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Oy tannenbaum! Key Food manager under fire for holiday heresy

By Gersh Kuntzman
The Brooklyn Paper
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The Brooklyn Paper / Bess Adler
The manager at the Key Food on Prospect Avenue in Windsor Terrace took down his menorah and Christmas tree after protests — though the interior is still festooned with holiday decorations.
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The Brooklyn Paper / Bess Adler
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The Brooklyn Paper / Bess Adler

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year — unless you’re Mike Jordings, the manager of the Key Food in Windsor Terrace.

This year, Jordings tried to bring a little Hanukkah cheer to his Jewish customers, so he let a local rabbi set up a menorah in front of the Prospect Avenue store.

Naturally, all hell broke loose.

Within hours of Rabbi Moshe Hecht’s big menorah lighting on the third night of Hanukkah on Sunday, Jordings started hearing complaints from his non-Jewish customers.

So he installed a Christmas tree.

Brooklyn Conservatory

Hell remained unmoored. So Jordings removed both religious icons.

“I made a mistake, I guess,” Jordings said. “I was a nice guy.”

Full disclosure? I believe in God as much as I believe in fairies, unicorns, mermaids, Sasquatch and the notion that Joe Lieberman has a soul. But even an unreconstructed Bible-basher like me had to feel for Jordings.

On Tuesday, the crisis hadn’t died down yet, with supporters of Hecht’s Chabad of Windsor Terrace posting a letter from the rabbi on a Windsor Terrace blog that spoke of being “extremely disappointed” by Jordings’s decision as well as “the apparent lack of neighborly respect for our holiday celebration.”

BoroDeal

Hecht’s letter urged “everyone to personally speak with the manager [and] ask him what happened to the menorah.

“Encourage [him] not to be swayed by those few elements amongst the community that are intolerant and unfriendly,” Hecht continued.

Hecht’s letter had the desired effect.

“I don’t think I’ll be supporting Key Food any longer, considering they don’t support me,” posted one Jewish reader, who did not leave his name.

Of course, like the Talmud, this story has lots of interpretations.

To Hecht, the sinister hand of anti-Semitism is at work again.

“There’s a context here: Just a few weeks ago, we had a sign in front of the Chabad center that was defaced with racial slurs. And now to see that the only supermarket is pressured to take down our menorah, that’s really bad.

“It feels like there’s some anti-Semitism here,” he concluded.

Jordings wasn’t sure.

“I heard complaints both ways — about the menorah and the tree,” he said. “That’s why I took them both down. I’m a supermarket, not a religion.”

The Clash of the Seasonal Icons did teach Jordings a lesson that’s as old as the Scriptures themselves.

“It really is true that nice guys finish last,” he said.

Gersh Kuntzman is the Editor of The Brooklyn Paper. E-mail Gersh at gkuntzman@cnglocal.com

©2009 Community Newspaper Group

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Reader Feedback

M from WB says:
This Rabbi is part of Lubavitch (aka Habad/Chabad), which is not mainstream Orthodoxy. Most Orthodox and Hassidic Jews don't go around putting up menoras all over the place and disapprove of the antics of his sect. Though the sect may be vocal, they are just a fringe group and the manager should feel free to ignore them.
Dec. 16, 2009, 11:26 am
M from WB says:
P.S. It is the same sect that was going around in the past (some still do it) making a big hullaballoo that their late Rebbe Schneersohn, who died about fifteen years ago, was the Messiah. Some of them still believe that, and some even claim that he didn't die. So you see that they are not mainstream, even among the Orthodox and Hassidic.

