men from Khan Younis, Gaza killed by either electrocution or gas inhalation..

Nothing further at this time.

Gay Black Rabbi Installed in Upper West Side in New York


Din: My mother a"h would always say "az men lebt, derlebt men alles'" if you live long enough, you will live to see everything.'

As a Black Jew , Rabbi Georgette Kennebrae has had her fair share of experiences that have made her feel less than welcome in the Jewish community. People sometimes assume that she is a member of the synagogue janitorial staff rather than the rabbi. Sometimes when visiting a synagogue, she’ll be asked if she’s lost.
In her position as the newly installed rabbi of West End Synagogue, a Reconstructionist congregation on the Upper West Side, Kennebrae aims to challenge notions of what a Jew looks like.
Kennebrae, 42, wants to make people “understand that I’m not rare as a Jew of color, that there are many of us and that it shouldn’t be an automatic assumption that I’m a Jew-by-choice because I’m brown,” she said at a coffee shop near her congregation.

Reform Rabbis Fight For More Space at the Kotel ..... Yet was totally Empty on Tisha Be'Ov


"Lying" CNN Deceives World .... Reports Outright Lies About Murder of IDF Soldier

The Israeli Foreign Ministry chastised the Cable News Network (CNN) over the weekend, after the network released a news brief which appeared to reverse the order of events in the latest clashes between Israel and the Hamas terror organization.

On Friday, terrorists operating out of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip opened fire on Israeli soldiers stationed on the border, killing 20-year-old Givati Brigade Staff Sergeant Aviv Levi.
In response to the terror attack, Israeli fighter jets pounded Hamas positions inside the Gaza Strip, hitting roughly 60 different terror targets in the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave. A day later, Gaza-based terrorists breached the Israeli border fence, prompting the IDF to shell a Hamas observation post in the Strip.

But a news brief by CNN International on Saturday presented the events in reverse order, and made no mention that the Israeli airstrikes had been in direct response to the Hamas attack.

“Israel says one of its tanks targeted a Hamas military post in Gaza Saturday in retaliation for a border fence breach, one day after violence that left four Palestinians, including three Hamas militants, and an Israeli soldier dead,” CNN International wrote.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon responded via Twitter to the CNNnews brief, accusing the media outlet of “manipulation”.

“No @cnni !!! You got it wrong and not for the first time - an Israeli soldier was killed by #Hamas and #IDF retaliated, protecting its country and citizens against murderous terrorists. By misrepresenting the facts you manipulate against #Israel! @cnni- STOP YOUR MANIPULATION !”

While CNN made no official response to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Nahshon vowed that the ministry would confront media agencies which “deliberately distort events taking place in Israel,” Nahshon told Yediot Ahronot.
“We will respond to every distorted headline and demand its immediate correction.”

Neighbors Want To Shut Down Koshert Cafe near LA Because Owner is pro-Trump 😳


Friday, July 20, 2018

Austrian politician wants to make Jews register to buy kosher meat

An Austrian far-right politician has said he wants to register Jews, in a chilling echo of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.
The disturbing plan was unveiled by Gottfried Waldhausl, the minister in charge of animal welfare for the populist conservative Freedom Party of Austria.
He said he wanted to create a registry that would allow Jewish citizens to buy only kosher meat, thereby reducing the number of animals slaughtered every year.
Followers of Judaism are only allowed to eat meat that comes from beasts that have had their throats cut in a ritual slaughter.
According to Waldhausl, who is a local minister in the state of Lower Austria, Jews would only be allowed to buy kosher meat if they are officially registered and granted a special permit.

Satmar in Lakewood Stage Anti-Zionist Protest On Busy Road; Children Dressed In Sack-Cloth



What may be a first for the "Ir Hatorah" of Lakewood, the new Satmar Williamsburg Community in Lakewood has staged an anti-Zionist protest.
The protest was held on Cross Street, just west of Route 9 (River Avenue), where Satmar is in the process of building a few hundred homes.
As is the case in many Satmar protests, children were dressed in sackcloth and held anti-Israel signs. No children were dressed in Auschwitz uniforms in this protest.

