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A chain of fruit and nuts stores brings an Israeli-style market concept to NYC
(New York Jewish Week) — On my frequent trips to Israel, I always throw a handful of gallon-sized, zip-top plastic bags into my suitcase. Once there, I fill them with spices, kosher candies and nuts during my pilgrimages to my personal holy sites: Tel Aviv’s Levinsky Market and its open-air market, Shuk HaCarmel.
But thanks to Din Allall, the 29-year-old, Israeli-born CEO of the rapidly expanding Nuts Factory chain, for my next trip to Tel Aviv, I plan to leave those bags behind. That’s because Allal has brought the Israeli market concept to New York.
“The idea is that these stores should feel like the shuk,” Allal told the New York Jewish Week, “but cleaner and neater.”
Allall opened his first Nuts Factory on Manhattan’s Upper East Side three years ago. Since then, 11 more brick-and-mortar stores have popped up around the city — most recently a second Upper East Side location, this one on 74th Street and 3rd Avenue — as well as in New Jersey and Boston, with plans to open a second Boston location and one in Washington, D.C. The company also operates a handful of departments within supermarkets.
The brightly lit shops are well organized, filled with rows of acrylic containers packed with nuts and dried fruit — including pineapple, melon and papaya — a kaleidoscope of jelly candies, mounds of Middle Eastern spices and sheets of chocolates. Customers help themselves by scooping out the desired amount of product into a plastic bag (provided) or a reusable container (brought from home).
Just like visiting an Israeli shuk, entering a Nuts Factory location is a multi-sensory experience: the aromas, colors, andselection create a symphony of sensations. The Nuts Factory ups the ante by dry-roasting nuts in small batches at each store, assuring freshness as well as providing an inviting fragrance.
That’s part of the reason that Allall has invested in physical stores, as opposed to online. (Another successful, Jewish-owned business in the same category, Nuts.com, began as pushcart in Newark — and is now almost exclusively online.)
“You can buy nuts online but you can’t experience what you can in a store,” Allall said. “Most of our business is walk-in. People see what they get. They can try the nuts and candy. It’s a whole experience.”
The idea to roast the nuts on site came from Allall’s grandfather, Shimone, who was born in Iraq and came to Israel as a teenager. Together with Allall’s father, Igal, the pair created a shuk-like indoor store. The family founded Shkedia (Hebrew for almond tree), a nuts and dried fruit business, about 25 years ago and now has 200 departments in major supermarket chains, like Shufersal and Osher Ad, all around Israel. Nuts Factory is a separate, U.S.-based operation.
Din Allall’s U.S.-based fruit and nut stores have the feel of street markets in Israel, like Tel Aviv’s Levinsky Market, above. (Karen Chernick)
“We hadn’t seen anything like it here,” Allall said. “We thought it would be great for Americans to enjoy the ‘shuk’ experience. This generation is leaning towards healthier and less processed products. The quality of the nuts and dried fruit category in America is not as good as ours.”
Allall chose New York as its testing ground because, as he said, “Where else would you do it? We love New York, its energy, its innovation. And I don’t think we were wrong!”
Although there are no signs announcing that the store is an Israeli concept, the sales associates on the floor will tell you which of the products come from Israel — many, perhaps most, of them do. The parve babka, from Tel Aviv’s Antikovich Bakery, is flown in from Israel, as are the store-brand selections of date rolls, sesame, halva and chocolate cookies. The silan and tahini are Israeli, too, and the variety of chocolates — like white chocolate hazelnut bark or milk chocolate coconut bark — come from the family’s chocolate factory in Modi’in, located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
In addition to a typical nut selection, Nuts Factory has special offerings, like pretzel-covered pecans, Nutella-coated cashews and strawberry-covered peanuts. “Everything” cashews — covered with a garlicky spice mixture — is what Allall calls his “weirdest” offering, while their best-selling product, he said, are the Oreo-covered pecans. To understand why, take the store up on its free sample and try one.
“We have a variety that nobody has, that you can’t find anywhere,” Allall said.
All Nuts Factory products are kosher and all of the stores — except for one in Boston and another on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan — have kosher certification. The stores are open on Saturday.
“I was a bit skeptical when I first walked in there — another nut place!” Upper West Sider Sabrina Rosen Salomon told the New York Jewish Week. “But everything was clean and nice, and they have a special offer where you can fill a platter for a fixed price.”
