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Shalom, Slurpee: Israel gets its first 7-Eleven in convenience store chain’s planned wave
(JTA) — Yoav Silberstein, 16, waited an hour and a half to get into 7-Eleven’s new flagship — and so far only — store in Israel. Located in the heart of Tel Aviv in Dizengoff Center, the store opening on Wednesday attracted throngs of mostly teenagers hoping to get a taste of America in the shape of a gallon-cup carbonated slushy called a Slurpee.
Silberstein was disappointed, though, to discover that the largest size on offer was a 650 ml (21 oz) cup. He has fond memories of Slurpees from visits with relatives in the United States, where the largest option is twice as big.
“I overheard people in the line calling it ‘barad,’” he said, using the Hebrew word for Israel’s version of slushies. “They have no idea about any of this.”
7-Eleven is the largest convenience store chain in the United States, with nearly 10,000 locations. But it is in some of its overseas markets where the chain really stands out — especially in Japan, where the more than 20,000 7-Elevens serve up everything from banking services to clothing essentials to high-end fresh and prepared foods. There, they can function as a person’s primary shopping destination.
With the store opening this week, Israel became the 19th country to welcome the megachain, and the first in the Middle East, after Electra Consumer Products inked a franchise deal in 2021. Thirty more stores are slated to open by the beginning of 2024; the company says several hundred will follow.
“It’s revolutionary,” Israel’s 7-Eleven CEO, Avinoam Ben-Mocha, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “It’s more than a mini-market, it’s also a pizzeria, cafe and fast food restaurant all under one roof.”
The new stores will join more than 10,000 convenience stores already operating in Israel. In some big cities, including Tel Aviv, convenience stores that resemble New York’s bodegas can be found on every street corner, many of them open around the clock offering anything from cigarettes to diapers.
But the standard convenience stores known as makolets don’t serve coffee and hot food and are intended, like their American counterparts, for buying items in between larger shops at regular supermarkets. The am/pm chain of small-scale grocery stores gives off a 7-Eleven aesthetic but also does not serve fresh coffee or food. The closest things currently to a 7-Eleven in Israel are gas station stores that offer coffee and a range of sandwiches, salads and pastries, in addition to basic groceries.
At the new 7-Eleven, customers serve themselves Slurpees, Big Gulps and soft-serve ice cream (called American ice cream in Israel) as well as coffee from touchscreen machines that offer oat and soy milk alternatives at the same price. At 9 NIS ($2.60), the price is competitive locally but is still more than other 7-Elevens around the world, including the United States — reflecting Israel’s notoriously high cost of living.
In another innovation, the store’s cups have a barcode that allows customers to check themselves out. A mobile app, currently in a pilot phase, is meant to make it even easier for customers to grab and go.
Gabi Breier, one of only a few older customers at the store’s opening, hailed the self-serve, self-checkout policy.
“I’m walking around with this ice cream tub and wondering when someone is going to come and stop me and demand that I pay,” Breier said.
“It’s a new thing, this trust given to the customer. In the end, people will like it more than other places. It makes you feel like you’ve been invited.”
Asked if he thought an Israeli market might take advantage of this rare show of autonomy, Ben-Mocha was equanimous.
“Most of the kids here are getting it, but I’ve seen a few walk out of here with unpaid items and no one has stopped them,” he said. “But it’s part of the process and we’re on a learning curve too. Look, when you give the customer your trust, they will honor that.”
Israel has been an inhospitable home to some other foreign chains, notably Starbucks, which lasted less than two years before shutting its doors in 2003. Could the 7-Eleven venture be destined for the same fate?
“The problem with Starbucks was that they didn’t bother to understand the local taste profile,” Ben-Mocha said. “They just came with their own concept and tried to force it onto a market it wasn’t suited to.”
“Adapting to the local market is an inherent part of 7-Eleven’s DNA,” he said.
Israeli and American candies share the shelves at Israel’s new 7-Eleven, while the high-tech coffee stations are a novelty in the country. (Deborah Danan)
In Israel, that adaptation includes tweaks to the company’s signature operating hours — the “7” in the name refers to how many days per week the store is open — and to the way food is heated. The company initially said its Israeli stores would be closed on Shabbat, a requirement for food-service establishments that want to be certified as kosher. The Tel Aviv store’s fresh food is not kosher — it serves foods made with milk and with meat, heating them in the same ovens — but other branches will be, according to the company.
Out of around 2,000 products, just 80 are 7-Eleven branded products. Others reflect local tastes: Alongside 7-Eleven hot-food classics such as pizza, hot dogs and chicken nuggets, Israeli customers can also enjoy zaatar-and-spinach pastries and mini-schnitzels. In the candy aisle, American classics like Twizzlers and Mike and Ikes are juxtaposed with Israeli treats like fan favorite Krembo and Elite’s recently resurrected cow chocolate. And one striking import is that donuts will be sold year-round — a concept alien to Israelis, who typically only get to enjoy the fried dough confection when it’s sold around Hanukkah time.
It isn’t enough for everyone though.