Satmar Teaching Girls to burn Jewish Flag

Satmar has a a girls camp in the Catskill Mountains on 350 Cherrytown Road, Kerhonkson, NY, (845) 626-2767, and the camp has apparently run out of activities to keep the girls busy, so they decided to engage  the future Jewish mothers in violence and hatred toward the Jewish flag.

Nice activity days before Tisha Ba'Ov!

Parshas Devorim


by Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler

This Shabbat, we begin the fifth and final volume of the Five Books of Moshe. This Shabbat is also commonly referred to as “Shabbat Chazon”, so named for the opening word of the Haftarah reading: “The vision (‘chazon’) of Yishayahu the son of Amotz”. This Haftarah is always read on the Shabbat preceding Tisha B’Av.

The connection between the Haftorah and the destruction of the Holy Temple is clear: the prophet is warning us that government corruption may end in the Holy Temple’s destruction: “Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes and runs after payments; the orphan they do not judge, and the quarrel of the widows not come to them” [Is. 1:23].

It is obvious that this Haftarah was chosen due to the proximity of the events described to the day of the destruction of the Temple. But upon a closer look at the parsha, we will realize that it, too, is intrinsically linked to the destruction. In Parshat Devarim, Moshe delivers a series of addresses over the course of thirty-seven days, from the first of the month of Shevat to the seventh of the month of Adar, the date of his death.

The incident Moshe characterizes as the first and formative event is the Sin of the Spies. We might have expected him to dwell on the Sin of the Golden Calf, or perhaps, on the Jews’ intermingling with the daughters of Midian and Moab, but he did not. Why, of all of the events of the Israelites’ sojourn in the desert, would Moshe have chosen to focus on the Sin of the Spies?

Our Sages tell us that five incidents occurred on the Ninth of Av, most notably, the destruction of the two temples [Mishnah, Taanit 4:6]. The first incident, however, was the Sin of the Spies. It stands to reason that when our Sages determined that this was the first event to take place on this ominous day, they understood that it laid the foundations for the misdeeds that would ultimately result in the subsequent tragedies.

Moses uses a unique format to describe the sequence of events. According to what he reports, the spies returned and said that the land was very good, noting that “you [the Israelites] did not want to go up, and you rebelled against the commandment of the L-rd, your G-d.”

In other words, the main reason that the nation tarried in the desert for forty years was not the spies’ harsh intelligence briefing. Rather, it was because they simply did not want to enter the land. Moshe continues, saying that “You murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because God hates us, He took us out of the land of Egypt…’” That is, once no one wanted to put any effort into conquering the land, they began whining and complaining.

Moshe’ description does not fully correspond to the verses in the Book of Bamidbar that discussed the events that occurred when the spies delivered their report, and the nation’s response. There, alongside the spies’ praise of the land and its fruits, we find their conclusion concerning how hard it will be to defeat the inhabitants of the land, who, in their words, were valiant giants.

None of this is mentioned here, and not because someone had forgotten or attempted to conceal or rewrite history. The speech was intended to highlight the message that should have resonated concerning what occurred there. The main concept Moshe was trying to teach the nation was that success and prosperity are rooted in a person’s will to put in the required effort, and the person’s faith in Hashem & His promises.

Conversely, a person who does not embody these qualities sows the seeds of calamity and destruction. People could find dozens of excuses, from the price of chocolate pudding to Israeli bureaucracy, to justify their decision not to live in our land and prefer living in the diaspora with their families, and plenty of people do just that.

Yet these are only manifestations of what Moshe calls “not wanting to go up” and “complaining”. You did not want to do it, and that is why you started fishing for drawbacks that could justify your hesitation to invest the required effort.

Our Sages were able to link the expression in this week’s Parsha that begins with the word “Eichah” – “How can I bear your trouble, your burden, and your strife all by Myself?” – with the opening verse of
the Book of Lamentations, which also begins with the word “Eichah”: “Oh, how has the city that was once so populous has become lonely.”