For Tu Bishvat, the Jewish holiday of trees that celebrates all things nuciferous and fruity , the chain is offering a special to its customers: The Nuts Factory’s platters, which they usually sell for $30 and can include up to six items, will be discounted to $24.99. The platter is not based on weight, but whatever fits on it. The special begins two weeks before the holiday, which this year falls on Feb. 6.
And if you can’t make it into one of his stores, you can order the Nuts Factory’s products online. The aroma of warm nuts, however, is not included.
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The post A chain of fruit and nuts stores brings an Israeli-style market concept to NYC appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Jewish Democrats back Michigan AG Dana Nessel’s decision to skip state party convention
(JTA) — Local and national Jewish Democrats say they are sympathetic after Michigan’s Jewish attorney general, Dana Nessel, said she would skip the state Democratic Party’s nominating convention over concerns about antisemitism and harassment.
“I don’t blame AG Nessel for not wanting to go and basically put herself in situations that feel untenable in this moment of time and don’t add any value politically, personally,” Jessica “Decky” Alexander, the Michigan Jewish Democratic caucus chair, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Friday.
Alexander’s comment came a day after Nessel announced during a televised antisemitism roundtable that she would be skipping the convention next month, where party leaders will finalize the state’s Democratic candidate for Senate following a divisive primary that has focused in part on Israel and antisemitism.
“I don’t feel safe going. I feel like my presence isn’t going to be welcome. I don’t want to get chased around. I don’t want to get harassed. I don’t want to get yelled and screamed at. I don’t want to get booed off the stage, irrespective of what I’m saying,” Nessel said during the roundtable. “And I believe that if I go, that is what will happen because it’s been happening to me.”
She said she had filed a formal complaint within the party about a party official who had called her a neo-Nazi because of her beliefs. “Why is this person more accepted in our party than me?” she asked without naming the official. Her office responded to a request for comment by referring to the recorded livestream of the antisemitism roundtable.
Nessel’s declaration comes in the final days of the primary between Rep. Haley Stevens, a pro-Israel stalwart, and Abdul El-Sayed, a democratic socialist who is deeply critical of Israel. El-Sayed is surging in polls despite a reported $30 million spent against him by AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby, and its supporters, whom he has made a target of criticism from the campaign trail.
Nessel’s comments also follow turmoil at the Michigan Democratic Party’s endorsement convention in April, where Stevens was booed by attendees. A third primary candidate who later dropped out of the race, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, said a convention attendee had targeted her Jewish husband with an antisemitic slur.
The incident has fueled alarm among Jewish Democrats, according to Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America.
“She’s not alone,” Soifer told JTA about Nessel on Friday. “We’ve heard from other Jewish Democrats who attended the Democratic Party convention earlier this year in Michigan, and there was a sense of discomfort amid what felt like a pro-Palestinian protest [that] may have even blurred the line for some into antisemitic sentiment — and it’s really concerning.”
Nessel has raised the alarm about antisemitism within the party for years, alleging in 2024 that Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a prominent pro-Palestinian voice, had been antisemitic when criticizing charges Nessel filed against pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan.
For her part, Alexander said she would be participating in the nominating convention and said she believed the chair of the state Democratic Party, Curtis Hertel, had been “very accessible and very open to making sure that we, including our Jewish elected officials, feel safe in that space.” But she said she understood why Nessel was staying away.
“It would never even occur to me, but I’m not an elected official,” Alexander said. “It’s a different stake for me than it is for Dana. I understand her completely.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Jewish Democrats back Michigan AG Dana Nessel’s decision to skip state party convention appeared first on The Forward.
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Maine rabbis call for peace, urge politicians to stop calling Gaza war a ‘genocide’
(JTA) — Every congregational rabbi in Maine has signed onto a statement calling for peace and urging the state’s political leaders to stop using the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s war in Gaza, following a Democratic primary in which several candidates used the label for the first time.
But the rabbis also indicated that they, too, were unsatisfied with conditions in the Middle East and called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to work toward a peaceful future.
“We call upon Maine’s leaders, and particularly its political leaders, to reject the irresponsible usage of the term in describing the Israel-Hamas War,” said the statement released on Friday. “We also call upon Israeli and Palestinian leaders to end the cycle of violence and to create a better world for both Palestinian and Israeli children.”
The statement, titled “A Call for Peace and Responsible Rhetoric,” argues that using the term as a “political slogan does not advance peace in the Middle East.” The term “erases essential moral and legal distinctions, diminishes the meaning of genocide, and inflames hatred for the local Jewish community,” the rabbis say.
“Compassion for Palestinians does not require the adoption of hateful and misleading language,” they continue. “Advocating for peace does not require participation in a ‘Holocaust inversion’ against the Jewish community. And political leadership does not require demonizing one community in the service of another.”