“I hate this 7-Eleven, it’s totally fake,” said 16-year-old Moti Bar Joseph, who immigrated three years ago from the Bronx, in New York City. “It doesn’t have any of the real 7-Eleven feeling. There are no Lucky Charms, no Jolly Ranchers. It’s an Israeli bootleg version.”
Yuya Shimada, a Japanese national working in Tel Aviv, was more generous. Shimada came to the opening because he was familiar with the brand from his hometown of Nagoya. Asked if he was reminded of home, Shimada laughed. “No, not a bit. But this store is very stylish. I give it 8 out of 10.”
Asked whether his visit had been worth the wait, Silberstein, the teenager, said that it’s “always special to be first to something.”
He added, “But I stood four hours for the opening of the Lego store across the road so I’m probably not the right person to ask.”
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The post Shalom, Slurpee: Israel gets its first 7-Eleven in convenience store chain’s planned wave appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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12-Year-Old Jewish Boy Brutally Attacked in Vienna, Mother Says School Ignored Pattern of Antisemitic Harassment
A pro-Hamas demonstration in Vienna. Photo: Reuters/Andreas Stroh
Austrian police have launched an investigation after a 12-year-old Jewish boy was brutally attacked by a group of classmates on his way home from school in Vienna, sparking outrage within the country’s Jewish community and renewed calls for swift action against rising antisemitism.
On Tuesday, the boy reportedly had a dispute with a classmate earlier at school. As he was heading home, a group of students followed and harassed him.
According to the boy’s mother, he was repeatedly kicked and punched by his classmates, who also shouted antisemitic slurs and threats during the attack.
“You Jew, if you say anything, I’ll tell everyone you’re Jewish – then you’ll see what happens to you,” one of the assailants reportedly told him, according to the Austrian outlet oe24
The victim was later taken to a hospital with bruises and other injuries across his body.
Shortly after the incident, the boy’s mother filed a police report, prompting Vienna authorities to launch an investigation. As of Friday afternoon, no arrests had been made.
The boy’s mother said this was not the first time her son had been targeted in an antisemitic attack, accusing the school of repeatedly covering up such incidents.
Now, she is urging authorities to transfer her son if the school continues to “sweep under the rug” what she describes as a persistent pattern of antisemitic harassment.
According to her testimony, her son was also physically attacked earlier this year when a female classmate choked him and tried to push him down the stairs, leaving him with a neck injury that required a brace for several days.
The boy has also been subjected to sexualized insults, threats, and blackmail after photos of him were posted on TikTok without his consent.
Despite repeated complaints, the boy’s mother said the school took no effective action, even allowing chants of “from the river to the sea” to echo through the halls without any teacher intervention.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free” is a popular slogan among anti-Israel activists that has been widely interpreted as a genocidal call for the destruction of the Jewish state, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
“The school failed to protect him,” the mother said. “Only after things escalated did we decide to file a complaint with the police.”
Austria’s Jewish community has faced a troubling surge in antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel sentiment since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Jewish leaders have consistently called on authorities to take swift action against the rising wave of targeted attacks and anti-Jewish hate crimes they continue to face.
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Advocates decry ‘pogrom on the playground’ after Jewish children targeted in Chicago suburb on Oct. 7
(JTA) — A heavily Jewish suburb of Chicago has condemned antisemitism after an investigation confirmed reports that a group of Jewish children were attacked with pellet guns and subjected to antisemitic rhetoric in a public park earlier this month.
The incident took place on Oct. 7, the first day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot and the second anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, in Shawnee Park, which is located blocks from a number of the town’s Orthodox synagogues.
It occurred when five children between the ages of 8 and 13, were approached by another group of children who asked if they were Jewish, according to the Chicago Jewish Alliance, an advocacy group that has taken an aggressive stance against antisemitism in Chicagoland.
When the children replied that they were Jewish, the group of roughly 20 assailants, who were between the ages of 12 and 14, then allegedly shouted “f—k Israel” and “you are baby killers so we are going to kill you” at the children and shot gel gun pellets from a recreational gun at them, according to a Facebook post by Daniel and Robyn Burgher Ackerman, the parents of a 13-year-old girl who was among the victims.
The Ackermans posted what they said was their first public account of the incident on Thursday, after an investigation by the town was completed. The Village of Skokie said this week that police had responded to the scene on Oct. 7, where the children alleged to have participated in the incident were identified and interviewed and a police report was filed.
The case was “closed” following the investigation’s conclusion, according to the Village of Skokie. It did not name any actions it was taking in response but said the incident had been documented and shared with the Human Relations Commission, which would later issue a recommendation based on its findings.
“There is no place for hate in Skokie,” said Mayor Ann Tennes in a statement. “Our community has long been built on respect, inclusion and care for one another. The Village remains committed to standing against antisemitism and all forms of bias, and to ensuring that Skokie continues to be a safe and welcoming place for everyone.”
The Skokie Park District said it had been made aware of the incident only this week. “We do not tolerate racist remarks or acts of violence in our parks,” it said in a statement issued Thursday. “We are prepared to work with the Village of Skokie’s Human Relations Commission and the Skokie Police Department as part of a community-wide effort to address this hateful occurrence and prevent these behaviors in the future.”