Also, as a Jewish person, I feel bad that Mr. Jordings got into such a mess after trying to be nice, thinking he was being kind to Jewish Brooklynites. I thank him for trying to do what he thought was the right thing.
Dec. 16, 2009, 11:30 am
Mentch from Park Slope says:
I dont understand why so many people get so wound up about this nonsense. let em both put their display up and move on. there are Jewish and Cristisn supporters of key food amongst both religions. as far as manager hell's decisoin please dont pertend to be so innocent, you made a beautifull decision to allow a menorah and then a tree but then you lost your spine in the process, making a decision to put up a Holiday display is a good one, be aman and have some resolve. As for the author great article.
happy Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanza and holidays to you all.
Dec. 16, 2009, 1:01 pm
proud chabad Supporter from prospect heights says:
I am a proud supporter of Chabad. not only is Mr. M wrong about them but he is also a bit off his game here. anybody doing a simple google search will see that chabad is the largest jewish orginazation in the world with well over 3,500 branches worldwide which influences over 1 million jews. if you call Chabad fringe than what do you call mainstream?
happy Chanukah my sad friend. may teh light of Chanukah enlighten your life.
Dec. 16, 2009, 1:05 pm
proud chabad Supporter from prospect heights says:
I am a proud supporter of Chabad. not only is Mr. M wrong about them but he is also a bit off his game here. anybody doing a simple google search will see that chabad is the largest jewish orginazation in the world with well over 3,500 branches worldwide. Chabad influences over 1 million jews every year. if you call Chabad fringe than what do you call mainstream?
happy Chanukah my sad friend. may the light of Chanukah enlighten your life.
Dec. 16, 2009, 1:06 pm
Proud Chabad Supporter from Brooklyn says:
I am a proud supporter of Chabad. not only is Mr. M wrong about them but he is also a bit off his game here. anybody doing a simple google search will see that chabad is the largest jewish orginazation in the world with well over 3,500 branches worldwide. Chabad influences over 1 million jews every year. if you call Chabad fringe than what do you call mainstream?
happy Chanukah my sad friend. may the light of Chanukah enlighten your life.
Dec. 16, 2009, 1:06 pm
Any mouse from Brooklyn says:
Can't we all just get along?
Dec. 16, 2009, 2:55 pm
Alfred from Park Slope says:
Ah yes the open minded and liberal Chabad group, who accept all..right..from their tanya

"The souls of the nations of the world (i.e. all Christians, Muslims,Buddhists, etc.), however, emanate from the other, unclean ‘kelipot’ (evil forces) which contain no good whatever" (page 5).
Dec. 16, 2009, 4:16 pm
Chico from Midtown says:
A Christmas tree is not a "religious icon." I think it's refreshing, though, that you're willing to be open about your religious bigotry. You're braver than the cowards who scrawl anti-semitic graffiti! Sad to see you're at such a small paper now, Gersh.
Dec. 16, 2009, 4:20 pm
Simon Tsui from Coney Island says:
I know of the Windsor Terrace Key Food. I would have kept both the menorah and the Christmas tree up.

It was a good gesture on Jordings' part. It's too bad that the customers are disrespectful of others' religions.
Dec. 16, 2009, 4:57 pm
M from WB says:
To the commenter above alleging that the Lubavitch/Habad is standard mainstream Judaism, citing a large amount of alleged branches (which figure is exaggerated, by the way) -

We don't judge a religious sect by the amount of missionaries it has out in the field. If you would use such criteria, you might conclude that Mormonism and J's witnesses were standard flavors of typical Christianity due to the large amount of missionaries.

Those in the know about Jewish matters, know that Lubavitch is a limited and controversial sect, albeit very vocal.
Dec. 16, 2009, 4:58 pm
Bob from Brooklyn Heights says:
Fact is, Chabad Lubavitch IS the face of Orthodox Judaism throughout the world, and also in most of America outside Jewishly populated cities like New York.

Their mission is to do outreach to non-Orthodox Jews -- thus they light public menorahs in even small cities with small Jewish populations and even fewer (if any) Orthodox Jews. And in communities like Windsor Terrace, where there are few Orthodox Jews.