If we reflect on the special word “Eichah”, we may remember that this very word appeared when the world was created, at the moment Adam ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, which was forbidden to him. Back then, God used another pronunciation of the word – Ayekah – “where are you?”

“Eichah” is a very personal question. Since the days of Adam, the question has been directed at each and every one of us. It encapsulates not only the question itself, but also the challenge of coping with staggering phenomena, such as the solitude Moses experienced when forced to bear the burden of an entire nation, the desolation of a capital city, or any other difficulty we might encounter as we live our lives. These same difficulties give rise to the question to us posed by God: “Where are you? Have you managed to make the place you are inhabiting any better, despite the challenges?”

בברכת התורה והארץ‎

שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

B'Birchat Hatorah V'Haaretz

Shabbat Shalom

Shmuel Knopfler

Thursday, July 19, 2018

New Square Prohibits E-Mails andf even "Flip phones"


New Square has established new "issurim" (prohibitions) on its chassidim, prohibiting e-mails and even to have an e-mail address for all who are not in business.

"Flip phones" are in the category of "smartphones," according to this new edict!

Good luck! 
🤣

Chareidi Soldier Attacked by Extremists in Jerusalem 3 Days Before Tisha Ba'ov




In Jerusalem’s Geulah neighborhood on Wednesday, Charedi extremists attacked a Charedi soldier and physically assaulted him.
The soldier was located inside of the Ma’adnei Gan Eden store on Malchei Yisroel Street, when he was surrounded by a large number of extremists who began shouting derisive remarks at him. Shortly thereafter, the situation deteriorated into cursing and screaming, as the extremists were joined by dozens of additional members who gathered quickly to the scene.
Passersby who saw what was happening called the police, who succeeded in evacuating the soldier from the location without injury.
Evyatar Elbaz, the head of the city council party called Me’urav Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Mix), was one of the people who rushed to aid and protect the soldier.
“I saw the extremists begin to congregate around the Charedi soldier who was minding his own business on the street. The extremists began to spit at him, to curse him and scream derogatory insults at him. They threw whatever they could find at him. I rushed over to the soldier and grabbed him and pulled him away from the angry mob that was forming. Police officers arrived very quickly and continued evacuating the soldier. It was simply shocking to see these scenes unfold and to hear such horrible curses just before Tisha B’Av.”

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Starbucks Treif?

Kosher observers who pick up their coffee at Starbucks may need to look elsewhere for their caffeine fix.

A kosher-certifying agency said it can no longer vouch for the kashrut of many beverages served by the coffee giant. The Star-K agency said this week that it was ending a program under which it deemed many Starbucks products permissible without actually certifying them as kosher.

Plenty of kosher consumers aren’t taking the news lying down: As of Thursday afternoon, more than 7,000 have signed a change.org petition calling to “Make Starbucks Kosher Again.”

Star-K for years has kept a list of the drinks prepared at Starbucks that it called “kosher friendly.” The stores were not under the certifying agency’s supervision, but Star-K regularly checked in with the company to determine which items were kosher friendly — that is, contained no objectionable ingredients. 

In recent years, even Frappuccinos were considered OK for kosher observers.
But several years ago, Starbucks began selling sandwiches, including some made with bacon and non-kosher cheese. That brought up kashrut issues, like whether the utensils used to make the coffee were washed with utensils that had been used with non-kosher items in the store.

Nevertheless, Star-K has posted a new list of Starbucks drinks that can be considered acceptable for kosher observers. They include cafe Americano, espresso, iced caramel brulee latte and nitro cold brew served in paper cups. 

Exceptions are also made for drinkers who are traveling (in other words, “when no other viable option is readily available”) or at stores that don’t serve meat or cheese items.
But the petition signers are looking for more.

Under the reasons for signing, one person wrote: “For a company that closed down all their stores for 8 hours for sensitivity training when people want to use their bathrooms without making a purchase they can at least show a little sensitivity to Orthodox Jews who would like to be paying customers!”