The Ackermans and the Chicago Jewish Alliance say they are concerned that the incident is not being treated with the appropriate urgency, citing a lack of evidence of any disciplinary action against the children who participated.
The Skokie Police Department did not immediately respond to questions about whether charges would be filed in the case.
The Chicago Jewish Alliance is urging residents to attend the Human Relations Committee meeting on Monday and the Village of Skokie Board meeting on Nov. 3 to demand that the incident be treated as a hate crime, according to Daniel Schwartz, the group’s president.
He said that during the assault, the assailants allegedly told the victims that they would “get a real gun and kill you Jews.”
Schwartz, who referred to the incident as a “pogrom on the playground,” said the incident had “really disturbed” the local Jewish community.
“I think this hits a nerve, because it happened on Oct. 7, it happened to children, it happened to children in Skokie, Illinois, which has a very dense Jewish population, and then the municipality itself, similar to what we saw in 1940s Germany, was almost like — there was just no justice or repercussion,” said Schwartz.
He added that the parents of the victims of the attack are also seeking legal counsel over the incident.
“This was not ‘kids being kids.’ This was a targeted, violent antisemitic attack on Jewish minors- in their synagogue dresses on a Jewish holiday,” the Ackermans wrote. “The fact that it happened on October 7th—exactly two years after the October 7, 2023 massacre of Jews in Israel—makes it even more chilling.”
The post Advocates decry ‘pogrom on the playground’ after Jewish children targeted in Chicago suburb on Oct. 7 appeared first on The Forward.
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Free advanced Yiddish language program in Romania
אין פֿעברואַר 2026 וועט מען אין קלויזענבערג, רומעניע, דורכפֿירן אַן אינטענסיווע ייִדישע שפּראַכפּראָגראַם פֿאַר אַוואַנסירטע ייִדיש־סטודענטן און פֿליסיקע ייִדיש־רעדער. די פּראָגראַם קאָסט אין גאַנצן נישט קיין געלט.
די פּראָגראַם, וואָס איר אפֿיציעלער נאָמען איז „די אַוואַניסרטע ייִדיש־ווינטער־שול“, וועט פֿאָרקומען אינעם באַבעש־בויעי אוניווערסיטעט.
די טעמע פֿון דער פּראָגראַם, וואָס וועט געפֿירט ווערן אין גאַנצן אויף ייִדיש, וועט זײַן „ייִדיש אין ראַטן־פֿאַרבאַנד, רומעניע און פּוילן“ און וועט אַרײַננעמען די ווײַטערדיקע קורסן:
- ווײַטהאַלטער ייִדיש־קלאַסן אויף צוויי מדרגות
- ייִדישע מאָדערניסטישע מאַניפֿעסטן
- די פּאָליטיק פֿון ייִדיש
- דער ייִדישער אַנטיפֿאַשיסטישער קאָמיטעט
- די „קולטור־ליגע“ און „ייִקוף“
- חלומות פֿון ייִדישלאַנד
- די פּוילישע ייִדישע פּרעסע נאָך דער צווייטער וועלט־מלחמה
- מיזרח־אייראָפּעיִשע ייִדישע פֿאָלקלאָר פֿונעם 20סטן יאָרהונדערט
אַכט אָנגעזעענע עקספּערטן פֿון דער ייִדישער שפּראַך, שפּראַך־געשיכטע און ליטעראַטור וועלן לערנען די קלאַסן: לייזער בורקאָ, אויגוסטאַ קאָסטיוץ־ראַדאָסאַוו, בער קאָטלערמאַן, מײַקל לוקין, אַלעקסאַנדראַ פּאָליאַן, פֿיליפּ שוואַרץ, קאַראָלינאַ שימאַניאַק און דאַריאַ ווכרושאָוואַ.
מע וועט אויך פֿירן עקסקורסיעס קיין סאַטמאַר און דעש.
הגם די פּראָגראַם איז פֿרײַ פֿון אָפּצאָל דאַרפֿן די סטודענטן אַליין באַצאָלן פֿאַר זייערע פֿאָר־הוצאָות, געזונט־פֿאַרזיכערונג און באַהויזונג. די סטודענטן וואָס ווילן אײַנשטיין אינעם אינטערנאַט פֿונעם אוניווערסיטעט קענען דאָס באַשטעלן אין דער אַפּליקאַציע
פֿאַר יענע אַקטיוויטעטן וואָס זענען מחוץ דער פּראָגראַם, ווי די עקסקורסיעס און דער שבת־טיש, וועלן סטודענטן אויך דאַרפֿן באַצאָלן.
די „אַוואַנסירטע ייִדישע ווינטערשול“, וואָס וועט פֿאָרקומען פֿונעם 9טן ביזן 16טן פֿעברואַר, ווערט געשטיצט פֿונעם „צענטער פֿאַר ייִדיש־לימודים אויפֿן נאָמען פֿון רענאַ קאָסטער“ און דעם „אינסטיטוט פֿון העברעיִש־ און געשיכטע־לימודים“.
כּדי זיך צו פֿאַרשרײַבן אויף דער פּראָגראַם, גיט אַ קוועטש דאָ.
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