In any event, the Key Food manager sounds like a good guy for trying. Hopefully, the Windsor Terrace Chabad rabbi is appreciative of the manager's efforts, even if he felt compelled to pull back this time, and will encourage his followers to patronize that store.
Dec. 16, 2009, 8:32 pm
sal from Windsor Terrace says:
The comment by a member of the Kensington/Windsor Terrace mailing list mentioned above certainly DID mention her name (we are actually *required* to sign each post, and she did). Is that so that you wouldn't have to actually do any real reporting and get permission, Gersh? By pretending there was no name and email address attached?
Dec. 16, 2009, 11:45 pm
M from WB says:
Bob from Brooklyn Heights : "Fact is, Chabad Lubavitch IS the face of Orthodox Judaism throughout the world"

Bob, that is way off the mark.

The Lubavitch sect is a small minority among even Hassidim (the Satmar sect is much larger, for example), and certainly among Orthodox Jews in general. What the Lubavitchers are is very skilled at PR, very vocal, have contacts with the press, and send out many emissaries.

Therefore, they appear to be more numerous than they are. But intelligent people shouldn't be fooled.
Dec. 17, 2009, Midnight
Bob from Brooklyn Heights says:
Chabad DOES appear more numerous than they are, and they ARE very adept at PR.

But fact is, as the old commercial went, they are "everywhere you want to be." And non-Chabad Jews of all streams depend on their services (for prayer, food or just some Jewish contact) virtually everywhere.

In New York, Chicago, Atlanta and a few other cities, there are plenty of alternatives. Elsewhere, there are not. And the fact that they are welcoming to the non-Orthodox (whereas most Orthodox synagogues are not welcoming) makes them the face of "official" Judaism to most people — Jew and Gentile alike.
Dec. 17, 2009, 5:59 am
Mary from Crown Heights says:
Basically, this story and the comments make Windsor Terrace look terrible-- it appears to be populated with whinging bigots of all stripes. Maybe a good protest march through the neighborhood, calling the residents out on all their nastiness, might be in order.
Dec. 17, 2009, 8:46 am
Patricia Cox from Windsor Terrace says:
Has there suddenly arisen some groundswell of support for a menorah and Christmas tree at Key Food? Local shuls and churches have not engaged in selling produce, frozen goods and meats,have they?? Maybe there's a message to Key Food here - like stay out of the theology business??
Dec. 17, 2009, 9:24 am
M. Dunner from Windsor Terrace says:
Now, wait just a minute. Perhaps people should consider how Christians are being treated in Jerusalem this year, before they get too outraged about this:
1. Businesses that display any “Christian” symbols are being boycotted:
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/12/war-on-christmas-just-got-more-fierce.php
2. Christians are being spit on:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=487412&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
— M. Meyer
Dec. 17, 2009, 10:12 am
M from WB says:
Most people are getting along basically. There are some fringe groups and individuals that can get out of hand at times, and that can upset the equilibrium. Let's us treat each other with respect and if the status quo has worked until now, keep it going. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Dec. 17, 2009, 1:40 pm
M from WB says:
Bob - in response to your last comment. Some people use the Lubavitch when they are on the road, in a pinch, but that doesn't make them the official face as Judaism, just like myriads sleeping at HoJo motels don't mean that Howard Johnsons are the face of America.
Dec. 17, 2009, 1:46 pm
dave from brooklyn says:
wow people dis dayz
Dec. 17, 2009, 4:26 pm
Delio from Olde Windsor Terrace says:
my life in the key of food
Dec. 22, 2009, 12:01 pm
Liz from Bay Ridge says:
Regardless of which specific rabbi set up the menorah, a menorah is a menorah. It's the symbol of Hanukkah, a not particularly important winter festival in the Jewish religion, but an important holiday in American Jewish culture because of its proximity on the calendar to Christmas.

What, pray tell, could people possibly object to about the display of a menorah in the community during Hanukkah time? And for that matter, what is wrong with Christmas decorations? This time of year is supposed to be about celebrating life, being kind to one another, and spending time with loved ones. What a Grinchy thing to do, to complain about decorations!
Dec. 22, 2009, 3:12 pm

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