The statement comes days after Troy Jackson, a former logger and state Senate president, secured the Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nomination Saturday at the party’s nominating convention to replace Graham Platner, a staunch Israel critic who dropped out of the race earlier this month. Platner faced a sexual assault allegation, which he denies. Jackson now faces Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins in November’s general election.
Platner’s romp to the primary victory featured routine use of “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions. And ahead of the convention to replace him, Jackson and several other Democratic hopefuls who later exited the race began using the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s war in Gaza for the first time, a shift that drew scrutiny from some Jewish leaders and voters in the state.
The use of the term has become a “currency for acquiring power and position in Maine’s Democratic party,” Rabbi Rachel Isaacs, the leader of Beth Israel Congregation in Waterville, who also signed the statement, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
“Too many Maine Democrats are cynically willing to trade in that currency at the expense of our safety and dignity,” she said in an emailed statement. “We decided we needed to say something collectively, both about the specious and dangerous nature of the claim, and about how much damage has been done to our families and congregants.”
The statement Friday was spearheaded by the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine and signed by every congregational rabbi in the state, including Rabbi Bill Siemers of the Conservative Congregation Beth Israel in Bangor and Rabbi Erica Asch of the Reform Temple Beth El in Augusta. (Rabbis affiliated with the Chabad movement in Maine did not appear on the signatory list.)
Zach Schwartz, the director of the Jewish Community Relations Council at the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine, said the federation hoped the “unity displayed here in Maine can inspire Jewish communities across the US to also unite against the extremist rhetoric harming our community and our children.”
Rabbi Josh Stanton, the associate vice president of interfaith and intergroup initiatives for Jewish Federations of North America, also hailed the joint statement.
“Maine’s Jewish clergy are setting an important example with their call to put aside inflammatory rhetoric and look to the common good,” Stanton said in an emailed statement. “At a time of rising polarization and declining civil discourse, the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine’s efforts to unify the community around this important message are a mark of true leadership.”
Isaacs told JTA that she hoped Jackson would “support, understand, and advocate for all of Maine’s citizens, including the totality of Maine’s diverse Jewish community.”
“Work with us to figure out how to express outrage and legitimate critique of Israel’s government without succumbing to language that you might not know is an ancient antisemitic trope, or dismissing the security needs of Israel’s citizens,” Isaacs said of her message to Jackson. “Please have the courage to forge your own path, and not follow in the footsteps of Graham Platner, a man who should have never been normalized, endorsed, or empowered.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Maine rabbis call for peace, urge politicians to stop calling Gaza war a ‘genocide’ appeared first on The Forward.
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Boy George cedes role of King Herod in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ production after releasing pro-Israel song
(JTA) — Boy George has withdrawn from his run as King Herod in London’s West End revival of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” days before he was due to take the stage and 24 hours after releasing “We Will Dance Again,” dedicated to the victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on the Nova music festival in Israel.
The 80’s pop star was scheduled to appear at London’s Palladium starting Monday as part of the production’s rotating cast playing King Herod, the Judean king who is best known by Jews for his expansion of the Second Temple and to Christians for his efforts to stave off the arrival of a challenger — the story of which is reflected in the rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
Boy George will be replaced by actor Richard Armitage in the London production.
In announcing the cast change, Paul Kelmsley, the singer’s manager, did not directly mention the blowback the former Culture Club frontman was receiving for releasing a pro-Israel song but alluded to it.
“George has never been afraid to stand by his personal convictions, and I have always respected him for that,” he said. ”In this instance, I felt it was right to step aside, allowing the production to remain the focus, while ensuring everyone involved can move forward with mutual respect and goodwill.”
Boy George is defending his decision to release the song, saying he believes artists should be free to express their views even when they are unpopular. In “We Will Dance Again,” the singer rejects claims of genocide against Israel and proclaims, “If you’re ever confused, I stand with the Jews.”
Earlier Friday, Boy George lashed back at the vitriol he was getting online. “What is most shocking is the amount of gay folk attacking me, ” he posted on X. “If you support terrorism you can in the words of Divine ‘Take your toolkit and go f—_ a garage,’” he said, referring to a quote attributed to the taboo-breaking transgender artist.
“When I say ‘they want to kill every last one of us’ I am also talking about us queers, not just the Jewish community,” Boy George said. “When will you wake up?”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Boy George cedes role of King Herod in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ production after releasing pro-Israel song appeared first on The Forward.
